Date of Award

Spring 2016

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

English

First Advisor

Beverly Wall

Abstract

Elizabeth Goudge’s fictional works are worthy of further academic consideration. Using the context of Goudge’s persuasive endeavor to provide a framework to conceptualize the healing of the soul, this paper explores the characters who heal and the characters who experience healing, and the practices that these characters engage in, using Goudge’s The Eliots of Damrosehay Trilogy, also published as Bird in the Tree, Pilgrim’s Inn (or Herb of Grace) and Heart of the Family, and The Rosemary Tree. Although Goudge had no professional training in psychology, her characters engage in what today would be labeled as modern-day therapeutic techniques, from Radical Acceptance to forms of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; her deep understanding of human nature reflects her contemplative spiritual life and her novels focus on both human suffering and joys.

Comments

Master's Thesis completed at Trinity College for the Degree of Master of Arts in English.

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