Historical Figure
Graham Greene
1904–1991
British writer and playwright (1904–1991)
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Biography
Henry Graham Greene was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century.
Timeline
The story of Graham Greene, told in moments.
Published The Man Within, his first novel. It sold 8,000 copies. He converted to Catholicism the same year to marry Vivien Dayrell-Browning. The faith stuck longer than the marriage.
Joined MI6. Served in Sierra Leone under Kim Philby. When Philby was exposed as a Soviet spy, Greene refused to condemn him. They stayed friends.
The Quiet American published. It predicted the disaster of American involvement in Vietnam a decade before it happened. American critics hated it. Vietnamese readers said he got it right.
In Their Own Words (20)
My two fingers on a typewriter have never connected with my brain. My hand on a pen does. A fountain pen, of course. Ball-point pens are only good for filling out forms on a plane.
International Herald Tribune (7 October 1977), 1977
Morality comes with the sad wisdom of age, when the sense of curiosity has withered.
A Sort of Life, ch. 7, sct. 1 (1971), 1971
It is the story-teller's task to elicit sympathy and a measure of understanding for those who lie outside the boundaries of State approval.
Speech on receiving the Shakespeare Prize awarded by the University of Hamburg, Germany (1969), 1969
Cynicism is cheap—you can buy it at any Monoprix store—it’s built into all poor-quality goods.
Pt. 1, ch. 1, sct. 3, 1966
The economy of a novelist is a little like that of a careful housewife who is unwilling to throw away anything that might perhaps serve its turn. Perhaps the comparison is closer to the Chinese cook who leaves hardly any part of a duck unserved.
From journal kept while writing A Burnt-Out Case (1959), 1959
Artifacts (15)
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