Product Description

With Sancho Panza, a deposed Communist mayor, his faithful Rocinate, an antiquated motorcar, Monsignor Quixote roams through modern-day Spain in a brilliant picaresque fable. Like Cervantes' classic, "Monsignor Quixote" offers enduring insights into our life and times.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25188 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Review
The theological shade of Greene - in a wispy, undramatic, but charming modern-day fable, loosely paralleling the Cervantes classic. Quixote here is Father Quixote, a Spanish village-priest and a supposed descendant of the original Don. But while Don Q. defiantly stayed true to the Old Chivalry, Father Q. clings to the Old Theology - "just having faith." And, after rather accidentally becoming a Monsignor, aging Father Quixote is virtually forced out of his beloved El Toboso parish by the cruel Bishop - so he sets off on some travels in his beloved, senile Fiat (called "Rocinante," of course), with the Communist ex-Mayor of El Toboso as his Sancho Panza. Much of this small book, then, consists of the witty yet weighty theological/political dialogues between Catholic and Communist: sipping wine, they compare the relative evils of Stalin and Torquemada; they contrast faith in God with faith in Marx; Monsignor Q. reads the Manifesto, finding some unlikely spirituality in it; matters of doctrine (e.g., birth control) are debated; and they'll eventually agree that Quixote is a "Catholic in spite of the Curia" while the Mayor is a "Communist. . . in spite of the Politburo." But meanwhile, on their raggedy travels to Madrid and the countryside, this ideologically pure duo attracts repressive attention from the State and the Church. They are harassed by the post-Franco Guardia. The utterly innocent priest's wayward behavior en route - allowing the Mayor to try on his collar, mistakenly going to a dirty movie (even worse, chuckling at it!) - leads to his Bishop-ordered abduction, virtual house arrest, and clerical suspension. And finally, after the Mayor rescues the Monsignor, there'll be a final journey - to a literal confrontation with the Church's commerciality (Quixote is furious over a money-covered statue of Our Lady) and a final, fatal runin with the State. An unsubtle parable? Indeed - especially when compared with the fuller version of similar themes (and the far richer central characterization) in The Power and the Glory. But Greene mixes village-comedy with philosophical repartee in a unique, grave-yet-sparkling fashion - and, while his usual fiction audience may find this even less satisfying than Dr. Fischer of Geneva, theologically-oriented readers (not to mention Comp. Lit. aficionados) will be quite steadily, amusingly engaged. (Kirkus Reviews)

From the Publisher
'A deliciously funny novel and an affectionate offering to all that is noblest and least changing in the people and life of Spain' The Times

Book Information
With his Sancho Panza a deposed Communist mayor, his faithful Rocinante an antiquated motor car, Monsignor Quixote roams through modern-day Spain in a brilliant picaresque fable that, like Cervantes' classic, offers enduring insights into our life and times.

'A powerful late work... a mixture of entertainment and deep human awareness' -- Malcolm Bradbury

‘One of the finest writers of any language... Monsignor Quixote is a tour de force and a revealing document of Greene's theological and political intelligence’ --Washington Post

'Monsignor Quixote is important in showing what may be the last stage of the novelist's long argument with himself about the needs, nature and effect of faith' --The Times Literary Supplement

'A devastating blend of humour and sharp insight' --New Statesman

'Graham Greene's best, most absorbing, adept and effortless novel' --Spectator

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