The Life of Graham Greene: Volume I: 1904-1939

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.

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.

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.