Virtuous Intentions: The Religious Dimension of Narrative

Narrative does not simply tell a story; it discovers and creates story as well. Mark Ledbetter argues that an important dimension of narrative is its ability to reveal the virtuous life. He examines three narrative texts: James Agee’s A Death in the Family, Walker Percy’s Love in the Ruins, and Robert Penn Warren’s A Place to Come To. His goal is to demonstrate how a study of narrative structure, especially the element of character, explores and reveals the life of virtue. He concludes with a discussion of how moral criticism has a place in post-modern literary reflection and how the two can work together to produce a critically sound literary interpretation.