Monsignor Quixote

Product Information

All in all it’s a beautiful little book, perhaps not an Important Work by a man who is increasingly rising in my esteem with each passing book, yet perfectly executed nonetheless. The romp across the Spanish landscapes framed Father Quixote and Mayor Sancho's constant philosophical exchanges, their endless debates between the merits and virtues of Catholic life and Marxism. However, they have become "obsolete", without purpose and lost in the changes imposed in their lives, like many other characters of Greene.

As a free mind a person can choose what he or she believes and some of these beliefs can be more firmly rooted in reality than others; ie. When it comes down to it, belief in something does not really require the existence of the thing one believes in.

His faithful Rocinante an antiquated motor-car, his Sanch Panza a deposed communist mayor; how windmills the Guardian Civil. Which book, I wish to know most earnestly, would foster such a feeling of warmth and assurance today? Having read the original story I enjoyed all the references to the illustrious Don Quixote, as well as the depiction of the political situation in Spain of the 1970s.

Originally published in the UK in the same year, the novel was adapted into a film in 1985, starring Alec Guinness and Leo McKern. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Greene's hilariously updated version of Cervantes was memorably adapted for BBC television in 1989 starring Leo McKern and Alec Guinness. Greene used another pair of delusional heroes in "Monseigneur Quixote" to achieve a similar effect as in "Travels with my aunt". In these last two years, a lot of things happened - mostly terrible and devastating and still a few so good that they can almost overshadow the disappointments completely.

Quite amusing (and sometimes hilarious) are the multiple references to the classic Don Quixote story of Cervantes (the rickety car, - an old Seat -, clearly being Rocinante). First edition hardcover octavo (VG) d/w (VG); all our specials have minimal description to keep listing them viable. In their dialogues about Catholicism and Communism, the two men are brought closer, start to appreciate each other better but also to question their own beliefs. I remember not rating it among my favourite books by Graham Greene and I wonder now if it demands a certain maturity (which I have in years, these days, if in nothing else! Graham Greene was the best 200th century author never to be awarded a Nobel Prize (almost certainly because of one member of the Academy with a personal grudge) He was equally good in writing a crime story, Brighton Rock, powerful narratives such as The Power and the Glory or The quiet American and humour.