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.
Recommended Citation
Langford, Elizabeth, "Healing in the Works of Elizabeth Goudge" (2016). Masters Theses. 21.
https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/grad/21
Included in
Literature in English, British Isles Commons, Other English Language and Literature Commons, Women's Studies Commons
Comments
Master's Thesis completed at Trinity College for the Degree of Master of Arts in English.