The art of fiction: Graham Greene

Friday, 9th December 2011

A slight change of form this week, here is a news obituary of Graham Greene (apologies for the disturbance early in the film). Greene’s reclusiveness might, I suppose, be key to the art of fiction. Piers Paul Read says that Greene’s privacy was essential if he was to continue observing the world, as writers should. On the other hand, Greene’s outspoken politics made him visible even when in solitude.

The clip asks the fatuous but infectious question, is he a great writer? Auberon Waugh says yes. Anthony Burgess says no. Read says yes, but only as a novelist of doubt. Personally, I’ve always been struck that Greene wrote both the majestic Power and the Glory and the slightly staid The End of the Affair. And that doubting mind also managed to conjure the comic masterpiece, Our Man in Havana. The variety and the volume, I think, make him great.

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