Mariella Gable

{{Short description|Catholic academic, writer, and literary critic}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Mariella Gable

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| birth_name = Mary Margaret Gable

| birth_date = 1898

| birth_place = Wisconsin

| death_date = 1985

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| occupation = Academic, writer, and literary critic

| language = English

| nationality = American

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| alma_mater = Cornell University

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| honorific_suffix = OSB

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Mariella Gable, OSB (1898–1985) was an American academic, writer, and literary critic.

Early life and education

Gable was born Mary Margaret Gable in Wisconsin, and received the name "Mariella" when she entered the Order of Saint Benedict at Saint Benedict's Monastery in St. Joseph, Minnesota, in 1916.

Career

In 1934 she received her PhD from Cornell University, and took a position as chair of the Department of English at the College of Saint Benedict, where she remained until 1958. She was the editor of several anthologies of short stories, including Great Modern Catholic Short Stories (1942), Our Father's House (1945), and Many-Colored Fleece (1950), and wrote numerous essays as well; as a result she played a large role in shaping mid-century opinions of Catholic fiction in the United States and in Europe. She felt that fiction about religious and moral subjects should possess literary value, not merely serve as sentiment.{{citation needed|date=August 2019}}

Among authors whose work she respected were J. F. Powers and Flannery O'Connor;{{cite book|author1=Susan Hill Lindley|author2=Eleanor J. Stebner|title=The Westminster Handbook to Women in American Religious History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R4hLAtDBHskC&pg=PA134|year=2008|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=978-0-664-22454-7|page=85}} She also introduced such writers as Frank O'Connor, Sean O'Faolain, Mary Lavin, and Bryan MacMahon to American audiences. Gable remained on the faculty of the College of Saint Benedict until 1973.{{cite web|url=https://www.csbsju.edu/literary-arts-institute/sister-mariella-gable-prize|title=Sister Mariella Gable Series – CSB/SJU|website=www.csbsju.edu|access-date=20 August 2018}} She is honored on campus with a residence hall{{cite web|url=https://www.csbsju.edu/csb-archives/csbhistory/csbbuildings/upperclassresidences|title=Upper Class Residences – CSB/SJU|website=www.csbsju.edu|access-date=20 August 2018}} and a literary prize, both named in her honor.{{cite web|url=https://www.csbsju.edu/csb-archives/csbhistory/csbmiscellaneouslists/sisterslist/sistermariellagable|title=Sister Mariella Gable, OSB – CSB/SJU|website=www.csbsju.edu|access-date=20 August 2018}}