Mostly when we read for pleasure we can no more remember books we have read than dinners we have eaten. We enjoy the output of craftsmen like Robert Harris, C.J. Sansom and Donna Leon. They serve their purpose at the time and contribute to our general well-being and breadth of mind but we read, enjoy and forget.
Occasionally, however, a book makes such a jolting impression that it is in our memory bank for good. One such book is Graham Greene’s’ Brighton Rock’. Nothing sticks in the mind like Pinkie. Such is Graham Greene’s touch in describing this unfortunate individual and the background of race-course gangs that I still shudder when I recall the book.
We may have enjoyed entering the Arcadian world that Arthur Ransome, a man familiar with the ugly side of European politics, draws us into. The Swallows and Amazons inhabited a happy dreamland. To follow decent middle-class English children making the most of their privileged inheritance is not in the least upsetting. Nothing could be further from this Lake District idyll than the gritty world of Brighton that we are drawn into by Graham Greene.
We plumb the depths of faith in the form of Catholicism as we read about Pinkie. Not for him the gung-ho thrill of exuberant worship; not for him the quiet mellowness of a tranquil rural Evensong that was once the staple religious fare in England. Instead, Greene explores the nature of evil, repentance and the disturbing threat of hell and damnation., His writing interests took him to Mexico, Indo-China. Congo and to Catholic involvement in imperial ambition and nationalist fervour with a disregard for his personal safety. His serious approach owes something, they say, to Jansenism with its severe doctrine of the contest between irresistible grace and human frailty.
Greene had serious difficulties with women. He also had a reckless streak that showed itself in a juvenile flirtation with Russian roulette and self-harm. In a new study of the author of ‘Brighton Rock’ Richard Greene (no relative) explores the faith of this novelist, a manic-depressive who recklessly went to trouble-spots and war-zones, encountering the Catholic input in such places. He was an immensely capable writer who denied being a Catholic novelist and said he was a novelist who was a Catholic. He described himself as a Catholic agnostic, having converted to Catholicism in his early days.
We may happily devour Richard Greene’s biography. It will help us to know more about the nature and influence of the Christian faith its Catholic form in today’s world. ‘Russian Roulette’ is published by Little Brown.
MONDAY MEALS
Monday is the day when parishioners at Felsted, Esssex are invited to a church event at the Chequers pub. A meal is followed by a short talk. The two parishes of Felsted and Little Dunmow also organise men’s breakfasts. Felsted has an independent school which educated Oliver Cromwell’s sons.
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