Monsignor Quixote Rides Again: The Beginning of Graham Greene's Holidays in Spain

• Main Author: Flor, Carlos Villar
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2024
• Subjects: Graham Greene; Leopoldo Durán; Monsignor Quixote; Spain; travel in literature
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss39/7; https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1986/viewcontent/KK_2039_2C_202022_207_20Regular_20section_20__20Flor.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

The present paper sets out to reconstruct the first of Graham Greene’s fifteen trips through the Iberian Peninsula between 1976 and 1989, detailing the preparations, itinerary, anecdotes, companions, topics of conversation, and possible reflections in the author’s biography. The analysis of Greene’s peregrinations in Spain with Leopoldo Durán offers insights into the genesis and resonances of his most Hispanic novel, Monsignor Quixote, which over time he regarded as the most accomplished work in his long bibliography. This paper will reveal the various contradictions and errors contained in Durán’s memoir, Graham Greene: Friend and Brother (1994), which until now has been the only source to recreate Greene’s Iberian trips. In addition, new details will be added that further specify the daily routines in this trip that marked a new tradition in Greene’s life.