The Shoes of the Fisherman (novel)

Novel by Morris West

The Shoes of the Fisherman

First edition

Author| Morris West
Language| English
Publisher| Morrow

Publication date

| 1963
Publication place| Australia
Media type| Hardcover and Paperback
Preceded by| Daughter of Silence
Followed by| The Ambassador

The Shoes of the Fisherman is a novel by the Australian writer Morris West first published in 1963.

The novel concerns the election of a Ukrainian pope, and is a dissection of Vatican politics.[1] The protagonist, Kiril Pavlovich Lakota, appointed a cardinal in pectore by the previous pope, was inspired by the lives of two Ukrainian Catholic bishops: Cardinal Josyf Slipyj and Bishop Hryhorij Lakota. Slipyj was released by Nikita Khrushchev's administration from a Siberian Gulag in 1963, the year of the novel's publication, after political pressure from Pope John XXIII and United States President John F. Kennedy. Slipyj arrived in Rome in time to participate in the Second Vatican Council. Lakota died in 1950 in a Soviet Gulag. A sub-plot deals with Kiril's relationship with a controversial theologian and scientist, Father Telemond. Many of the characteristics of Father Telemond were based on the controversial French Jesuit palaeontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.

The book was coincidently published on 3 June 1963, the day Pope John XXIII died.[2] The book reached No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller List for adult fiction on 30 June 1963, and became the No. 1 best-selling novel in the United States for that year, according to Publishers Weekly. In the story, Kiril Lakota, the protagonist and archbishop of Lviv was created cardinal with the title of St. Athanasius. In 1965, Josyf Slipyj, Archbishop (later Major-Archbishop) of Lviv was proclaimed a cardinal with the title of Sant'Atanasio (St. Athanasius) by Pope Paul VI.

A movie version directed by Michael Anderson was released in 1968.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ William H. Honan"Morris West, Popular Novelist Focusing on Faith, Dies at 83", The New York Times, 12 October 1999
2. ^ Tony Stephens, "Last Rites", Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum, 3 June 2000

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Works by Morris West

Novels|

* Gallows on the Sand (1956)
* Kundu (1956)
* The Big Story (1957)
* The Second Victory (1958)
* The Devil's Advocate (1959)
* Daughter of Silence (1961)
* The Shoes of the Fisherman (1963)
* The Ambassador (1965)
* The Tower of Babel (1968)
* Summer of the Red Wolf (1971)
* The Salamander (1973)
* Harlequin  (1974)
* The Navigator (1976)
* Proteus (1979)
* The Clowns of God (1981)
* The World Is Made of Glass (1983)
* Cassidy (1986)
* Masterclass (1988)
* Lazarus (1990)
* The Ringmaster (1991)
* The Lovers (1993)
* Vanishing Point (1996)
* Eminence (1996)
* The Last Confession (2000)

Novels under pseudonyms|

* Moon in My Pocket (1945)
* McCreary Moves In (1958)
* The Naked Country (1960)

Non-fiction|

* Children of the Sun (1957)

Film/TV Adaptations|

* McCreary Moves In (1957) (TV)
* Children of the Sun (1961) (TV)
* The Crooked Road (1965)
* The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968)
* The Devil's Advocate (1977)
* The Salamander (1981)
* The Naked Country (1985)
* The Second Victory (1987)

Radio|

* The Curtain Rises (1946)
* The Mask of Marius Melville (1946)
* Burtons of Banner Street (1947)
* On the Danube (1948)
* Dick Barton - Secret Agent
* Experiment with Time
* Trumpets in the Dawn (1949)
* Paradise of Cheats (1949)
* The Prince of Peace (1950)
* The Apostle of Peace (1951)
* The Affairs of Harlequin (1951)
* White Marriage (1951)
* The Enchanted Island (1952)
* The Dreaming City (1952)
* Secret Mountain (1953)
* Mystery of Henriette (1953)
* Man of Two Tribes (1953)
* Special Assignment (1953)
* Fire of Etna (1953)
* The Golden Road (1954)
* The Dambusters (1954)
* The Great Escape (1954)
* There is a Santa Claus (1954)
* Reach for the Sky (1955)
* Genesis in Juddsville (1955)
* The Illusionists (1955)
* The White Tower (1955)
* The White Rabbit (1955)
* Gallows on the Sand (1956)
* The Big Story (1958)

Plays|

* The Illusionists (1955)
* The Devil's Advocate (1961)
* Daughter of Silence (1962)
* The Heretic (1970)
* The World Is Made of Glass (1984)

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* United States
* Australia

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