Virtuous Intentions The Religious Dimension of Narrative

Narrative does not simply tell a story; it discovers and creates story aswell. Mark Ledbetter argues that an important dimension of narrative is itsability to reveal the virtuous life. He examines three narrative texts: JamesAgee's A Death in the Family, Walker Percy's Love in the Ruins, and Robert PennWarren's A Place to Come To. His goal is to demonstrate how a study of narrativestructure, especially the element of character, explores and reveals the life ofvirtue. He concludes with a discussion of how moral criticism has a place inpost-modern literary reflection and how the two can work together to produce acritically sound literary interpretation.