The Malta Independent on Sunday
The pleasures of reading at the time of Corona
Iam now the beast in the burrow who does not wish to be invaded. I enjoyed this rare opportunity for some quiet time when I did not need to be constantly referring to my diary and juggling with invitations. My clothes are there, looking like corpses, wanting their place in the sun. Well, finally, I am giving them an airing as have put a limit to invitations – no more than two a week. These are invitations to friends which had to be postponed because of the pandemic. I enjoyed every minute of catching up and getting some fresh air beyond my balconies.
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All good intentions of sorting stuff out at home and recycling lasted for the first week. It soon became boring. Here was a unique opportunity for me to catch up with my reading. So I once again postponed the recycling resolution and sorted out books I had been meaning to read for a long time.
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I thought I had read all of Graham Greene’s novels over the years so was surprised when friends in England sent me one I had never heard of Monsignor Quixote. Greene is a swift and brilliant storyteller, a formidable satirist.
This novel seems trivial compared to The Power and the Glory, The Heart of the Matter, the End of the Affair.
The title character of Monsignor Quixote is a village priest, elevated to the rank of monsignor through a clerical error, who travels to Madrid accompanied by his best friend, Sancho, the Communist ex-mayor of the village, in Greene’s lighthearted variation on Cervantes.
Monsignor Quixote (1982) is a contemporary re-imagining/repositioning of Cervantes brilliant classic Don Quixote – the story is still set in Spain, but now in the 1980’s rather than the 1600’s.
In Monsignor Quixote, the relationship between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza is the core of the novel, similarly in Monsignor Quixote it is the relationship between Monsignor Quixote and the Mayor that is the key – and as with Cervantes original, it is a relationship that is both entertaining and moving. It is a delightful read (and mercifully, much shorter). In the back seat of their battered car, aptly named Rosinante, is an inexhaustible case of good Manchegan wine. When they drink it all, they stop for more.
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Quixote compares the Holy Trinity to three bottles of wine from the same vintage – the same essence in three distinct entities.
Sancho is a communist whose faith in Marx, Engels, and Lenin is as strong as the Monsignor’s in the Holy Trinity.
I love the following comment by Sancho as I feel exactly like this about the Holy Trinity: “What puzzles me, friend, is how you can believe in so many incompatible ideas. For example, the Trinity. It’s worse than higher mathematics. Can you explain the Trinity to me? It was more than they could do in Salamanca.”
Yes, why is Catholicism so complicated.
The novel is at times hilarious; a priest in a brothel, a porn theatre all unbeknownst to him until it’s too late; travelling with a communist mayor, the exchange of religion and faith and politics and human error, is both funny and thought provoking.
I have stopped reading novels and mostly read biography or autobiography but Graham Green’s novel is really worth reading. I strongly recommend it.
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Another book I enjoyed and which gave me much to think about is
Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown by Anne Glenconner. This was passed on to me by a friend who had enjoyed it and said I would appreciate it too.
A Maid of Honour at the Queen’s coronation as well as Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret Anne Glenconner (born in 1932) has spent her life as a friend of the royal family. In this book she looks back at her life filled with glamour, drama as well as tragedy.
The eldest child of the 5th Earl of Leicester, she knew as a daughter she would not inherit the vast ancestral Holkham Hall or the family fortune. Bred and brought up instead to secure an eligible husband, she was to fall for the charismatic Colin Tennant (later Lord Glenconner), who would go on the buy Mustique in the Caribbean, turning it into the world’s most exclusive private island. They granted a plot of land to Princess Margaret who built her favourite home there. The parties and guests were legendary, but the marriage was
to prove a test of every strength Anne possessed.
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On Mustique Anne’s friendship with Princess Margaret, which began in childhood, grew ever closer. Becoming her lady-inwaiting, she could escape her difficult marriage to travel the world on diplomatic missions – from Australia, to America, Canada and Africa.
Tragedy engulfed Lady Glenconner when she lost two of her grown-up sons, and nursed her third son out of a coma after a motorbike accident. She also had two daughters.
Lord Glenconner died in 2010, leaving his entire fortune to a former employee. Anne, who is still alive has gone on to enjoy the freedom it’s given her, finally out of the shadow of the crown and her husband, and with the resilience and humour that defines her, reminding us that all that glitters is not gold.
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Those of you who are fans of The Crown might already know that in the third series Helena Bonham Carter had been cast as Princess Margaret. She went to meet Lady Glenconner who had known Princess Margaret so well as the actress wanted to do the princess justice in the film. Lady Glenconner writes: “A lot of her questions are about mannerisms. When she asked how the Princess had smoked, I described it rather like a Chinese tea ceremony: from taking her long cigarette holder out of her bag and carefully putting her cigarette in, to always lighting it herself with one of her beautiful lighters. She hated it when others tried to light it for her, and when any man eagerly advanced, she would make a small but definite gesture with her hand to make it quite clear… I tried to capture Princess Margaret’s quick wit – how she always saw the humorous side of things, not one to dwell, her attitude positive and matter-offact.”
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Lady Glennconer’s life had its many difficulties among them an unfaithful husband and the tragic loss of two sons. She saw the positive side of her life. “From a generation where we were taught not to over-think, not to look back or question, only now do I see how extraordinary the nine decades of my life have really been, full of extreme contrasts. I have found myself in a great many circumstances, both hilarious and awful, many of which seem, even to me, unbelievable. But I feel very fortunate that I have my wonderful family and for the life I have led.” I came across at least two interviews of hers on the internet. She is inspiring in the way she counts her blessings and does not dwell on the tragedies life has thrown at her. I need to read about such inspiring people from time to time, so that I keep on an even keel. Do make this book part of your summer reading. You won’t regret it.
Our artist this week is Anthony Vella who is also a photographer.