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"What is a "Catholic" novel? This book analyzes the fiction of Graham Greene in a radically new manner, considering in depth its form and content, which rest on the oppositions between secularism and religion. Sampson challenges these distinctions, arguing that Greene has a dramatic contribution to add to their methodological premises. Chapters on Greene's four "Catholic" novels and two of his "post-Catholic" novels are complemented by fresh insight into the critical importance of his nonfiction. The study paints an image of an inviting yet beguilingly complex literary figure"--
List of contents
Introduction: The Uninstructed Catholic | 1
1 The Ache of Modernism: Theological Aesthetics in Greene's Nonfiction | 15
2 Catholic Novels: Religious Anxieties in
Brighton Rock and
The Heart of the Matter | 38
3 Creator of Heaven and Earth:
Catholicism and the "Catholic" in
The Power and the Glory and
The End of the Affair | 80
4 Entertaining the Second Vatican Council:
Creative Theologies in
The Honorary Consul and
Monsignor Quixote | 119
5 Theory and Theology: Graham Greene's Remapping of Common Ground | 161
Conclusion: Where Now? | 195
Acknowledgments | 201
Notes | 205
Bibliography | 233
Index | 261
About the author
Martyn Sampson earned his Ph.D. from the University of the West of England, Bristol, where he taught English. He served as Director of the 2018 and 2019 Graham Greene International Festivals.
