Editing Graham Greene (section)

== Personal life ==

Greene was an [[agnostic]], but was baptised into the Catholic faith in 1926 after meeting his future wife [[Vivien Greene|Vivien Dayrell-Browning]].<ref name=Donaghy1983/> They were married on 15 October 1927 at St Mary's Church, Hampstead, north London.<ref name="oxforddnb.com" /> The Greenes had two children, Lucy Caroline (born 1933) and Francis (born 1936).<ref name="oxforddnb.com" />

In his discussions with Father George Trollope,<ref name="Christendom">https://media.christendom.edu/2003/12/like-a-birthmark-graham-greenes-catholicism/</ref> the priest to whom he went for instruction in [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]], Greene argued with the cleric "on the ground of dogmatic atheism", as Greene's primary difficulty with religion was what he termed the "if" surrounding God's existence. He found, however, that "after a few weeks of serious argument the 'if' was becoming less and less improbable",<ref name="Pearce">Joseph Pearce. [http://www.catholicauthors.com/greene.html "Graham Greene: Doubter Par Excellence"], CatholicAuthors.com. Retrieved 7 January 2011.</ref> and Greene converted and was baptised after vigorous arguments initially with the priest in which he defended [[atheism]], or at least the "if" of [[agnosticism]].<ref>''The Power and the Glory'' New York: Viking, 1990. Introduction by [[John Updike]], p. xiv.</ref> Late in life, Greene called himself a "Catholic agnostic".<ref name="Sweeney2008" />

Beginning in 1946, Greene had an affair with [[Catherine Walston]], the wife of [[Henry Walston, Baron Walston|Henry Walston]], a wealthy farmer and future [[life peer]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jan/16/fiction.grahamgreene|work=The Guardian|title=Scrabble and strife: Graham Greene's love affair with the mysterious 'C' was hardly a secret—the real truth lies in the private letters they left behind|first=Robert|last= McCrum|author-link=Robert McCrum|date= 16 January 2000}}</ref> That relationship is generally thought to have informed the writing of ''[[The End of the Affair]]'', published in 1951, when the relationship came to an end.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LY7r0MIuaNsC&pg=PA181|title=The Third Spring: G.K. Chesterton, Graham Greene, Christopher Dawson, and David Jones|first=Adam |last=Schwartz|publisher=CUA Press|date= 1 February 2005|pages=181–182|isbn=9780813213873}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3535475/Graham-Greenes-love-poems-to-mistress-who-inspired-The-End-of-the-Affair.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3535475/Graham-Greenes-love-poems-to-mistress-who-inspired-The-End-of-the-Affair.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Graham Greene's love poems to mistress who inspired The End of the Affair|first=Chris|last= Hastings |date= 29 November 2008|work= The Daily Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Greene left his family in 1947,{{sfn|Sherry|1994|pp=275-276}} but Vivien refused to grant him a divorce, in accordance with Catholic teaching,{{sfn|Sherry|1994|pp=283-287}} and they remained married until Greene's death in 1991.

Greene lived with manic depression ([[bipolar disorder]]).{{sfn|Sherry|2004|p=252}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/revealed-graham-greenes-restless-tortured-last-years-1170530.html|title=Graham Greene Bipolar|first=Vanessa|last= Thorpe |date= 9 August 1998|work= The Independent}}</ref>  He had a history of depression, which had a profound effect on his writing and personal life.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article2439198.ece|title=Extract from Graham Greene: A Life in Letters edited by Richard Greene|date=13 September 2007|work=The Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517070311/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article2439198.ece|archive-date=17 May 2011}}</ref> In a letter to his wife, he told her that he had "a character profoundly antagonistic to ordinary domestic life", and that "unfortunately, the disease is also one's material".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/news/book-reviews/graham-greene-a-life-in-letters/2007/11/30/1196394602841.html |title=Graham Greene: A Life In Letters&nbsp;– Book Reviews&nbsp;– Books&nbsp;– Entertainment |work=Sydney Morning Herald  |date=30 November 2007 |access-date=2 June 2010}}</ref>