Abstract

This chapter examines the representation of ageing and of neurodiversity in Graham Greene’s novel Monsignor Quixote (1982), and in the 1985 film adaptation of the book, shot entirely in Spain and with a Spanish crew. It argues that there is a continuity between Greene’s lifelong interest in the Hispanic world and the fact that his only novel to rework characters, structure and generic form from a canonical text should turn for this purpose to Cervantes and to the Spanish tradition of the picaresque. It also argues that it is more than coincidental that the most autobiographical of Greene’s novels is set in Spain: Greene’s later years, and his understanding of old age, were shaped by frequent visits to Spain and by his journeys with his friend and philosophical sparring partner, Leopoldo Durán. The chapter posits that disability in Greene’s work remains an understudied subject. It underscores the author’s loyalty to his disabled friends and the inclusion of functional diversity in his works for the stage. The chapter argues that the colloquial format of the novel articulates Greene’s own internal conflicts, between his Catholicism and his left-leaning politics. Taking Sally Chivers’ Silvering Screen template as a benchmark, the chapter examines where the film adaptation reproduces stereotypical cinematic images of ageing, and where it departs from these. Close reading of the narrative’s final scene, in which a neurologically traumatised Quixote appears to perform a mass, queries the compartmentalisation of disability and aging in the silvering screen paradigm.