''The Devil's Advocate'' is a 1959 novel by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n author

Morris West Morris Langlo West (26 April 19169 October 1999) was an Australian novelist and playwright, best known for his novels ''The Devil's Advocate (West novel), The Devil's Advocate'' (1959), ''The Shoes of the Fisherman (novel), The Shoes of the Fi ...

. It forms part of West's "Vatican" sequence of novels, along with ''

The Shoes of the Fisherman The Shoes of the Fisherman may refer to: * ''The Shoes of the Fisherman'' (novel), a 1963 novel by the writer Morris West * ''The Shoes of the Fisherman'' (film), a 1968 film based on the novel {{disambiguation ...

'' (1963), ''

The Clowns of God ''The Clowns of God'' (1981) is a novel by Australian writer Morris West. It was originally published by Hodder and Stoughton in England in 1981. This is the second book in West's "Vatican trilogy", following ''The Shoes of the Fisherman'' an ...

'' (1981), and ''

Lazarus Lazarus may refer to: People *Lazarus (name), a surname and a given name * Lazarus of Bethany, a Biblical figure described as being raised from the dead by Jesus * Lazarus, a Biblical figure from the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus * Lazar ...

'' (1990).Answers.com
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Plot

Father Blaise Meredith, an urbane and cultured English priest who has passed his unexceptional life at the Vatican, is diagnosed with a terminal disease. He is sent from Rome to a small Calabrian village (Gemello Maggiore) as 'devil's advocate', investigating the life of Giacomo Nerone, a dead local being promoted for sainthood. Meredith has been chosen by Cardinal Marotta for this task, as someone learned and meticulous, perhaps lacking in charity or passion, but not in precision. Meredith expects to die quite soon. Gemello Maggiore's residents are promoting Nerone's cult which will bring prestige and prosperity to a typically post-war, impoverished, rural community in Southern Italy. Meredith discovers that Nerone was in fact a deserter from the British army, who had an illegitimate son by a local woman, and was executed by Communist partisans towards the end of World War II, yet is a man revered in his small village. In the process, Meredith meets the local Mayor, the Contessa (dissatisfied, ageing beauty, socialite and landowner), her house-guest (a homosexual painter from Rome), Nerone's mistress and their illegitimate son, now a handsome teenager whom the Contessa and her painter friend want to adopt and move to Rome (i.e. corrupt). Caught between these conflicting individuals and motives, Meredith struggles to understand the truth about the alleged saint, fulfil his final duty for the Roman Catholic church, and come to terms with his own mortality and challenged religious faith.

Development

Fluent in both French and Italian, West visited southern Italy in the 1950s, where he wrote the 1957 non-fiction ''Children of the Sun'', which described the lives of street urchins in Naples. As a result, he was offered a job as Vatican correspondent for the London ''Daily Mail''.
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Awards and nominations

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Un ...

, 1959: winner * W. H. Heinemann Award * nominated for the 1960 National Book Award.

Reception

Commonweal Commonweal or common weal may refer to: * Common good, what is shared and beneficial for members of a given community * Common Weal, a Scottish think tank and advocacy group * ''Commonweal'' (magazine), an American lay-Catholic-oriented magazin ...

'' called it as “ superior novel, intricately worked out at several levels of human and spiritual quest...” The ''New York Times'' described it as “ reading experience of real emotional intensity.” Some reviewers compared him favorably with Graham Greene. "Never a subtle writer, West makes his approach to timeless truths (and truisms) at a strictly popular level, includes some sex and much emotion, but has his elements of enigma and drama well in hand." (Kirkus Reviews)

In spite of a style which is more frequently deft than distinguished, ''The Devil's Advocate'' is a work of merit...As a novel it is a curious blend of slickness and profundity. It is almost as if a very good and mediocre novel had been stitched together with a jagged line to make one book....This book is well worth reading for its virtues and we have its faults to thank for its being read widely. Flannery O'Connor

In its first two years, ''The Devil's Advocate'' sold 3 million copies. It was staged on Broadway by Dory Schary. ''The Devil's Advocate'' is part of the "Loyola Classics" series of Loyola Press, which includes Miles Connolly's ''Mr. Blue'' and

Rumer Godden Margaret Rumer Godden (10 December 1907 – 8 November 1998) was a British author of more than 60 fiction and non-fiction books. Nine of her works have been made into films, most notably ''Black Narcissus (novel), Black Narcissus'' in 194 ...

's ''In this House of Brede''."Loyola Classics', Loyola Press
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Notes

*Dedication: For Paul R. Reynolds. *Epigraph: "I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held." - Apocalypse vi. 9.

Film adaptation

A film adaptation of this novel was produced as a West German release in 1977, and originally titled ''Des Teufels Advokat''. The film was directed by Guy Green, from a screenplay written by Morris West. The film features

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portray ...

Leigh Lawson Allan Leigh Lawson (born 21 July 1945) is an English actor, director and writer. Early life Lawson was born in Atherstone, Warwickshire. He initially studied at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts before training further at the Royal Academy of ...

, Jason Miller, Daniel Massey, Paola Pitagora and

Stéphane Audran Stéphane Audran (born Colette Suzanne Jeannine Dacheville; 8 November 1932 – 27 March 2018) was a French film actress. She was known for her performances in the films of her husband Claude Chabrol, including '' Les Biches'' (1968) and '' Le Bou ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devil's Advocate, The 1959 Australian novels Australian novels adapted into films Catholic novels Novels set in Vatican City Works by Morris West