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Graham Greene: A Life in Letters
A revealing portrait of a fascinating life emerges gradually from nearly 70 years’ worth of the great British author’s letters to family members, lovers, literary peers, readers and others.One of the undisputed masters of English prose in the twentieth century, Graham Greene wrote tens of thousands of personal letters. This substantial volume presents a new and engrossing...more
Hardcover, 446 pages
Published
by Little Brown and Company
(first published October 16th 2007)
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Bound - Miami SunPost Jan. 22, 2009
An Envied Life
Rifling Through the Letters of Graham Greene
By John Hood
There might be more debauching ways to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon (drunk amid the bikinis at the Shore Club, smashed in the afternoon at News Lounge, bombed on a boat in the middle of Biscayne Bay), but there are hardly more edifying ways to spend the day than by backtracking through the life and work of the late, great Graham Greene.
Which was why I...more
Bound - Miami SunPost Jan. 22, 2009
An Envied Life
Rifling Through the Letters of Graham Greene
By John Hood
There might be more debauching ways to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon (drunk amid the bikinis at the Shore Club, smashed in the afternoon at News Lounge, bombed on a boat in the middle of Biscayne Bay), but there are hardly more edifying ways to spend the day than by backtracking through the life and work of the late, great Graham Greene.
Which was why I...more
This book is prrof that some men are not only in touch with their feelings, but able to communicte them to others, and that was a very refreshing revelation, as none of the men I know can do that.
But I shall not continue with the book. I have only read a sample of the letters, and find that I do not know the majority of the people they are written to, or the majority of the events that they are written about. I should imagine that for more educated readers this book is a delight, but for me it...more
But I shall not continue with the book. I have only read a sample of the letters, and find that I do not know the majority of the people they are written to, or the majority of the events that they are written about. I should imagine that for more educated readers this book is a delight, but for me it...more
I think a selected-letters is the best form of biography for a writer, for whom (I’m projecting here) the distinction between prose-as-art and prose-as-communication is whisker-thin. This collection, edited by Richard Greene (no relation, he’s hasty to clarify), spans nearly seventy years, from Graham’s letters to his mother to notes to his grandchildren, through his pleading courtship with his wife Vivien (for whom, sadly, with the hindsight of objectivity, he was spectaculary ill-suited) and l...more
Greene is such an avid letter writer; this collection contains thousands of Greene's editted letters dated as early as his days at Oxford courting and falling in love with his wife and converting to Catholic and as late as the final days of his life; Greene wrote regularly to his beloved mother, his friend Evelyn Waugh, his great love Catherine Walston, his brother Hugh Greene, his son Francis and daughter Caroline (Lucy) and hundreds of other writers, critics, and admirers. What is most interes...more
Greene is one of the best prose stylists of the twentieth century, and he had an amazing life, and yes these letters make it all seem a tad dull. Nowhere near as interesting as the letters of William Burroughs or Raymond Chandler. Greene rarely discusses the writing process either.
I am only half way done and this is a powerful insight into Greene. One forgets that before the internet, one wrote personal thoughts in letters and after one is dead, many truths, ambiguities and perhaps some lies come out. This is the case for Greene.
Dec 20, 2008
Kecia
marked it as to-read
He said Ulysses was overrated! Gotta check this out.
Greene's letters are a thoroughgoing testament to his literary brilliance, and a wrenching diary of his struggle to love and trust the Lord more than himself--a battle he was not always winning.
Greene quoted Charles Peguy in the epigraph to The Heart of the Matter:
"The sinner is at the very heart of Christianity. . . . No one is as competent as the sinner in Christian affairs. No one, except the saint." But it may have been Peguy's next line that best explained Greene: "And in principle they are...more
Greene quoted Charles Peguy in the epigraph to The Heart of the Matter:
"The sinner is at the very heart of Christianity. . . . No one is as competent as the sinner in Christian affairs. No one, except the saint." But it may have been Peguy's next line that best explained Greene: "And in principle they are...more
I enjoyed it, though maybe not as much as one of Graham Greene's novels. It was full of interesting insights about the role of Catholicism in his life and his personal relationships, which gave me a little insight, perhaps, into some of his novels that I love, like the End of the Affair.
An unfriendly and revealing biography of Greene that puts practically all of his writing in a different light.
May 06, 2013
DownWithIcarus
marked it as to-read
May 03, 2013
Monica
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Apr 14, 2013
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Apr 13, 2013
Heikko
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Apr 10, 2013
Joseph Harrop
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Mar 24, 2013
Man Solo
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Mar 08, 2013
Kendall
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Feb 21, 2013
Claire
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Feb 10, 2013
Jen
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Feb 09, 2013
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Jan 26, 2013
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Jan 05, 2013
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Graham Greene was an English novelist, short story writer, playwright, screenplay writer, travel writer and critic whose works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world. Greene combined serious literary acclaim with wide popularity.
Although Greene objected strongly to being described as a “Catholic novelist” rather than as a “novelist who happened to be Catholic,” Catho...more
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Although Greene objected strongly to being described as a “Catholic novelist” rather than as a “novelist who happened to be Catholic,” Catho...more
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Dec 27, 2008 10:53am