Sunday, March 28, 2010

Ten of the best priests in literature

At the Guardian, John Mullan named a list of ten of the best priests in literature.

One priest on the list:
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

The most frighteningly convincing of all Greene's priests is Father Crompton. The narrator, Bendrix, discovers, after the death of his lover, Sarah, that she has been received into the Catholic church. He is appalled and confronts the priest ("haggard, graceless, with the Torquemada nose") over dinner. But he is rhetorically bested; the grimly assured priest has heard every argument before.
Read about another priest on the list.

The End of the Affair
also appears on Mullan's list of ten of the best novels about novelists and Douglas Kennedy's top ten books about grief.

Also see Paul Murray's ten best list of the worst fictional clergymen.

--Marshal Zeringue