The heart of all things

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The Heart of the Matter ( The Heart of the Matter ) is a novel by Graham Greene , who in 1948 was published. He deals with moral issues closely related to Catholicism . The novel is on the Modern Library's list of the "100 best English-language novels of the 20th century" . Time magazine ranks the novel among the top 100 English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005. In 2015, 82 international literary critics and scholars voted the novel one of the most important British novels .

Greene tells the story against a background he got to know as a British secret service officer in Freetown , Sierra Leone . The location is not mentioned in the novel, but Greene mentions it in his memoir, Ways of Escape .

action

The main character Scobie is a police officer in colonial West Africa during World War II . He is married to the Catholic Louise, because of whom he converted to the Catholic Church . Although he is a rather superficial practicing Catholic, he is very devout.

Scobie finances Louise a trip to South Africa. During Louise's absence, he met a young English woman named Helen and began a passionate affair with her. But he is aware that he is committing a grave sin . When Louise returns, Scobie tries to hide this affair from her but cannot leave Helen, so his priest advises him to think about it and refuses absolution . Scobie still goes to mass with his wife and receives holy communion .

Desperate, he decides to free everyone - including God - and commits suicide , even though he is aware that he is damned with it. The attempt to hide the affair turns out to be useless in the end, because Louise was not as naive as he thought. The suicide is exposed by a suitor of Louise and Louise is in doubt about God's grace and forgiveness.

bibliography

  • Graham Greene: The Heart of the Matter . Novel. William Heinemann, London 1948.
    • German edition: The heart of all things . German by Walter Puchwein. Zsolnay, Hamburg 1949.
    • New translation: The heart of all things . German by Edith Walter. Zsolnay, Vienna 1995. Most recently on dtv, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-423-19128-9 ; New edition 2016.

Film adaptations

Web links

Wikiquote: The Heart of the Matter  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Guardian: The best British novel of all times - have international critics found it? , accessed on January 2, 2016.