Norman Sherry's biography,
1996
He was a very shy, sensitive child who often skipped classes to avoid classmates’ bullying and mockery. His only pleasure came from being an avid reader, finding solitude in reading. But these escapes from classes provoked his father’s anger ☹ Apparently the young lad attempted suicide several times.
Greene hated Berkhamsted Boarding School and ran away, leaving a letter for his parents. Eventually they had to send him to intense therapy for 6 months in London. Greene actually found psychoanalysis to be very helpful with his depression, and remained fascinated by dreams for ever. So it was appropriate that the psychoanalyst encouraged Greene to write, introducing him to his own literary friends. Greene began to write poetry, mentored by Ezra Pound (1885–1972) and Gertrude Stein (1874–1946).
He studied at Balliol College Oxford where he published stories, articles, reviews & poems in the student magazine, Oxford Outlook. Greene spent a short time in the University Communist Party and though he abandoned the tougher Communist beliefs, Greene later wrote sympathetic profiles of Communist leaders.
After he graduated from Oxford in 1925, Greene worked as a journalist in Nottingham and in 1926, he converted to Catholicism. While working there, he received a letter from Vivien Dayrell-Browning who had written to him and corrected him about Catholic doctrine. Greene was intrigued and they began corresponding. He moved to London that same year, working as a film critic and a literary editor in both The London Times and The Spectator.
After he graduated from Oxford in 1925, Greene worked as a journalist in Nottingham and in 1926, he converted to Catholicism. While working there, he received a letter from Vivien Dayrell-Browning who had written to him and corrected him about Catholic doctrine. Greene was intrigued and they began corresponding. He moved to London that same year, working as a film critic and a literary editor in both The London Times and The Spectator.
In 1927, Greene and Vivien were both married but Greene always acknowledged that he was not a family man. Nonetheless the couple had Lucy (1933) and Francis (1936). Greene continued having affairs for the rest of his life, with married women in different countries. The couple separated in 1948 but never divorced.
Greene’s experience on newspapers was successful, and he held his position as an assistant editor until the publication of his first novel, The Man Within (1929). Only then did he begin to devote more time to his own writing, and did freelance jobs on the side.
Greene then wrote the first book he classed as “entertainment”. Stamboul Train (1932) was a thrilling and popular spy novel that examined travellers on a train, a mysterious setting that allowed the author to develop his characters with suspense. Although somewhat dismissed by critics, the book’s real success was seen when it was adapted into the film, Orient Express, in 1934.
Green travelled to Liberia in 1935, which had a large impact on his worldview and inspired him to write his famous travelogues. On going home again in 1936, Greene returned to the Spectator as a film critic. His characters faced rampant cynicism, tackling harsh and squalid lives in hot, humid countries eg Vietnam, Haiti.
In 1938 Brighton Rock was published, becoming one of Greene's best loved murder thrillers. Long after Greene converted to Catholicism, this novel was a suspenseful plot full of sexual and violent imagery that explored the morality-immorality connection.
In 1938 the Catholic Church funded Greene's trip to Mexico, asking him to record the effects of a forced anti-Catholic campaign against secularisation. The author documented widespread persecution of Catholic priests in his journal, including a priest's execution. The incident made such an impression on Greene that the victim became the hero of The Power and the Glory(1940), his best novel, yet condemned by the Vatican.
In 1939 Greene wanted to enlist in WW2 but was too old. So he went to West Africa as a secret British intelligence officer instead. Double agent Kim Philby recruited Greene to work for MI6; he joined the Secret Service and worked for the Ministry of Information. This stint in espionage fueled Greene's desire to travel again to the wild, remote places of the world, and provided him with memorable characters. Post-war, he continued to travel as a free-lance journalist, spending a long period on the French Riviera.
1939
1940
1950
Biographer Norman Sherry discovered Greene had continued to submit reports to British intelligence for decades. When Philby defected to Moscow, Greene supported him. He wrote an introduction to Philby’s memoirs in which he depicted Philby’s treason with sympathy, suggesting that his devotion to Communism showed a higher morality than loyalty to his country. This led Greene's close friend, Evelyn Waugh, to write a letter supporting Greene as a secret agent for Britain! And it led scholars to ask: Was Greene a novelist who was also a spy, or was his lifelong literary career the perfect cover? Did Greene have the evidence he needed to make a solid judgment? Or was Greene being played by Philby? Read Sherry’s The Life of Graham Greene.
Greene travelled to Sierra Leone which inspired The Power and the Glory. Along with The Heart of the Matter (1948) and The End of the Affair (1951), Power and Glory comprised Greene's Catholic Trilogy.
Next he became director at Eyre and Spottiswoode Publishing House. During his time there, he wrote several screenplays, the most famous being The Third Man (1949). In the early 1950s, Greene took long trips to Malaya and Vietnam, setting perhaps his most notable work, The Quiet American (1955), in Vietnam.
Greene's political views were different from other Catholic writers eg Evelyn Waugh and Anthony Burgess. While they maintained a very right-winged agenda, Greene was always leftish and moral. Greene pursued anti-American analyses during his travels, opening doors to Communist leaders like Fidel Castro and Ho Chi Minh. Moral issues, politics and religion, suspense and adventure, became his trademark eg Our Man in Havana (1960)
In 1990 Greene was weakened by a blood disease so he moved from the South of France, to Vevey in Switzerland, near his daughter. In Apr 1991 he passed away, at 86, and was buried at in Corseaux.
Greene travelled to Sierra Leone which inspired The Power and the Glory. Along with The Heart of the Matter (1948) and The End of the Affair (1951), Power and Glory comprised Greene's Catholic Trilogy.
Next he became director at Eyre and Spottiswoode Publishing House. During his time there, he wrote several screenplays, the most famous being The Third Man (1949). In the early 1950s, Greene took long trips to Malaya and Vietnam, setting perhaps his most notable work, The Quiet American (1955), in Vietnam.
Greene's political views were different from other Catholic writers eg Evelyn Waugh and Anthony Burgess. While they maintained a very right-winged agenda, Greene was always leftish and moral. Greene pursued anti-American analyses during his travels, opening doors to Communist leaders like Fidel Castro and Ho Chi Minh. Moral issues, politics and religion, suspense and adventure, became his trademark eg Our Man in Havana (1960)
In 1990 Greene was weakened by a blood disease so he moved from the South of France, to Vevey in Switzerland, near his daughter. In Apr 1991 he passed away, at 86, and was buried at in Corseaux.
What a talented family! Graham Greene was a thrilling English novelist and literary critic. Brother Hugh was Director-General of the BBC! Sister Elisabeth was an MI6 operative.