Graham Greene: A Life in Letters

This absorbing autobiography in letters offers a remarkable window into the life of one of the greatest novelists of our time. "The Best Book of the Year." --David Lodge, The Guardian [UK]

One of the undisputed masters of twentieth-century English prose, Graham Greene (1904-1991) wrote tens of thousands of personal letters. This exemplary volume presents a new and engrossing account of his life constructed out of his own words. Impeccably edited by scholar Richard Greene, the letters--including many unavailable even to his official biographer--give a new perspective on a life that combined literary achievement, political action, espionage, travel, and romantic entanglement. The letters describe his travels in such places as Mexico, Vietnam, and Cuba, where he observed the struggles of mankind with a compassionate and truthful eye. Letters to friends such as Evelyn Waugh and Muriel Spark offer a glimpse into the literary culture in which he wrote, while others reveal the agonies of his heart. The sheer range of experience contained in Greene's correspondence defies comparison. 8 pages

Richard Greene is a professor of English, and the director of the graduate program in creative writing at the University of Toronto. Editor of Graham Greene: A Life in Letters, he lives in Toronto, Ontario.