Customer Reviews

Diary 1928-1957

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At the end (1924) of Julian Green's 4-volume autobiography, suddenly a handsome face approaches him, speaks, and Julian writes, "Love is born in a single glance...Years of happiness lay ahead of me, the best years of my youth." (An addendum extends vol. 4 to 1929, mainly to touch upon Julian's first six novels.)

So with anticipation I proceeded to Julian's Diary, 1928-1957, eager to meet this godsend whose trumpet would bring down the walls of this monk manque'.

No such luck. If this handsome face is "Robert," he is mentioned here and there and contributes a few lines of intelligent conversation as the twosome travels around Europe. Perhaps his virtue was to silently agree that two souls can befriend and love uncompromised by the flesh.

This 30-year diary occupies only about 300 pages, with entries (of substantial length) selected by German publisher and editor Kurt Wolff. Meetings with Andre Gide (1869-1951) figure prominently. Julian passed WWII in the United States and made broadcasts to the French people. After his return to Paris, he had an ever increasing aversion to life that stops short in earthly happiness rather than striving for salvation. The Cold War of the Fifties, the nuclear threat, deepened his concerns. Even so, he applied himself to writing serious novels, his vocation.

All the above, though, is overwhelmed by his obsession with The Gospels and his determination to achieve perfect love between him and God, to surpass his concern that each death reinforces the question, What's the use? Entry after entry in the diary re-expresses his personal religious struggles and his erudition in religious texts. You may tire as he rolls stone after stone to block the entrance to his tomb.

Green's complete diary spans 70 years, making it the longest in the world. I've had enough. But I do intend to read one of his novels, The Dark Journey (1929).