342 The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (with Laura Marsh)

The History of Literature

Jacke Wilson

Arts, History, Books

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 August 2021

⏱️ 80 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the aftermath of World War II, author Graham Greene was in personal and professional agony. His marriage was on the rocks, his soul was struggling to find its home, and his restless spirit had taken him into the bedrooms of multiple women. After several tumultuous years ("grotesquely complicated" was how he described his personal life), he sat down to record his feelings about one lover in particular, the wealthy (and married) American heiress, Catherine Walston. The result was one of the most powerful, suspenseful, and moving novels of all time. In this episode, Jacke talks to Laura Marsh about the enduring appeal of The End of the Affair. Laura Marsh is the literary editor of The New Republic and co-host of the podcast "The Politics of Everything." She has written for the New York Review of Books, The Nation, Dissent, The Times Literary Supplement and Literary Review. Previously she was an editor at the New York Review of Books. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/shop. (We appreciate it!) Find out more at historyofliterature.com, jackewilson.com, or by following Jacke and Mike on Twitter at @thejackewilson and @literatureSC. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to The History of Literature, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding literature, history, and storytelling like Storybound, Micheaux Mission, and The History of Standup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The History of Literature podcast is a member of the Podglomerate Network and LitHub radio.
0:07.6	Hello.
0:10.8	He was a successful novelist, a former spy, and what he later called a Catholic agnostic.
0:17.5	She was an American eras, married to a British farmer and politician.
0:22.0	The writer and the American fell in love shortly after World War II.
0:26.8	He left his wife and family for her, but because of his Catholicism, could not get a divorce.
0:32.6	After four tumultuous years, the writer drew upon the experience of the affair to write
0:39.0	one of his greatest novels, the end of the affair.
0:42.7	His name, of course, was Graham Greene.
0:45.7	Her name was Catherine Walston.
0:48.2	The novel is dedicated to see, in the British version, in the American version, Greene
0:53.1	and his publishers were more forthcoming.
0:56.2	Being it out as, to Catherine, an act of defiance, or self-sabotage, perhaps a very typical
1:02.9	gesture for Greene, who sometimes seemed so miserable, he saw no choice but to set himself
1:08.5	on fire and burn down everything around him as well.
1:12.3	It worked, more or less.
1:14.2	Her husband finally could not ignore the affair, and he finally took some action, but Catherine
1:20.0	would not leave him because she respected him, and Greene was stuck too, unable to divorce
1:25.7	his wife.
1:27.0	They both had other lovers, as well.
1:29.9	Greene went to a priest who told him he would have to give up the affair, and Greene's response
1:34.6	was, well, I'm afraid I shall have to find another confessor.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jacke Wilson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jacke Wilson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.