“The
great advantage of being a writer is that you're there, listening to every
word, but part of you is observing. Everything is useful to a writer, you see -
every scrap, even the longest and most boring of luncheon parties.” –
Graham Greene
Greene's quote also is interesting in that he was
believed to have worked as a spy for the British government during World War II
and beyond while continuing to hone his writing career. Born on this day in
1904, he is regarded as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, reinforced by author John Irving, who described him as "the most
accomplished living novelist in the English language."
Shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in
Literature, Greene produced 25 novels that mostly explored the ambivalent moral and
political issues of the modern world. He
also wrote short stories, essays, plays and movie scripts and worked as a journalist
during a 67-year career. He was working
as an editor on The Times of London
when his first novel, The Man Within,
was published in 1929 to immediate critical acclaim. In 1941, he won the prestigious Hawthornden
Prize for his masterpiece The Power and
the Glory.
Considered one of the most
“cinematic” of 20th century writers (nearly all of his novels and
many of his short stories were made into movies or television shows), his characters are both interesting and controversial, for which Greene had a logical
explanation. “(You know) the moment
comes when a character does or says something you hadn't thought about. At that moment he's alive and you just have
to leave it to him to do whatever he prefers.”
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