Called “a novelist of the soul” by The New York Times, the English writer Graham Greene (1904-1991) was fascinated by politics and religion. He worked as a newspaper and magazine editor and correspondent, and dismissed his early thrillers as “entertainment”, but he achieved literary acclaim with novels such as Brighton Rock (1938) and The Third Man (1950). In these and other books, often set in foreign locations, the prolific writer explored themes such as love, guilt, human weakness and spiritual strength.
powerful emotions
The End of the Affair tells the story of an adulterous love affair between an author (and first-person narrator of the novel), Maurice Bendrix, and Sarah Miles, the wife of a civil servant. Set during World War Two, it partly echoes Greene’s own painful love affair with the wife of a politician. The novel opens with a chance meeting between Bendrix and Henry Miles on a rainy day in London. Miles knows nothing about Bendrix’s affair with his wife, but two years after its end, Bendrix finds himself consumed by powerful emotions:
“If hate is not too large a term to use in relation to any human being, I hated Henry – I hated his wife Sarah too. And he, I suppose, came soon after the events of that evening to hate me: as he surely at times must have hated his wife and that other […] So this is a record of hate far more than of love
“Se l’odio non è un termine troppo vasto da adoperare nei riguardi qualsiasi essere umano, quell’Henry io l’odiavo, e odiavo anche sua moglie Sara. Come anche lui finì per odiar me, dopo gli avvenimenti di quella sera; come indubbiamente deve a momenti aver odiato sua moglie, e quel terzo [...] Così questo è un documento di odio più che di amore.”
secrets
Miles tells Bendrix that he suspects his wife may have met another man, but while he has the name of a detective, he has never dared call him. Bendrix, driven by jealousy, decides to meet with the detective, Mr. Savage, himself. Pretending to act on behalf of Henry Miles, he asks him to watch Sarah and report back to him:
“’Her husband thinks that she’s deceiving him. She has private meetings. She lies about where she has been. She has – secrets.’
‘Ah, secrets, yes.’
‘There may be nothing in it, of course.’
‘In my long experience, Mr. Bendrix, there almost invariably is.’”
“Suo marito crede che essa lo tradisca. Ha degli appuntamenti segreti. Mentisce su dove è stata. Ha... dei segreti.»
«Già, già, dei segreti.»
«Naturalmente può darsi che in ciò non vi sia nulla.»
«Per mia lunga esperienza, signor Bendrix, quasi immancabilmente qualcosa c’è.”
miracles
The information the detective acquires, however, is not what Bendrix expects. The End of the Affair centres on a moral dilemma. When Bendrix’s home is destroyed by a bomb, Sarah prays for his survival. Yet in return she promises God
that should her lover survive she would leave Bendrix and return to her husband. Through flashbacks and extracts from Sarah’s journal, Greene leads the reader to understand the true nature of the end of the affair, the identity of ‘X’, and Sarah’s struggle to honour her promise.
“She turned quickly and stared at me with fear. I hadn’t realized that my dressing-gown was torn and dusted all over with plaster; my hair was white with it, and there was blood on my mouth and cheeks. ‘Oh, God,” she said, ‘You’re alive.’
‘You sound disappointed.’”
“Essa si volse di scatto e mi guardò con terrore. Non mi ero accorto che la mia vestaglia era a brandelli e tutta coperta di stucco; i mei capelli ne erano resi biacnhi e vi era sangue sulla mia bocca e sulle gote.
«Oh Dio» disse «sei vivo.» «Sembri delusa.»
sacrifices of love
Contemporary critics immediately praised The End of the Affair for its honesty and insight. Some recognised the autobiographical elements of the narrative. Others, however, were outraged by Greene’s sympathetic portrayal of the adulteress Sarah Miles. The author remained unapologetic, and his realistic depictions of the price of faith, the pain of loneliness, and the sacrifices of love continue to resonate today:
“I remembered how Sarah had prayed to the God she didn’t believe in, and now I spoke to the Sarah I didn’t believe in. I said: You sacrificed both of us once to bring me back to life, but what sort of a life is this without you?"
“Mi ricordai come Sara avesse pregato un Dio nel quale veramente non credeva, e ora io parlavo con la Sara in cui non credevo io. Dissi: Tu una volta ci hai sacrificati tutti e due per riportarmi alla vita, ma che specie di vita è questa senza di te?”
tribute
Greene travelled widely in search of inspiration for his twenty-four novels and numerous short stories, essays and screenplays. He is remembered as a superb storyteller who challenged societal and political preconceptions and complacency. The End of the Affair was twice adapted for the big screen. The 1955 film starred Deborah Kerr and Van Johnson, while the 1999 remake featured Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore, in an Oscar-nominated performance.