To the masters of the pen, we wish a happy birthday to Graham Greene and Wallace Stevens. This is from an interview Greene did with the Paris Review back in 1953 (ht WB). Greene, as we’ve said before, had an impeccable grasp of the upturned nature of the love of God, its invisibility to the pious and visibility lended to the humbled (the term “whisky priest” is his). Here he is talking about the “nerve of a theme” that traces through many of his greats: Brighton Rock, The End of the Affair, The Living Room, The Power and the Glory:
Steady, steady. Let’s put it this way. I write about situations that are common, universal might be more correct, in which my characters are involved and from which only faith can redeem them, though often the actual manner of the redemption is not immediately clear. They sin, but there is no limit to God’s mercy and because this is important, there is a difference between not confessing in fact, and the complacent and the pious may not realize it.
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