Part One - Bibliographical Leads, Historical Considerations

Summary

In this world we have seen the Roman Catholic power dying… for many centuries. Many a time we have gotten all ready for the funeral and found it postponed again, on account of the weather or something.

Mark Twain, Following the Equator, 1897

Because an early topic of this book is novels of Roman Catholic conversion, the reader may wish to learn about them as soon as possible; alas, the only bibliography I know of is “Novels of [Catholic] Conversion,” in Albert J. Menendez' The Road to Rome: An Annotated Bibliography (New York: Garland, 1986). Of the 112 titles given, 28 were published in 1871 or earlier, that is, before Watch and Ward. (See also, by the same author, The Catholic Novel: An Annotated Bibliography [New York: Garland, 1988].) Lyle H. Wright's American Fiction 1851–1875, A Contribution Toward a Bibliography (San Marino, Calif.: Huntington Library, 1957) lists no titles directly referring to Catholic conversion, a few that refer to convents, and a more generous selection of Catholic items, pro and con, mostly the latter, laconically labeled “Anti-Catholic.” The more popular topics were home, love, the War, the “West,” and, by far, alcohol. Mrs. Julia (McNair) Wright is credited with 4 anti-Catholic novels and at least 7 against drink. A few of Menendez' titles also appear in Wright, but there is much want of correspondence. Indeed, no two lists of “Catholic literature” correspond, for want of agreement with respect to what is Catholic. James wrote no book reviews about conversion novels, except Lothair by Disraeli, a title not mentioned by Menendez because of the author's not being a Catholic convert, and not mentioned by Wright because of his not being an American. No conversion novels are mentioned in James' published correspondence or in his Notebooks.