''The Jealous God'' is a novel by
John Braine
John Gerard Braine (13 April 1922 – 28 October 1986) was an English novelist. Braine is usually listed among the angry young men, a loosely defined group of English writers who emerged on the literary scene in the 1950s.
Biography
John Brain ...
which was first published in 1964. Set in the early 1960s among the
Irish Catholic community in a small
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
town, the book is about a 30-year-old mummy's boy and his attempts at liberating himself from his domineering mother. The title refers to the latter's wish that her "favourite" son, although already rather old for following his alleged vocation, become a clergyman. It was said that it was John Braine's personal favourite novel of all those that he wrote and was finally filmed in 2005.
Summary
Vincent Dungarvan is a history teacher at a Catholic school for boys. Whereas his two brothers Matthew and Paul have been married with children for many years, Vincent is still single and living at home with his widowed mother, who is also a teacher. At 30 he is still a virgin. He has gone out with one or two nice Catholic girls but has rejected them when he found them too superficial and boring.
One day, in the local library, he encounters Laura, a new librarian. Fascinated by her good looks and driven by, as he sees it, sinful desire, he is for once able to overcome his shyness and asks her out. Laura accepts, they immediately fall in love with each other and start dating on a regular basis. However, he prefers not to tell his possessive mother about her let alone invite her home.
In the course of the following weeks Vincent's life is shattered by a number of revelations concerning Laura. He is disappointed when she tells him that she is a
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
and that, on top of that, she has stopped going to church altogether. What is more, through a deliberate indiscretion by Laura's flatmate Ruth, he learns that Laura is divorced. For him as a Catholic, this means that he is seeing a married woman, and both his guilt and his helplessness about the situation increase enormously. Accordingly, they break up their relationship.
Surprisingly, soon afterwards Vincent loses his virginity with Maureen, his sister-in-law, while his brother Matthew has gone out and the children are asleep. On the following morning, back at his mother's, he recollects what happened the previous evening:
That very day, Vincent has an appointment with a senior clergyman about his vocation and once and for all makes up his mind not to become a priest. He also decides to see Laura again. In the meantime she has settled down in a flat of her own, and this is where they have sex for the first time, without Vincent confessing to Laura that he has recently made love to his own sister-in-law. When, some weeks later, Maureen announces that she is pregnant again, he is of course afraid that he might be the father of her baby. Out of jealousy, Maureen writes Laura's ex-husband Robert an anonymous letter, urging him to make up with his wife again. Vincent and Laura split up again as Laura is not certain about her husband's intentions.
In the end two instances of ''
deus ex machina
''Deus ex machina'' ( , ; plural: ''dei ex machina''; English "god out of the machine") is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence. Its function ...
'' resolve the complicated situation. First, Maureen has a miscarriage, freeing Vincent of any doubt that he might have fathered an illegitimate child. Then Robert commits suicide, paving the way for a Catholic wedding between Vincent and Laura, who are planning to leave the past behind and start a new life somewhere else.
Quote
*"Muyah! There's no friendship between grown men and grown women, and no one can tell me different." (See also ''
When Harry Met Sally...''.)
Film
The novel was adapted as a feature film and released to British cinemas in 2005. The writer-director was
Steven Woodcock
Steven Woodcock (born 23 February 1964) is an English actor, best known for his role as Clyde Tavernier in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''; a role that he played from July 1990 to July 1993.
Other television credits include ''Grange Hill'' ( ...
.
Jason Merrells
Jason Scott Merrells (born 2 November 1968 in Epping, Essex) is an English actor, who is best known for his roles in ''Casualty'', ''Queer as Folk'', ''Cutting It'', '' Waterloo Road'' and ''Emmerdale''.
Early life and education
Jason Sc ...
played Vincent,
Denise Welch
Jacqueline Denise Welch (born 22 May 1958) is an English actress, television personality, writer and broadcaster. Her roles include Natalie Barnes in ''Coronation Street'' (1997–2000), Steph Haydock in '' Waterloo Road'' (2006–2010), and ...
played Maureen, and Mairead Carty played Laura. Other actors featured were
Marcia Warren
Marcia Warren (born 26 November 1942) is an English stage, film and television actress. On stage, she appeared in ''Blithe Spirit'' as Madame Arcati and '' The Sea'' (2008) at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. She is currently appearing in Netflix' ...
(Mrs Dungarvan),
Andrew Dunn (Matthew) and
Roy Walker (the Monsignor).
Allan Gill School boy #4 (uncredited)
Other reading
*For a spiritual account by a convert to Roman Catholicism, see the writings of
Ronald Knox
Ronald Arbuthnott Knox (17 February 1888 – 24 August 1957) was an English Catholic priest, theologian, author, and radio broadcaster. Educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, where he earned a high reputation as a classicist, Knox wa ...
.
*For a fictional treatment of the lives of Catholics in England in the 20th century, see the novels of
David Lodge, in particular ''
The British Museum Is Falling Down'' and ''
How Far Can You Go?''.
*For an example of the motif of the evil mother, see
Christopher Isherwood's novel ''
All the Conspirators''.
*For a light-hearted look at adultery, see
Iris Murdoch
Dame Jean Iris Murdoch ( ; 15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her ...
's ''
A Severed Head''.
See also
* ''
The Jealous God''
*
1964 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1964.
Events
*January 10 – Federico García Lorca's play ''The House of Bernarda Alba'', completed just before his assassination in 1936, receives its first perfo ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jealous God
1964 British novels
Adultery in novels
British novels adapted into films
Novels set in Yorkshire
Catholic novels
Eyre & Spottiswoode books
Novels by John Braine