The End of an Affair (novel)

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The end of an affair (original title The End of the Affair ) is a novel by the British writer Graham Greene from 1951. Based on an extramarital affair in London during World War II , Greene raises questions about love and faith . The novel was made into a film in 1955 and 1999 .

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In January 1946, after more than a year, the aspiring writer Maurice Bendrix meets an old friend again, the civil servant Henry Miles. Soon the conversation turns to Miles' wife Sarah. Henry fears that his wife is cheating on him, so he toyed with the idea of ​​hiring a private detective. The news tears open old wounds in Bendrix, because he actually had an affair with Sarah from 1939 to 1944 without Henry's knowledge. The relationship, which was repeatedly burdened by his jealousy, ended abruptly in June 1944 after a German rocket attack on London. Since then, Bendrix has not seen Sarah again until he meets her at Henry's house that evening.

The idea that Sarah could have a new lover never lets Bendrix go, and so it is he who hires a detective instead of Miles. Although Mr. Parkis, who is always accompanied by his 12-year-old son on his observations, is rather clumsy, in the end he finds out that Sarah regularly visits a man named Richard Smythe. But this is not her lover, but an atheist who gives life advice . Sarah hopes that he can convince her of the non-existence of God , but all his attempts at conversion only drive her more and more to Catholicism .

Bendrix learns about the conflict in her life through Sarah's diary: On June 16, 1944, the day of their last rendezvous, a rocket struck his house. Sarah believed the unconscious Bendrix had died and prayed desperately to a god she didn't believe in. Finally, she made a promise to end her affair if her lover was brought back to life. After Bendrix regained consciousness, she felt bound by her vow and left him that same day. She never lost her love for him, but she felt bound to her husband and her promise. She believed that she could only escape her dilemma by turning to God and ultimately by death. After learning of their continued love, Bendrix hopes to win Sarah back until Henry informs him that she has died of pneumonia willfully contracted the January night they last met.

Although Henry now knows about his wife's affair, he invites Bendrix to stay with him. He, who has always loved his wife without being able to give her fulfillment, would like to be close to her at least in mutual conversations with her lover. Struggling with a god to whom Sarah first sacrificed her love and then her life, Bendrix prevents a Catholic burial against her last will . In the days that followed, a number of inexplicable phenomena were lined up, which those affected - Parkis' recovered son and the converted Smythe - attribute to the influence of the deceased. Even Bendrix recognizes the existence of God in the end, but all that he can bring towards him after the experience is not love, but hate.

background

The End of the Affair is one of Greene's so-called “Catholic novels”, in which the author, who has converted to Catholicism, examines moral questions and conflicts in front of a decidedly Catholic system of beliefs and values. This series also includes Brighton Rock (1938, The Abyss of Life ), The Power and the Glory (1940, The Force and the Glory ) and The Heart of the Matter (1948, The Heart of All Things ).

The love triangle in the novel is based on Greene's own long-term love affair with Catherine Walston, the wife of the British farmer and politician Henry Walston , which was not ended by the book's publication. Greene dedicated the British edition to "C." while the American edition spelled out the name "Catherine".

In Greene's more traditional work, The End of the Affair is one of his most experimental works and includes jumps between different perspectives and time levels as well as a long passage in diary that Sarah addresses directly to God. However, the dissolution of the novel has often brought him criticism of the credibility and overexertion of the action as well as the banality of Sarah's conversion .

Adaptations

Two feature films were made based on Greene's novel. The 1955 production titled Das Ende einer Affaire starred Deborah Kerr , Van Johnson , John Mills , Peter Cushing and Michael Goodliffe , directed by Edward Dmytryk . In 1999, Neil Jordan filmed the novel as The End of an Affair with Ralph Fiennes , Stephen Rea , Julianne Moore , Jason Isaacs and Ian Hart .

In 2004, the opera was The End of the Affair by Jake Heggie at the Houston Grand Opera premiered.

In 2012, Audible.com released an audiobook of the novel, read by Colin Firth , which was named Audiobook of the Year in 2013 .

Others

The novel is ranked 71 on a list of the Guardian's 100 best novels published on January 26, 2015. It is also on the Guardian's January 2009 list of "1000 novels everyone must read: the definive list" Has.

expenditure

  • Graham Greene: The End of the Affair . Heinemann, London 1951.
  • Graham Greene: The End of the Affair . With an introduction by Monica Ali . London: Vintage books 2004.
  • Graham Greene: The starting point . Translation by Walther Puchwein. Zsolnay, Vienna 1951.
  • Graham Greene: The end of an affair . Translation by Walther Puchwein. Zsolnay, Vienna 1953.
  • Graham Greene: The end of an affair . Translation by Walther Puchwein. Rowohlt, Hamburg 1955.
  • Graham Greene: The end of an affair . Translation by Edith Walter. Bechtermünz, Augsburg 1998.
  • Graham Greene: The end of an affair . Translation by Edith Walter. dtv, Munich 2000.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sunita Sinha: Graham Grenne. A Study of His Major Novels . Atlantic, New Delhi 2007, ISBN 978-81-269-0876-9 , p. 2.
  2. ↑ Sunita Sinha: Graham Grenne. A Study of His Major Novels . Atlantic, New Delhi 2007, ISBN 978-81-269-0876-9 , p. 53.
  3. ↑ Gavin Keulks: Graham Greene . In: David Scott Kastan: The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature Oxford University Press, Oxford 2006, ISBN 0-19-516921-2 , p. 468.
  4. ^ The End of the Affair (1955). Internet Movie Database , accessed June 10, 2015 .
  5. ^ The End of the Affair (1999). Internet Movie Database , accessed June 10, 2015 .
  6. ^ The End of the Affair at The National Opera Center America
  7. ^ "Colin Firth Wins Audiobook of the Year for 'The End of the Affair". May 31, 2013. Galleycat ( Memento of the original from January 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mediabistro.com
  8. ^ Robert McCrum: The 100 best novels: No 71 - The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (1951) , accessed October 18, 2015.
  9. ↑ Bestbook fiction , accessed January 18, 2015.