"A full-length analysis and assessment of Callaghan's novels is long overdue. This study seeks to make such an analysis and assessment. It will show that Callaghan deserves better treatment than he has received and that, because of the bulk and quality of his work, he is truly a major author and not just the best of a bad Canadian lot. The study will also make a direct attack on one of the commonplaces of Callaghan criticism: that Callaghan is guilty of 'moral flabbiness,' 'flabbiness of thought,' that his novels reflect confusion and an inability to come to conclusions about the basic issues of life"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "April, 1966." / "Submitted to the Graduate School of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy." / Advisor: Griffith T. Pugh, Professor Directing Dissertation. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 254-266).