Simon Called Peter

Simon Called Peter is a novel by Robert Keable (1887–1927) [1] which was a best-seller in 1921.[2] The title is a reference to Simon Peter the apostle and first Pope of the Catholic Church.

In 1921 it was met with astonishing success, and its runaway popularity won Keable a level of celebrity. The book reportedly sold over 600,000 copies during the 1920s,[3] reaching a 66th edition by 1922.[4] A largely autobiographical work, Simon Called Peter is the tale of a priest, Peter Graham, who has an affair in wartime France with a nurse named Julie. The title character almost abandons his faith for love, but experiences a direct revelation of Christ while watching a Catholic mass and is given up by his lover, who sees his sincerity.

The book was controversial at its introduction due to its sexual and religious content; it was made into a play by Jules Eckert Goodman and Edward Knoblock;[5] it had a short run in Chicago.[6] The novel was followed by a sequel, Recompense, published in 1924 [7] and made into a 1925 motion picture with the same title, directed by Harry Beaumont.[8]

This book is referred to in The Great Gatsby. Nick Carraway, the narrator, reads a chapter and claims that "either it was terrible stuff or the whisky distorted things, because it didn't make any sense to me."[9]

References

  1. ↑ Time Magazine, Jan 2, 1928
  2. ↑ Great War Fiction by George Simmer
  3. ↑ Peterson, Austin (2003). Tahiti Report 2003. iUniverse. p. 66. ISBN 0-595-26835-8.
  4. ↑ Robert Keable, quoted in Cecil (1995) p.155
  5. ↑ Time Magazine, Aug. 18, 2004
  6. ↑ Internet Broadway Database
  7. ↑ Time April 21, 1924.
  8. ↑ Harry Beaumont Filmography
  9. ↑ The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. Penguin. 2011

External links