The Life of Graham Greene: Volume I: 1904-1939 (Paperback)

~ (Author) "When in the winter of 1983 I was to visit Graham Greene in Antibes, he told me over the phone, in his precise and practical..." (more)
Key Phrases: lawless roads, hunted priest, journey without maps, Graham Greene, Stamboul Train, Charles Greene (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This massive study of Greene "is riveting, going to the heart of Greene's darkly anguished worldview and the anxieties, guilts and demons that have driven him to create more than 30 novels, travel books and essay collections," lauded PW. Photos.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

"The journeys Greene made, I made," boasts Sherry. Besides tracking chronic traveler Greene, Sherry utilizes Greene's journals and correspondence as well as interviews with his friends and his estranged wife, Vivien. The picture that emerges is one of an atheist who converted to Catholicism for passion's sake, a painfully sensitive youth who transformed himself into "one of the finest novelists of his generation." This first of a projected two-volume biography concludes with the composition of Greene's masterpiece, The Power and the Glory . Few living authors have received the attention Sherry lavishes on Greene, and few have deserved it more. Essential for collections of modern literature.-- Grove Koger, Boise P.L., Id. correction: Please note that the publication date of Boswell: The Great Biographer, 1789-1795, reviewed in LJ 4/1/89, has been changed. The book will be published in July or August.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 816 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (August 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142004200
• ISBN-13: 978-0142004203
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #857,957 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars getting to know graham greene, August 30, 2000

By	james w. betts "kimorail" (honolulu, hawaii USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Life of Graham Greene: Volume I: 1904-1939 (Life of Graham Greene, 1904-1939) (Paperback)

Norman Sherry's thoughtful biography perfectly captures the early years of an honest,lonely,sensitive Englishman with privileged opportunities who becomes a successful novelist. As Sherry pointed out Greene's keen power of observation produced a cynical and realistic view of life. Burdened by anxieties but guided by his Catholic faith Greene was attracted to the epic struggles of flawed underdogs trying to cope with their transitory lives. Sherry ties all this together neatly. Its a book for leisurely reading. You will never regret its purchase.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All I ever wanted to know about GG but did not know to ask., September 25, 1998

By	[e-mail] (Dallas, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Life of Graham Greene: Volume I: 1904-1939 (Life of Graham Greene, 1904-1939) (Paperback)

This is an inspiring, detailed look at a fascinating writer, by an equally fascinating writer. The images of Norman Sherry traipsing through the jungles and Mexico, etc., give one pause and confidence. If his work on Conrad is as detailed and careful, I would suspect he could give the composition of bilge water in the hold of each ship for each trip for each book. If one ever wondered about writers and sources and inspiration and biography and art, start with volume I. You could have no finer introduction.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lest Ye Be Judged, June 21, 2007

By	David Schweizer "Almawood" (Kansas, USA) - See all my reviews

Sherry has certainly done a thorough job of "tracking" Greene, with the result that one gets a rather full picture of this writer. It's easy to throw around words like "great" and so on when talking about Greene, especially if you like him, but in the end I see him as a very entertaining writer who never achieved greatness. (Compare him to Joyce or Tolstoy and you'll see what I mean.) Sherry is a bit of a busy-body and gets into some strange "politically correct" judgments, criticizing Greene for not being properly appreciative of the 'natives' about whom he said many condescending, but possibly accurate things. Sherry seems not to be able to understand why Greene couldn't say nice things about everybody in the same way opportunistic journalists seem able to manage. Well, I don't have the answer to that, except to say that Greene's generation (see Waugh and Orwell) didn't have much patience for propaganda.