Reflections

by Graham Greene, Judith Adamson (Editor)

An intimate collection of writing that spans almost seven decades. It is the perfect complement to Graham Greene`s much-loved, much-admired Ways of Escape.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Classics

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Henry Graham Greene was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century.
Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a reputation early in his lifetime as a major writer, both of serious Catholic novels, and of thrillers (or "entertainments" as he termed them). He was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times. Through 67 years of writing, which included over 25 novels, he explored the conflicting moral and political issues of the modern world. The Power and the Glory won the 1941 Hawthornden Prize and The Heart of the Matter won the 1948 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Best of the James Tait Black. Greene was awarded the 1968 Shakespeare Prize and the 1981 Jerusalem Prize. Several of his stories have been filmed, some more than once, and he collaborated with filmmaker Carol Reed on The Fallen Idol (1948) and The Third Man (1949).
He converted to Catholicism in 1926 after meeting his future wife, Vivienne Dayrell-Browning. Later in life he took to calling himself a "Catholic agnostic". He died in 1991, aged 86, of leukemia, and was buried in Corseaux cemetery in Switzerland. William Golding called Greene "the ultimate chronicler of twentieth-century man's consciousness and anxiety".

Reviews

[E. G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Principal Dates, Travels, and Books
Introduction, by Judith Adamson

--Impressions of Dublin
--In the Occupied Area
--The French Peace
--Poetry by Wireless
--A Walk on the Sussex Downs
--Barrel-organing
--Death in the Cotswolds
--Gold Bricks
--Two Capitals
--Strike in Paris
--Analysis of a Journey
--The People's Pilgrimage
--Two Tall Travellers
--Is It Criticism?
--Ideas in the Cinema
--Homage to the Bombardier
--India Unvisited
--Subjects and Stories
--Vive le Roi
--Twenty-four Hours in Metroland
--Bombing Raid
--A Happy Warrior
--The Winter War: Finland
--Escape
--A Lost Leader
--Three Score Miles and Ten
--Through American Eyes
--Lightning Tour
--The Turn of the Screw
--A Mission and a Warning
--Books in General
--The Last Pope
--John Gerard
--Indo-China: France's Crown of Thorns
--The Return of Charlie Chaplin: An Open Letter
--Character in Search of an Author
--The Young Henry James
--Return to Indo-China
--Last Cards in Indo-China
--Before the Attack
--Catholics at War
--A Memory of Indo-China
--Catholic Temper in Poland
--The Price of Faith
--Spies
--The Novelist and the Cinema: A Personal Experience
--Lines on the Liberation of Cuba
--Letter to a West German Friend
--Return to Cuba
--Nightmare Republic
--Goa the Unique
--The Rude Mechanicals
--The Outsider: On the Death of Adlai Stevenson
--Ghosts of Possible Adventure
--Shadow and Sunlight in Cuba
--The Mask Remover
--The Worm inside the Lotus Blossom
--The Virtue of Disloyalty
--Papa Doc
--Chile: The Dangerous Edge
--Second-hand Bookshops
--The Sign of Four
--Advice to a Friend
--Son of the Rice Paddies
--The Country with Five Frontiers
--Narayan's India Revisited
--The Great Spectacular
--Freedom of Thought
--Freedom of Information
--In Memory of Borges
--Musings at Eighty
--A Weed among the Flowers
--Thoughts on Nicaragua
--The Meeting in the Kremlin
--My Worst Film
--A Constant Question Mark
--Out of the Dustbin

[Zoeb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Graham Greene, it is once again. Most people remember him as an excellent writer of fiction, a compulsive storyteller who gets his readers to revisit his works time and again to be enthralled, enlightened, mesmerised, moved and even amused, perhaps, to splendid effect. Now, few actually reckon him as an equally excellent chronicler in the field of non-fiction. Fewer still knew that he was one of the most relentlessly prolific journalists who was not always in the foreground of possibly every major political upheaval in the world but also was equally open-mouthed about his opinions on books, films and so much more, including public figures and himself.

This massive, brilliantly compiled and edited (thanks to the meticulous efforts of Judith Adamson) volume of essays, articles, writings on films and book reviews, interview and speech excerpts and even personal opinions and vignettes, lives up to its title wonderfully. These are indeed "reflections" of a kind, not merely of a writer in his prime looking back at his experiences, inspirations and thoughts (though this is what the book becomes in the end, to splendidly mellow and even melancholy effect), but more wonderfully - an encapsulated and deeply intimate journey of a writer from his wet-behind-the-ears and wide-eyed youth to his advanced years of a lifetime of experience, insight, knowledge and skill developed to its peak powers.

And in the process, along the journey, from cover to cover, we also see this writer come of age as a man, as a storyteller, as a journalist and most importantly as an observer of the moral and political complexities that unfolded across the breadth of the twentieth century, sharpening and letting his opinions and thoughts mature like fine wine with the passage of years.

