Published by Penguin, 1982, softcover, 256 pages, condition: new.
A religious novel, it tells the story of a humble priest who is elevated to Monsignor by the Pope himself because of a clerical error.
It's modern picaresque, with frequent nods to Cervantes... Quixote and Sancho drink and talk - about Judas and Stalin, the prodigal son, Marx, and belief that wears off like vodka. A book of moral complexity that explores deep theological themes in a light-hearted, accessible way.
"The believer will fight another believer over a shade of difference; the doubter fights only with himself.
The novel with its gentle, mesmeric pace and Greene's gift for evoking scenery superbly in just some words (better than Maugham and Hemingway, in my opinion), its understated but exquisitely enjoyable sense of humour and its rich feeling of universal compassion, is one thing that lifts "Monsignor Quixote" head and shoulders above its genre of pastiche. And that is its celebration of friendship and mutual understanding.
Its two protagonists include, it should not be forgotten, a Catholic priest who shares the name of his famous literary ancestor and who is as chivalrous about his faith as that haplessly romantic knight errant of Cervantes' classic. And there is also his unlikely Sancho Panza, a Communist mayor, accompanying him on a reluctant holiday across the breadth of Spain in the wake of the death of Franco. One would be tempted to say that these two men would have been sworn enemies - belonging to creeds opposed to each other in principle and action. And yet, this Catholic priest and this Communist mayor end up forming an incredible bond of friendship and fellow-feeling that transcends their respective faiths, united in one sense by a shared liking for food, drink, conversation and an unexpected emotion called doubt.
Yes, doubt. Nobody has portrayed doubt, not just in faith but also in love, loyalty and friendship, as convincingly as Greene did and in "Monsignor Quixote", both men are assailed from time to time with a sense of uncertainty of whether they can believe in their respective faiths anymore in a world that is changing and has changed beyond recognition. Both debate and argue gently about what do their beliefs mean and yet, as they find themselves asking those same questions to themselves too, they end up clinging to each other in a kinship of doubt, of the mutual acknowledgement of uncertainty in life.
And it is thus this element of friendship that makes, even now, "Monsignor Quixote" such a memorable, reassuring and beautiful reading experience for me. There are not many people around us who will still treasure friendship and camaraderie even as they would be different from each other and this book is like a calm, cool and concise instruction on how we can still find a kinship, a sense of fellow-feeling with people in similar tastes and interests even as our beliefs would differ widely from each other. Which book, I wish to know most earnestly, would foster such a feeling of warmth and assurance today?
