Morley Callaghan

Morley Callaghan (Morley Edward Callaghan) , 1903-90, Canadian novelist. During the 1920s he spent time in Paris, where he became friends with Ernest Hemingway , whose influence can be detected in Callaghan's spare literary style; he recalls these years in That Summer in Paris (1963). Callaghan's novels and short stories are marked by a concern with religion and Christianity, often focusing on individuals whose essential characteristic is a strong but often unexamined sense of self. After a burst of creativity that resulted in Strange Fugitive (1928), Native Argosy (1929), and Such Is My Beloved (1934), Callaghan published little between 1937 and 1950. The Loved and the Lost (1951) is considered by many to be his masterpiece. Callaghan's later works include The Many Colored Coat (1960), A Passion in Rome (1961), Stories (1967), A Fine and Private Place (1975), A Time for Judas (1983), and Our Lady of the Snows (1985).

Bibliography: See studies by V. Hoar (1969), B. Concron (1975) and P. Morley (1978).

Callaghan, Morley (1903–90), Canadian novelist of Irish Catholic descent, born and educated in Toronto. After the publication of his first novel, Strange Fugitive (1928), he travelled to Paris, where in 1929 he renewed contact with Heming way. His experiences there are recorded in That Summer in Paris (1963), with portraits of Scott Fitzgerald and other expatriate Americans. He is best remembered for the triptych of novels Such is My Beloved (1934), in which Father Dowling, an idealistic and innocent young priest, befriends two prostitutes; They Shall Inherit the Earth (1935); and More Joy in Heaven (1937), on the theme of a bank robber turned ‘prodigal son’. These works share a spare and simple prose and narrative style, and a religious concern with the redemption of the ordinary.

Callaghan, Morley (1903–90), Canadian born author, whose novels include Strange Fugitive (1928), the story of a bootlegger; It's Never Over (1930), tracing the effects of disgrace upon the family and friends of a murderer; A Broken Journey (1932); Such Is My Beloved (1934), in which a priest defies his parishioners by trying to reform prostitutes; They Shall Inherit the Earth (1935), a study of an average family during the Depression; More Joy in Heaven (1937), about a reformed prisoner who finds that the world will not let him pursue his ideals; The Loved and the Lost (1951); The Many‐Colored Coat (1960), the story of a corporate power struggle, revised as The Man with the Coat (1988); A Passion in Rome (1961); A Fine and Private Place (1975); A Time for Judas (1984), an unusual conception of Jesus with Judas as a friend; and Our Lady of the Snows (1985), about a noble Canadian prostitute. A Native Argosy (1929), Close to the Sun Again (1977), and Lost and Found (1985) collect stories. No Man's Meat (1931) and Now That April's Here (1936) are novelettes. That Summer in Paris (1963) prints his “memories of tangled friendships with Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and some others” during the 1960s.