Graham Greene
Graham Greene:
A Catholic Novelist
Henry Graham Greene (1904-1991) is famous around the world as a prolific writer. During his career, extending over sixty years, he wrote more than twenty novels, a collection of short stories, several plays, screenplays as well as books of travel writing, essays and film criticisms. It’s not an easy matter to deal with such a milestone in English literature that came through so many different periods and matured so much over the time[1]. One aspect of his personality may help us as a red-line in our investigation: Graham Greene was a Catholic writer, or as he said, “a writer that happens to be Catholic”[2]. Indeed he is often compared to French Catholic novelists of the first half of the twentieth century such as Leon Bloy, François Mauriac and George Bernanos. According to Mark Bosco, Greene himself acknowledged that “there does exist a thread in my carpet constituted by Catholicism, but only one has to stand back in order to make it out” [3]. Bosco explains that if Catholicism is not the really fabric of many of his texts, it is actually a thread that helps to bid his literary preoccupations into a recognizable pattern. We’ll come to the conclusion that for Greene there can be no Catholic novels, but that faith helps to give individuality to the characters. We will focus on some of his so-called catholic novels as Brighton Rock (1938), The Power and the Glory (1940). First, let us clarify in which soil did Greene’s faith grow and what’s his background?
Graham Greene stated on several occasions his belief that one’s personality is determined in the first sixteen years of life. He was born in a traditional Anglican family and had a peaceful early life. His father was headmaster at Berkhamsted School where Graham became a border at the age of thirteen, though his parents lived in the same building. This was a dramatic experience for a sensitive child, torn between a peaceful family atmosphere in the weekend and the
A Catholic Novelist
Henry Graham Greene (1904-1991) is famous around the world as a prolific writer. During his career, extending over sixty years, he wrote more than twenty novels, a collection of short stories, several plays, screenplays as well as books of travel writing, essays and film criticisms. It’s not an easy matter to deal with such a milestone in English literature that came through so many different periods and matured so much over the time[1]. One aspect of his personality may help us as a red-line in our investigation: Graham Greene was a Catholic writer, or as he said, “a writer that happens to be Catholic”[2]. Indeed he is often compared to French Catholic novelists of the first half of the twentieth century such as Leon Bloy, François Mauriac and George Bernanos. According to Mark Bosco, Greene himself acknowledged that “there does exist a thread in my carpet constituted by Catholicism, but only one has to stand back in order to make it out” [3]. Bosco explains that if Catholicism is not the really fabric of many of his texts, it is actually a thread that helps to bid his literary preoccupations into a recognizable pattern. We’ll come to the conclusion that for Greene there can be no Catholic novels, but that faith helps to give individuality to the characters. We will focus on some of his so-called catholic novels as Brighton Rock (1938), The Power and the Glory (1940). First, let us clarify in which soil did Greene’s faith grow and what’s his background?
Graham Greene stated on several occasions his belief that one’s personality is determined in the first sixteen years of life. He was born in a traditional Anglican family and had a peaceful early life. His father was headmaster at Berkhamsted School where Graham became a border at the age of thirteen, though his parents lived in the same building. This was a dramatic experience for a sensitive child, torn between a peaceful family atmosphere in the weekend and the
Bibliography: - BARLOW, G. W.(2012) “Graham Greene”. In Encyclopaedia Universalis. Online: (last visit: 30th November 2012); - BERGONZI, B - BOSCO, M. “Graham Greene’s Catholic Imagination”. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005; - HILSON, J.C - HYNES, S. “Graham Green: a Collection of Critical Essays”. Cambridge: Prentice-Hall International ltd., 1973 (sec.1987); - "Graham Greene" - MOELLER, C. “Littérature du XXème Siècle et Christianisme”, t. 1 Silence de Dieu. Tournai : Casterman, 1967; - O’PREY, P., “A Reader’s Guide to Graham Greene” - WATTS, C. “Graham Greene”, in “A Companion to the British and Irish Novel 1945-2000”. Oxford: Blackwell publ., 2005. [13] O’PREY, P., p12, 1147-151.