David Marr's The prince: faith, sex abuse and narrative authority in literary journalism

摘要

David Marr has worked as a journalist across television, radio, print and online media. Although this impressive body of work is necessarily varied, Marr has said his recent work was governed by three underlying purposes: "Making sense of complex events, turning evidence into narrative, tracking power in Australia" (Eisenhuth & McDonald, 2007, p. 35). This article looks at one of the recurring themes in Marr's work: the role of religion in Australia. It examines the way Marr tracks the complex relationships of religious power by turning evidence into narrative, and the complex strategies that he employs to ensure narrative authority in a complex and controversial area. It focuses on The prince (2014), a biographical investigation of Cardinal George Pell and the Catholic Church's sexual abuse crisis. As both a broadcaster and an author, Marr's work is performative and investigative. The paper argues that this strong performative voice in Marr's work is a critical part of its success and an intrinsic part of the way he turns evidence into narrative, and provides a case study for the way narrative authority is exercised in literary journalism.