The Other Man: Conversations with Graham Greene

By Graham Greene and Marie-Françoise Allain

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067144767X
• ISBN13: 9780671447670
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Contest of Wills

Anyone who wants to understand Graham Greene the person should read this. The extensive interviewing dates to 1979. Running less than 200 pages, this is a fascinating attempt by "a critic and journalist", who is the daughter of a friend of Greene, to get Greene to open up about who he is and why he is who he is. But as the interviewer constantly reminds us, Greene fights her all the way. He reveals much about himself by adamantly refusing to discuss his private life, but he is rather open about his views on politics, religion, and writing. It is good to see that Greene really does not support left-wing dictatorships, Stalinism, or communism. His feeble attempts to explain his public anti-Americanism do not come across very convincing. It is interesting to hear him being positive about Margaret Thatcher: "But I think that Mrs. Thatcher at least has the virtue of honesty, which was not the case with Wilson and Callaghan. One might try giving her a chance." This is a work that details the persistent efforts of the interviewer to get at the heart of the always enigmatic Greene and the equally persistent effort of the all-too-public Greene to reveal only what he wants. Neither is always successful and each knows it, but we learn as much from their failures as from their successes.