Graham Greene, Travels with My Aunt

Patrick Early (British Council)

Ed. by Peter Childs, Newman University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1969

Places

United Kingdom (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Graham Greene’s religious novels The Power and the Glory (1940), The Heart of the Matter (1948), and The End of the Affair (1951) deal with tragic themes. In these works, Greene uses Roman Catholic moral teaching as an unyielding framework against which human beings twist and turn like flies caught in a spider’s web. There are unresolvable tensions between the demands of God and our human loves and desires. The adulterer Scobie in the Heart of the Matter is guilty of mortal sin and risks eternal damnation, yet he cannot change his feelings or behaviour. How can the Roman Catholic rule-book be compatible with Christian compassion or mere secular common sense? These fictions raise the …

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1616 words

Citation: Early, Patrick. "Travels with My Aunt". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 March 2020 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39068, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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