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tbr_the_unconquered's review
3.0
Consider this :
Johns writes in a fashion free of the affectations of a period he inhabited. While the same cannot be told of Fredrick or of Johann, it most certainly holds true for Teresa & Rodriguez.
Yes, I do have the same question as you : Who are all these people ?
This is mostly how a majority of essays in this book proceed. This would be an easy task for someone who is erudite enough to recognize most author's mentioned here and their styles. But for me it was very much similar to groping in the dark. I have no idea of Henry James's work nor of Ford Madox Ford or the intricacies in the life of Joseph Conrad. In short I had to skim over a lot of essays in the book.
Of the ones that I read, the insight that the author brings in is remarkable. Greene is sharp and articulate enough to express his views in a very convincing manner. The range of essays covered while mostly pertaining to literature also makes forays into politics,espionage and we also catch the author on a few moods of introspection. The most interesting piece was the one on Kim Philby. Through words there seeps in a sympathy. This for a man for whom the closest association in British English is 'Traitor'. Greene served under Philby in the MI6 and makes no secret of how humane a character he was during their tenure together. For all the other essays which have a critic's lens piece, this stands out as the most humane.
Johns writes in a fashion free of the affectations of a period he inhabited. While the same cannot be told of Fredrick or of Johann, it most certainly holds true for Teresa & Rodriguez.
Yes, I do have the same question as you : Who are all these people ?
This is mostly how a majority of essays in this book proceed. This would be an easy task for someone who is erudite enough to recognize most author's mentioned here and their styles. But for me it was very much similar to groping in the dark. I have no idea of Henry James's work nor of Ford Madox Ford or the intricacies in the life of Joseph Conrad. In short I had to skim over a lot of essays in the book.
Of the ones that I read, the insight that the author brings in is remarkable. Greene is sharp and articulate enough to express his views in a very convincing manner. The range of essays covered while mostly pertaining to literature also makes forays into politics,espionage and we also catch the author on a few moods of introspection. The most interesting piece was the one on Kim Philby. Through words there seeps in a sympathy. This for a man for whom the closest association in British English is 'Traitor'. Greene served under Philby in the MI6 and makes no secret of how humane a character he was during their tenure together. For all the other essays which have a critic's lens piece, this stands out as the most humane.
dmaude's review
3.0
I didn't know Greene wrote essays, but 824 is a good place to browse in the library. From 1969, although this copy was not heavily used. Especially good on other novelists; both Fielding and James were near the top of Greene's pantheon, but Sterne, Dickens, Maugham,Conrad, Kipling, Narayan, Doyle, and a great essay about Rider Haggard, his favorite writer as a kid.
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