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Stavick and Wise: Introduction vii Introduction

Indeed, this inaugural volume is, in Introduction effect, a tribute to the achievements of the Graham Greene International Festival. The Welcome to the first volume of articles are drawn from a variety of past Graham Greene Studies. papers delivered at one or other of these events. Because of the festival’s reputa- Graham Greene Studies is an interna- tion, the festival organizers have been able tional, peer-reviewed and disseminated to draw upon a rich variety of speakers: journal of scholarly research pertaining to academics, peers of the British realm, celeb- the life and work of Graham Greene. It will rities, fellow writers, and other individuals be published biennially. The intention is to from the UK and abroad who have had a provide a forum for academic study and at connection to Greene, each of whom has the same time to appeal to as wide an audi- contributed richly to our knowledge of the ence as possible, reflecting the very active, man and his work. international interest which continues to be As editors, we freely acknowledge that we shown in the work of this writer. The jour- are not the first to have sought to publish a nal will establish a venue for disseminating Graham Greene journal. Dangerous Edges research, book and film reviews, and other of Graham Greene: Journeys with Saints original scholarship germane to the study of and Sinners (London: Continuum, 2011), Graham Greene. edited by Dermot Gilvary and Darren J. N. The project was conceived by Professor Middleton, is a fine collection of seventeen Joyce Stavick, Department Head, English, such essays. In its earlier years, the GGBT at the University of North Georgia. Pro- also published a series of monographs con- fessor Stavick’s successful mission to secure sisting of verbatim texts of key lectures. the go-ahead for this project is based on an Audio and video recordings have also been on-going concern that there is at present no made at most of the Festivals; together, academic journal dedicated to this major these constitute a substantial resource for 20th Century writer of international acclaim. researchers. Details about access and fur- Professor Stavick’s co-editor, Dr. Jonathan ther information can be obtained from the Wise, is a Trustee of the Graham Greene GGBT Secretary through the Trust website Birthplace Trust (GGBT) and co-author of www.grahamgreenebt.org . a critically acclaimed, two-volume bibliog- The papers which make up this first raphy of the works of Graham Greene. The edition of the journal arrived at the edi- University of North Georgia’s partnership tors’ desks in a wide variety of formats. with the GGBT acknowledges the contri- Circumstances demanded that some had bution made by the Trust over the past been taken straight from the lecturers’ eighteen years to the study of the work and notes; others were complete with footnotes the life of Greene. This has been made pos- and full bibliographies. It should be noted sible through the dedication of the Trust that this variety of approach will not occur members who, since 1998, have organized in future editions, and contributions will and run an annual, four-day, international conform to the guidelines referred to in the festival held in the town of , 2017 Call for Papers advertisement printed UK, birthplace of Graham Greene. elsewhere in this journal.

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Two factors strike one immediately when Cedric Watts’ paper from the 1999 Festival, examining the contents page of the inau- “Darkest Greeneland: .” gural volume of Graham Greene Studies. Watts’ work has stood the test of time; First, the fact that the majority of the con- his intimate knowledge of the Brighton tributors are not UK nationals is a clear landscape provides further evidence of reflection of the enduring international Greene’s mastery of “place” in his novels. appeal of the writer. Four contributors Frances McCormack’s ‘Memory Cheats’, are not writing in their native languages. like the essays of Meeuwis and Watts, also Second, for a long period in the past Greene concentrates on a single work: Greene’s was dubbed “a Catholic writer,” a descrip- last novel, The Captain and the Enemy, tion he always rejected. Interestingly, only which has been mostly disregarded by one paper included here directly addresses critics. McCormack finds evidence to con- this aspect of the writer’s work. tradict this notion, analysing in depth the Both Judith Adamson in “Reflections” complexities of this challenging text that and Michael Meeuwis in “The Furthest his friend Leopoldo Durán claimed “almost of All” provide acute insights into drove [Greene] to despair.” the creative process of writing. Adamson Kevin Ruane’s “Graham Greene in Love shows through reference to a single initial and War,” does make passing references incident how Greene re-cycled and adapted to the text of but a private experience which much later concentrates for the most part on chron- culminated in its use in one of his most icling Greene’s experiences of Vietnam accomplished novels, The Quiet American. in the early 1950s as he tried to come to Michael Meeuwis, who has gained access to terms with a complicated and “unravel- some hitherto unknown and private mate- ling” political map. It should be noted that rials, together with the original holograph Ruane’s research is on-going, particularly of Greene’s ‘Congo Journal’ (which differs with respect to Greene’s friend, the rather considerably from the published version), shadowy Trevor Wilson. is able to demonstrate by example how the Both Mark Bosco and Bob Davis examine writer’s personal experience guided the themes in the writer’s novels. Mark Bosco’s composition of A Burnt-Out Case, both “Shades of Greene in Catholic Literary directly and indirectly. Modernism” argues that Greene, in common We must extend our gratitude to Edith with other Catholic and Anglo-Catholic Dasnoy, widow of Dr. Michel Lechat, for writers of the time, found a way to counter granting us access to the manuscript of the secular writers’ contention that religion her late husband’s address at the 2006 had no place in modern life or, indeed, in Festival, entitled “Graham Greene and the modernism. By contrast, Davis’s 2007 lec- Congo, 1959.” This paper neatly comple- ture, “Figures in Greene’s Carpet,” traces a ments Michael Meeuwis’s pioneering study familiar theme which runs through most of of what is a fascinating, and little explored, the writer’s novels: the pursuit of the indi- interlude in Greene’s life. vidual through a damaged landscape. Davis Our determination that this selection concentrates on the period between the should reflect the full spectrum of past fes- publication of in tivals is demonstrated by the inclusion of 1940 and Monsignor Quixote in 1982. Neil

