From the 1890s through the 1960s, on both sides of the English Channel, a generation of Catholic writers rebuilt the imagination of their faith through fiction, essay, and verse. G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, and David Jones moved within one orbit, Léon Bloy, Charles Péguy, Georges Bernanos, and François Mauriac within another, their work answering one another across the water.
“I wish I liked Catholics more.”
“They seem just like other people.”
“My dear Charles, that’s exactly what they’re not.”
— EVELYN WAUGH, BRIDESHEAD REVISITED