These writings are all exemplary and showcase Greene at his finest - witty, wryly observant, politically and ideologically balanced with an eye for nuance and local flavour and, most crucially, a style that is both profound and lucid, even poetic in turns. And they also reveal this side of his that makes him truly unique among all the writers - his flair for seeing any situation, no matter how complicated, from both sides and thus distancing himself, his own personal opinions, from the whole muddle altogether. As he describes and explains in a few memorable essays in this volume itself, Greene understood, more than any other writer, that the key to truly resonant storytelling is maintaining that distance and even empathizing with his subjects and characters, even their ideologies.

It is near impossible to pick out any single or even some favourites from this brilliant, well-rounded collection; I think my favourites would be "Strike In Paris", "Subjects and Stories", "The Return Of Charlie Chaplin", "A Memory Of Indo-China", "Return To Cuba", "Goa The Unique", "The Great Spectacular" and of course, "Narayan's India Revisited" but again, this is just grazing the surface of an extraordinary collection of writings that always presents something special and unique worth reading and also endowed with rare insight and profound intelligence. One would also be delighted to discover a few stray couplets on the fate of Finland in World War II or even the new reign of Castro in Cuba. But all in all, these and everything else prove the staggering breadth of this exemplary storyteller's observations and "reflections" about the world around him.

Highly recommended to everyone who wants to not only discover a new shade of Greene but also explore one of the last century's greatest chroniclers.

[Stephen Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read other books by Graham Greene, but this one, a collection of essays, op-ed articles, reviews and other miscellaneous pieces, is one of the best. It's taken a long time to read, because it is not something to be read at a sitting, but rather savoured, one piece at a time. I'm rather sad that I have to return it to the library, I'd like to have a copy to dip into occasionally, as bed-time reading. Many of the pieces are very short, two to three pages. They are arranged chronologically, and as I read further my respect for Graham Greene as a writer deepened.

Recommended for anyone who is interested in Graham Greene's point of view as an author.

I have more to say on it, but that is much more wide-ranging and dicursive, so I'll save it for my blog. If you'd like to see the fuller review, mixed up with some personal reflections as well;, see here: Reflections of Graham Greene | Khanya

[Smiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.50 stars

The latest Greene I finished reading delightfully after having deliciously savoured his 28 books with more understanding and relative enjoyabilty. One of the reasons is that it is my literary, revenge-like conpensation dating back to my college years in the late 1960s; such a sad, dark and uncertian situation being encountered since our class was assigned to read his Roneoed extract in a few parahraphs (now completely forgotten, couldn't retrieved so far, would try to reread to find it again) from his The Power and The Glory (Penguin, 1967) as part of an introductory English Literature course (I have long told this story somewhere in a few Greene reviews). No one, no information and no advice had ridiculously provided me any glimpses on him and his novels; he seemed to be one of the famous British writers then, I had no choice but kept pushing for more light on his particular works.

This book of 77 essays spanning from 1923 to 1988 are still worth reading, being another oeuvre as a challenge to those Greene newcomers or veterans to taste his writing style, ideas, sense of humour, etc. Taken my familiarity into account, the essays would be categorized roughly into two phases, that is, phase one: from 'Impression of Dublin' (1923) to 'Shadow and Sunlight in Cuba' (1966) [before my college years], and phase two: from 'The Mask Remover' (1968) to 'Out of the Dustbin' (1988). [after] A personal reason is that I thought it was a bit difficult to read and see the points or grasp the key issues the author raised from his essays written many years ago before the year 1967, in other words, the longer the years in the past from my familiarity year, the more difficult I would encounter. Contrastively, it was less difficult for me to understand those written after the year 1967. Presumably, it might be a case of proximity.

Some may hesitate and wonder on how to read his panorama-like essays spanning 65 years, first of all, the one entitled A Weed among the Flowers (pp. 394-402) is, I think, highly-recommended because the whole story reflects his professionalism, that is, so typical Greene that I couldn't help scribbling my following notes at the end: Written like his novels, Readability guaranteed, Superb flow of writing, Sense of humour hilarious, and Recommended to GR friends as the first one to try.

To continue . . .

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Boredom drove me to writing, and injustice has provided my themes. The injustices that I perceive do not make me angry; they improve my powers of observation. Distance is one of the prerequisites of good literature.”

This is a varied collection of essays, reviews and articles spanning Greene’s writing from 1923 to 1988. The reportage from the trouble spots of the 20th century - Cuba, Vietnam, Panama, Haiti, Chile - are particularly fascinating to read with the hindsight of knowing how events turned out. Greene met many of the leaders of the time and got to know the countries well, and the reader of his non-fiction can gain an insight into how his fiction was formed.

