Memories of Happy Days

by Julien Green

Julien Green (1900 – 1998) was an American writer, born to American parents in Paris, who authored several novels. He wrote primarily in French and was the first non-French national to be elected to the Academie Francaise. Most of Green's books focused on the ideas of faith and religion as well as hypocrisy. Several dealt with the southern United States, and he strongly identified with the fate of the Confederacy, characterizing himself throughout his life as a "Sudiste" (southerner). He inherited this version of patriotism from his mother, who came from a distinguished southern family. Julien Green died in Paris shortly before his 98th birthday and is entombed in a chapel designed for him in St. Egid Church, Austria. His name on the tomb uses the original English spelling "Julian" instead of the French "Julien" - Wikipedia. "Memories of Happy Days" is a story of tender remembrance and engaging humor. The first book that he wrote in English.

Genres: Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1942

About the author

Julien Green was an American writer, who authored several novels, including Léviathan and Each in His Own Darkness. He wrote primarily in French.

Reviews

[Sheik3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paris between 1910 and 1930, autobiographic - first seen thru the eyes of a child, a young man growing up during WWI, studying in the US , returning , searching and finally becoming a writer .
Reminded me of Zweig s „die Welt von gestern“

Geschenk Moira 3.11.25

[Lars · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title sums it up: this book is a look back at Green's childhood and his beginnings as a writer. The work was written during a depressing time in exile, as the Parisi-born author had to flee from Nazi-occupied France to his parents' homeland, the USA. He was in his early forties at that time, had already published various novels (written in French) and it was not foreseeable whether he would ever return to his beloved Paris. The book is therefore characterized by a melancholy tone, in which he describes the hustle and bustle of the French capital at the beginning of the twentieth century in nostalgic but also lively tones.

Green is not always moping, but sketches his youth with humor and portrays it as bright, happy and successful. This is somewhat surprising, as many of the author's works tell of the bad, confused and wounded in people as if in a nightmare. There is a small break in the book with the First World War, to which Green was also drafted, and his (abandonend) studies in the USA. Before that, Green describes his childhood, after that it is more about his literary life in Paris between the two World Wars and his luck in being able to turn his passion, writing, into a profession. It is interesting to read about the difficulties Green had to struggle with as an author and how he constantly vacillated between overestimating himself and feelings of inferiority.

The book is written in a chatty yet serious tone, emotions and traumas mostly just shine through, and even though Green is naturally the center of attention, he never exaggerates himself, preferring to describe his misadventures rather than his successes. Modest but polished, intellectual, well educated and self-ironic - the narrative style often reminded me of conversations with my grandfather. If, like me, you are in middle age, Green's descriptions of the lightness and carefree nature of childhood will certainly bring back one or two bittersweet memories. There are many sad and beautiful passages in the book, many of which I have marked for myself - dreams and reports from a bygone era, which is precisely why they are so worth reading.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

An account of the author's youth from schoolbuy days as an American expatriate but native Parisien, through his enlistment in both the American and French armies in WWI and his postwar days at the University of Virginia (explored more fully and frankly in 'Terres Lointaines') to his eventual literary success and establishment as a writer with 'Adrienne Mesurat'. Told with a bittersweet ironic detachment as a white propaganda effort (Green made radio broadcasts to his occupied homeland from New York City along with Yul Brynner among others), it was a Book of the Month Club award winner for 1942. Green, born 1900 to the son of a wealthy Virginia merchant and the daughter of a Confederate senator (and later U.S. Congressman all over again) from Savannah, Georgia, lived until 1998. He is the only American ever honored with membership in the Academie Française.