'Not-recommended-for-Catholic-libraries': Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach and the turn-of-the-century-Catholic Revival movement

Although celebrated during her lifetime as Austria's greatest woman writer, Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach endured much harsh criticism from representativ es of the Catholic Church. She and her husband were critical of the Church as an institution, especially of the abuse of priestly authority. They were attracted to a secular doctrine of ethics. Meanwhile the Papacy was determ ined to preserve traditional belief against the influence of liberalism. In this climate, the criticisms of the Church found in Ebner-Eschenbach's fic tion attracted censure from defenders of a narrowly orthodox Catholic liter ature, who also opposed the efforts of Karl Muth to promote a modern Cathol ic literature which dealt with contemporary issues. Caught between these tw o parties, Ebner-Eschenbach avoided public controversy but continued to exp ress her beliefs and defend the religiosity of her writings.