Downloadable Studies

The Studies

Altogether Beautiful: A Study of “Assumptions”

The story read against the dogma of the Assumption—the antiphon of the feast, the fire over the water, the sacred words the story never uses, and the conversion without erasure by which stain becomes stigmata and a household word carries the holy. Read the essay · Download the PDF (13 pages, 53 KB)

The Remembering Voice

Narrative style in the short fiction—the child’s sensory filter held in place while the adult consciousness shapes cadence, selection, and pattern, with a full reading of the dialogue mechanics: the vanishing tag, the action beat, and the em dash. Read the essay · Download the PDF (7 pages, 34 KB)

Altogether Beautiful: The Religious Architecture of James Mulhern’s Work

The full concordance study of religious allusion across the fiction and poetry—the recurring images, prayers, and readings collected in one place. Read the study · Download the PDF (587 pages, 3.5 MB)

Credo: A Statement of Belief

The artistic creed—writing from mercy rather than judgment, each story a small act of faith. Read the credo · Download the PDF (8 pages, 40 KB)

All We Ever Needed: The Architecture of Mercy

A study of the short-story collection—mercy as its governing ethic, carried by gesture rather than argued onto the page. Read the essay · Download the PDF (9 pages, 42 KB)

Essays—Criticism & Craft: Book Club Companion

Second edition: discussion questions and a critical essay on five readings—“The Habit of Return,” “Altogether Beautiful,” “The Sacred in the Shabby,” “Credo,” and “Writing as Communion”—with a reading map of the full archive. Browse the essays · Download the PDF (15 pages, 321 KB)

The Hopper Suite: An Index of Painterly Images and Their Texts

All one hundred and forty paintings in the manner of Edward Hopper that accompany the essays and pages of this site, arranged in seven chapters from Light to Places, each with its note and the pages where it hangs. See the gallery · Download the PDF (56 pages, 8.1 MB)

The Poetry of James Mulhern: A Student Study Guide

Six poems for study with commentary, notes on style and technique, the question of school and tradition, and discussion questions. 18 pages. In the Store, $7

The Poetry of James Mulhern: A Slim Companion

A two-page handout naming six recurring features of the work, from plain diction to elegy without theatrics, for quick classroom use. Download the PDF (2 pages, 192 KB)