- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Vintage Classics; New Ed edition (4 Nov 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099282674
- ISBN-13: 978-0099282679
- Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.3 x 19.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 562,961 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
Collected Essays (Vintage Classics)
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Review
"A triumph of a collection--wise and stimulating." - "Guardian"
Product Description
'In childhood all books of divination. . . and like the fortune teller who sees a long journey in the cards or death by water they influence the future'. So writes Graham Greene, describing his childhood love of reading and how it grew into a passion for writing. COLLECTED ESSAYS contains nearly eighty essays, reviews and occasional pieces composed between novels, plays and travel books over four prolific decades. From Henry James and Somerset Maugham to Ho Chi Minh and Kim Philby, the range of subjects is eclectic and stimulating, and the characters are brought vividly to life. 'A man should be judged by his enmities as well as his friendships', Greene wrote. In that sense COLLECTED ESSAYS is as revealing as autobiography and as characteristically rich in humour, insight and doubt.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Triumphs of the non-fictional Mr. Greene,
By Brian Flange "qflestrin" (Penge.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Collected Essays (Vintage Classics) (Paperback)
Non-fiction (and especially criticism) written by novelists can be a slog, but every now and again you stumble across a novelist whose gifts shine out in fiction and non-fiction alike. And here's a real gem: this volume collects around eighty of Graham Greene's (generally) short essays on places, books, writers and contemporaries. Never dull, even when at his most controversial, Greene illuminates questions of literature and questions of faith with equal ease and wit. Especially recommended among the literary essays are those on Henry James and Walter de La Mare, plus the best defence of H. Rider Haggard I have ever read. On people, 'The Paradox of A Pope' stands out as a beautiful tribute but my favourite essay of the bunch has to be 'A Hoax on Mr Hulton', which reads like the plot of a madly escalating 18th century farce and is genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. You don't have to share Greene's religious or political commitments to enjoy this book. If I was going to carp, while I differ pretty seriously with Greene over the worth and achievements of Ho Chi Minh and Fidel Castro, the only essay that I really took exception to was that on Kim Philby. For reasons I don't understand, Greene tries to defend his former colleague long after it was clear that Philby had done indefensible things. Still, with all that said, this is an incredibly rich and rewarding collection.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review) 6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not Just a good novelist,
By Jim McKenna - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Collected Essays (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) (Paperback)
Greene is a master of the short essay. He's a particularly good book reviewer, with tastes ranging from Rider Haggard to Henry James. He is, in fact, particularly fine on James, which is somewhat surprising, since at first glance they wouldn't seem to have much in common. They both, however, were deeply concerned with the craft of fiction, and it is that interest in craftmanship, more so than Greene's political or religious views, which dominates these essays.
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