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Mi vida con Graham Greene (Testimonio)
A la muerte de Graham Greene (1904-1991) diversos estudios biográficos desvelaron aspectos muy poco favorables de su personalidad, como su tortuosa relación con las mujeres que compartieron su existencia.
280 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2005
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About the author
Marie-Françoise Allain
6 booksMarie-Françoise Allain (b. 1945) is a French translator from Czech and literary critic.
She is the daughter of a diplomat and spent part of her childhood in Prague from 1952 to 1957.
She is the daughter of a diplomat and spent part of her childhood in Prague from 1952 to 1957.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 4, 2020
A soliloquy from the Frenchwoman who was his companion for the last 32 years, told in interview format with a close family friend.
This is fair journalism overall but it's repetitive, bounces around chronologically which I found irritating, & avoids the really difficult questions, like why was he so attracted, and attractive, to women with functional families and erstwhile long-term marriages, both Catherine Walston and Yvonne Cloetta?
To be fair to Yvonne, Graham's writing output during their relationship was somewhat less celebrated, compared to his previous literature. From the little I have read, I wonder if his best fiction was borne of psychological anguish, as well as physical danger, with his war-time novels reigning supreme? When he started to become more settled, & less conflicted, his complacency afflicted his writing. That he revelled in long solo trips to Central America to recreate those circumstances in the earlier years of their relationship leads me to suspect that he was aware of this motivation?
However, I have read neither of his own biographies or his own attempts at autobiography, so this could be dismissed as mere speculation? Overall, I am still left with a sense of a mid-century British writer who was of the top echelon in the 20th century pantheon of English literature, whose appeal transcended the class hierarchy, and easily flowed into film & stage with equal success.
That he failed to win a Nobel prize was, perhaps, due to his non-conformity, his avoidance of media appearances & his refusal to be obsequious to the awards hierarchy. Then, of course, he also maintained his friendship with Kim Philby, the Russian double agent, with whom he had worked during WW2.
Fortunately, his behaviour, typical of an iconoclast, has allowed him to leave some superb literature, which appears to have aged well. I was glad to have read this, despite its faults, but probably to understand that Graham faced his terminal illness with equanimity, which was surely what he deserved.
This is fair journalism overall but it's repetitive, bounces around chronologically which I found irritating, & avoids the really difficult questions, like why was he so attracted, and attractive, to women with functional families and erstwhile long-term marriages, both Catherine Walston and Yvonne Cloetta?
To be fair to Yvonne, Graham's writing output during their relationship was somewhat less celebrated, compared to his previous literature. From the little I have read, I wonder if his best fiction was borne of psychological anguish, as well as physical danger, with his war-time novels reigning supreme? When he started to become more settled, & less conflicted, his complacency afflicted his writing. That he revelled in long solo trips to Central America to recreate those circumstances in the earlier years of their relationship leads me to suspect that he was aware of this motivation?
However, I have read neither of his own biographies or his own attempts at autobiography, so this could be dismissed as mere speculation? Overall, I am still left with a sense of a mid-century British writer who was of the top echelon in the 20th century pantheon of English literature, whose appeal transcended the class hierarchy, and easily flowed into film & stage with equal success.
That he failed to win a Nobel prize was, perhaps, due to his non-conformity, his avoidance of media appearances & his refusal to be obsequious to the awards hierarchy. Then, of course, he also maintained his friendship with Kim Philby, the Russian double agent, with whom he had worked during WW2.
Fortunately, his behaviour, typical of an iconoclast, has allowed him to leave some superb literature, which appears to have aged well. I was glad to have read this, despite its faults, but probably to understand that Graham faced his terminal illness with equanimity, which was surely what he deserved.
January 17, 2010
Good memoir written in unusual format (Q's and A's)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews