Callaghan, Morley

Related Category: English Canadian Literature: Biographies

(Morley Edward Callaghan)(kăl´əhăn´´), 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).

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