CALLING BERNADETTE’S BLUFF
Satirical novel/Literary fiction, 365 pages
(Xlibris, 2002 – available for re-release)
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The College of St. Bernadette sits high, strange and alone on the Minnesota prairie. Approach from the east late in the day and you might see a cloud of dust circling the sad scatter of buildings, for Saint Bernie’s is a whirlwind of True Believers spinning at opposite poles around every issue, cards to their chests and each other in their crosshairs. Hunkered down in the middle of the cyclone is Jack Kassel – burned-out professor of philosophy and lonely rationalist, a nonbeliever in a world where faith is the one unquestionable Good.
Scott Siberell, his oldest friend and fellow atheist, reappears in Jack’s life – as the new campus priest, no less – and reveals a devious plan to use his ersatz priesthood to blow the doors off Catholicism on national television. While trying doggedly to stop Scott’s sneak attack on the faithful, Jack reveals his own heartfelt disbelief in God to the college at the worst possible time – as an apparent vision of the Virgin Mary turns the campus into a holy pilgrimage site.
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CALLING BERNADETTE’S BLUFF is a satire set at the raw collision point of faith and reason. Reviewers have acclaimed the debut novel as “a riot” (The Compulsive Reader) and “an undoubted triumph of academic satire…easily a match for David Lodge and Jane Smiley in wit and depth” (Curled Up With A Good Book).
Author Dale McGowan puts the tiny trumpet of reason into the unsteady hands of Jack John Kassel, philosopher and humanist, whose attempts to live with a little intellectual integrity are shaken as much by the antics of his erstwhile allies as by his intellectual opponents. McGowan’s characters are at once recognizable and absurd, including the atheist priest, the New-Agey college president, the feminist warrior (and Leonard the Poet, who sublimates his love for her by reading dirty Chaucer), Satanists, liturgical cheerleaders and singing nuns. The dialogue moves from classical philosophy to cheesy pop culture with merciless speed. On the surface it’s riotous entertainment, but for weeks after you close the cover the book’s ideas will resonate in your head, tickling the mind in lovely and unfamiliar places.
