Monsignor Quixote

This book tells not only a great story, but give a wonderful insight into the author Graham Greene.

Entertaining, quite easy to read, and profound. On the surface this is a short novel about about an unassuming village priest (promoted to Monsignor) and the deposed ex-mayor (the more "world-wise" of the pair) who take a road trip. It is set in post-Franco Spain of about the late 1970's. Monsignor Quixote is a devout Catholic, the ex-mayor (Sancho) a devout Communist. Their adventures include run-ins with the police, stops at a brothel and risque movie, an encounter with a robber, inciting a community riot, and so on. They have long talks, with hearts and lips loosened by much wine (which they revere). Monsignor Quixote loves his old car, which in a way becomes yet an additional character in the story. We can all identify with this pair to some degree, be ye Christian or Communist. The mayor is washed up politically. The monsignor has a jerk for a boss (his bishop). It's light and fun, and has many laughable moments, but . . . . Deeper - the author explores issues within Christianity and (to a lesser extent) Communism. Issues of; the "trinity" and the Holy Spirit, prayer, elitism and insincerity in the church, loyalty and betrayal, "brown-nosing", police oppression, financial scandal in the church, sexuality, "moral theology" vs. righteous brotherly love, generosity and hospitality, comparisons and contrasts between The Church and The Communist Party, etc, etc. A thinking person's feast. Easy to absorb and digest, but dwell on points of interest as long as you like. The monsignor, though portrayed as a simple man, is a talented wit, as is the mayor, and their exchanges are a joy to read. In his behavior and philosophy, the monsignor is given to "coloring outside the lines" so to speak, which keeps him in trouble with his bishop. But really . . . he is a humble, wise, lovable and loving man, who exercises and lives a pure religion much superior to his rule-abiding, judgemental colleagues. And he is persecuted for it (sound familiar?). Sancho, though more wordly, cynical, and having rejected the chuch, is not so bad a guy either and they play well off one another. In the end, the monsignor is able to find some good in Karl Marx, as the mayor reconnects a bit with the God he left many years before. One need not be Catholic to connect with and enjoy this book (I'm not). This is the second Graham Greene book I've read, the other being, The Power and the Glory. A wonderful author - most highly recommended.

This is one of the funniest and cleverest novels I have ever read. It is also one of the deepest. Behind the clever adaptation of the Don Quixote story to a context in post-Franco Spain there is a dance of ideas, much as Shaw's plays are a dance of ideas, and the questions dealt with are the biggest and most fundamental that we all have to deal with. An innocent and un-intellectual Catholic priest sets out on a holiday with a communist politician, and their discussions, always friendly and courteous and greatly assisted by wine, centre on their respective faiths. The communist faith is much the more straightforward - the ex-mayor, defeated at a recent election, finds the general outlook of Marx congenial, he finds that doubt shackles freedom of action, and that's about as far as his introspection goes. Catholicism is about bigger issues altogether, such as do we go to heaven or to hell for all eternity, and the concepts involved, for someone who really thinks about them honestly, are sufficient to unseat anyone's mind. There is no real alternative to thinking about them, so in the interests of peace of mind what people do is to think about them not honestly but either ingenuously or disingenuously. Graham Greene, like Muriel Spark, was a convert to Catholicism, and like Dame Muriel his treatment of it in his writing is wry and ironic. What he really `believed' is not quite clear and I'm sure not meant to be. Indeed he even casts some doubt around the question of what `belief' actually consists of, and rightly so in my own view. At one point Father Quixote admits that a certain doctrine is one that he believes out of obedience, an admirable attitude for traditionalist believers whether Catholic or communist - you believe x because you're supposed to believe it and you'll be in trouble if you don't. Greene quite obviously sees that Catholic doctrine evolved as a book of rules to keep people under control. What started as religious and ethical teaching developed rapidly into thought-enforcement and thought-policing, but the matter goes even deeper - behind it all there is supposed to be a God whose word the ecclesiastical power-structure dispenses, and this God is not, like Marx, someone who certainly exists but only a hypothesis. How much further Greene wishes us to pursue this line of thought I'm not clear, but for me two considerations follow - firstly what is supposed to be God's word is actually a human construct foisted on the hypothetical God, something that to me seems outright blasphemy; and in the second place we have a clearer idea these days what the Creator has created, and such a Creator is not likely to bear much resemblance to Jehovah in the scriptures having to assert his authority against Baal, Dagon etc at intervals. Indeed if there is one crumb of comfort in the contemplation of such a Creator it's likely to be that he will take little or no notice of our insolence in presuming to speak for his intentions. Towards the end of t

A really moving and thought-provoking novel. In this book, Greene brings up all kinds of interesting ideas, whilst maintaining a sense of humour. Unlike a lot of other books that deal with issues like religion, this isn't at all heavy-going, owing to the engaging style of writing.

Graham Greene is simply fantastic. This is a novel I waited a long time to read. I actually read Cervantes' "Don Quixote" first, in the very edition Greene cites, J.M. Cohen's translation in the Penguin Classics, so that I could pay adequate respect to Greene, and the spirit of his work. Persecuted by self-doubt at being promoted to the clerical rank of monsignor, Father Quixote, a parish priest of El Toboso, and 'Sancho' Zancas, the former mayor of the town, go for a holiday before undertaking the next phase of their lives. In a novel concerned with trying to differentiate between fact and fiction, certainty and doubt, the two must leave the shelter of comfortable, structured belief and challenge each other's resolve, as well as gauge the world's response to those beliefs. Over the course of their adventures, they drink bottle upon bottle of wine and talk about their lives and their belief systems, Catholicism and Marxism, respectively. In "Monsignor Quixote", Greene does a marvelous job creating complex, realistic, and emotionally involving characters. His Quixote and Sancho are indeed what one might expect if Cervantes' characters had descendants living in the mid-20th century. The novel, like that of Cervantes, achieves its brilliance through dialogue, with little attention to physical descriptions, aside from what is absolutely necessary to form an image. I do not recall the last time so short a work (it is barely over 200 pages) gave me such cause to laugh, weep, and think so deeply. Though Greene's tone may favour Catholic sentiment, it is far from orthodox, and fit for a literate and thoughtful audience. My only problem with the novel upon finishing it was that it was not much, much longer.

A book I read before I read Cervantes' original, yet still appreciated greatly. The images are vivid, and the people are somehow funny and beautiful and profound at the same time. Graham Greene certainly is one of the best writers I have ever experienced