Other Fiction Benson, Robert Hugh: The Conventionalists, LIT v1, 17 January 2010.

[Patricia]

Robert Hugh Benson [1871–1914]
The Conventionalists [1908]

A novel about religious vocation.
It can be read on its own, though is a loose sequel to Monsignor Benson’s earlier novel, “The Sentimentalists.” Many of the same characters reappear, and Benson even includes himself in propria persona.
The central character is a young man who develops a vocation for the contemplative life. However, there are problems: (i) he’s not a catholic; (ii) his family have a prejudice against ‘papists’; (iii) they expect him to marry and look after the family estate; (iv) and he’s attracted to a nice girl. What is he to do?
Incidentally, the monastery mentioned in the book -- St Hugh’s at Parkminster -- is a real place, near Gatwick airport, and has the largest cloister in the world -- over a mile in circumference. It is the only Carthusian house in the UK: an order so rigorous that it makes the Trappists look like softies. The monks have their own website, though.

The source was a scan at The Internet Archive. There were a number of typographical errors in the original text, plus OCR errors. I hope that I’ve managed to correct them all.

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