In addition, there are some acerbic reviews of films and books, extracts from speeches where Greene explains his writer’s craft and his perspective on religion and politics, and a charming little article about the absurdity of phrase books.

Greene has an eye for detail and an interest in human affairs that make his non-fiction as readable and thought provoking as his fiction, and this collection of writings gives a valuable insight into the writer and the century that shaped his writing.

[Ben Guterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much of what I admire about Greene is in evidence in this collection of news reports, reviews, and essays across seven decades--the apt detail, the nuanced restraint, the discerning intelligence, and, above all, a respectful embrace of the reader. Greene has, seemingly, been everywhere (in this book are pieces of reportage from Cuba, Poland, Haiti, Chile, Vietnam, and at least a dozen more countries) and can relate it all masterfully; but his assumption of friendly intelligence on the part of his audience is what pulls me in. About my only quibble with this collection is that so many of the straightforward journalism pieces concern convoluted early-to-mid-Twentieth Century episodes whose subtleties have blurred in the interim--I'm not sure the accounts have aged well. Still, Greene's seamless weaving of reflection and context found me engaged with nearly all seventy-plus pieces even as they offered glimpses of the inspiration he found for his much loved (at least by me) novels.

(Personal note: Family legend has it that Greene mentioned my brother David's "Europe by Van" pamphlet in a piece of travel writing about Luxembourg, but I've been unable to discover confirmation of this.)

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my Quixotic year of reading everything by Graham Greene in chronological order (you have to do something in a pandemic), this book comes very near the end, published in 1990, one year before Greene’s death in 1991. Thus, it has come at the very end of my reading quest. It’s a shame. I should have read it in dribs and drabs along with his novels and travel books and everything else.
This wonderful collection of Greene’s essays on anything and everything lets you know and understand everything about Graham Greene in a firsthand way – from his own words. It’s better than any of the biographies and immensely better than the virtually unreadable 2,200-page long official biography by Norman Sherry.
Selected and introduced by Judith Adamson, this collection is presented in chronological order itself. The first essay was written and published in 1923 when Greene was 19 (“Impressions of Dublin”). The last was written in 1988 (“Out of the Dustbin”). In between is an enormous array of travels, experiences, observations, political discussions, reviews, memories of fellow writers and a general display of literary prowess. No wonder people called him “the greatest English novelist of our time.
If you are a Greene fan, this book is REQUIRED READING.
Bob Bason 6/13/2021

[Judith Kerr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally finished this strange collection of comments, reviews and essays by my hero, Greene. How one man could have spent time in so many countries and made judgments about the political situations and futures of them. Viet Nam particularly rated thoughtful and timely writings. Most of us were not aware of the CIA interventions in South American countries.

[Cassidy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating to see a writer's different opinions, style and wit over a whole life. A rich and varied array of Graham Greenes writings through all the revolutions, wars and world events.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book’s a little different to your average, run of the mill novel – Reflections is, in fact, a collection of the articles that Graham Greene wrote for an assortment of newspapers throughout his career, a bit like By-line by Ernest Hemingway. Spanning nearly seven decades of his writing, it’s definitely a must-have for any serious fan of Graham Greene, and I’m actually convinced that even new readers will enjoy it, although they might find it slow going. The fact is, as with any author, it’s interesting to see inside his mind, and to see what he was interested in outside of writing.

You can expect a good mixture of subject matters too, from travel writing to essays and reviews of the movies of the time – it’s a bit like going out on a journey, as it’s in chronological order. The world was changing around him on a daily basis, and Greene was like time’s guinea pig as he wrote and wrote and wrote, his style the same but the subject matter changing as he aged.

Still, Greene’s unique take is the main attraction on offer here, and you learn almost as much about the author as you do about the subjects that he talks about – indeed, in some cases, I had literally no idea what he was going on about, but it was a lot of fun just the same.

It’s hard to pick out individuals articles which stand out above the others because there are just so many of them – that also means that it’s quite a long read, but it’s worth starting and sticking to if you’re interested in either the changes that took place or the author himself. They just don’t make writers like this any more, and Greene’s generation is really the last generation to be composed of that rare archetype, the English gentleman.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reflections is a miscellaneous collection of articles written by Graham Greene from about 1912 to the last half of the twentieth century. The only enjoyable articles concerned his travels and views on contemporary events; the reviews of art and music concerned artists that I had never heard of and have no interest in.

[Vikas Datta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incisive accounts of places and times, imbued with a rare sensitivity and sensibility, by an author who was not only one of the 20th century's greatest writers, but also one of its keenest and perceptive observers and an indefatigable traveller to places far off any track... beaten or unbeaten. A book any thinking man would be glad to peruse and own

[Polack · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoy Graham Greene this is a wonderful book. Essays, film and book reviews, and travel essays, spanning the years 1923--when he was 22 years old--through 1990. Always erudite and well-written, many of his young and middle aged thoughts seem contemporary.