https://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/ggs/vol1/iss1/8 2 Stavick and Wise: Introduction ix Introduction

Sinyard, in “All Writers are Equal but Some of his book Travels in Greeneland: The Writers are More Equal than Others,” finds Cinema of Graham Greene (now in its 4th both contrasts and similarities, some quite edition, published by the UNG Press) and surprising, in the work of Graham Greene later during the now famous National Film and another “towering figure” of mid-20th Theatre Guardian Lecture in 1984 when a Century , . reticent Greene delivered a rare public lec- François Gallix and Motonori Sato deliv- ture that was covertly filmed. ered papers at the 2011 and 2014 Festivals We have also chosen to include in the which in turn examine an unremarked Features section, “Dr. Fischer of Geneva aspect of the writer’s work and Greene’s or There’s so Much More to Christmas impact on two Japanese authors. Gallix, Crackers,” a talk delivered by David R. A. “Graham Greene’s Books for Children,” in Pearce at the 2009 Festival. “Drap,” as addition to analysing the books the author he was affectionately called by his stu- wrote specifically for that audience, makes dents, was instrumental in the formation connections with Greene’s pre-occupa- of The Trust, was Festival Director for tion with his own childhood and the books several years, and was a school master he read as a youngster. In “The Invisible at , Greene’s alma Japanese Gentleman,” Motonori Sato mater. Festival goers could not miss his explains how Saiichi Maruya and Shusaku unmistakable presence typified by a splen- Endo were both influenced by Greene’s did, resounding verbal delivery. After style. Sato also shows how Endo, most much deliberation, we have decided not unusually a Christian convert living in a to edit David’s paper on the 1980 novella Buddhist and Shinto culture, was helped by Dr. Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party Greene to get published in the West. beyond the standard style adopted for this 2016 marked the 25th anniversary of journal. His public contributions at the the death of Graham Greene. It is inevi- festivals were not only knowledgeable and table that, with the passing of time, there incisive but they were also performances. are now fewer of those who knew the We hope that, when reading his paper, writer personally or worked with him. It is those who knew him will be able to hear his therefore fitting that we have the reminis- voice again. Sadly, David died as GGS was cences of two people who fit this category. preparing for publication. Our thoughts These appear in the “Features” section. are with his family, and we will miss him. was a trusted friend It is fitting that the last word should come of Greene during the later stages of his from the man himself. Graham Greene was life and, with his extensive knowledge of fond of the “good life” and he certainly the region, became the writer’s guide to tried to stay at, if not the best, certainly and Central America. Quentin Falk the world’s most iconic hotels while on his has appeared at many festivals, where his numerous travels. This included The Ritz knowledge of film in general—and films Hotel in London, which he frequented, par- associated with Graham Greene in partic- ticularly when he was domiciled in France ular—has been greatly valued. Falk got to after 1966. He wrote The Ritz in 1976 when know the writer well during the short time he heard that the famous establishment when he was working on the first edition was about to be sold. The poem was to have

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been published alongside the uncollected please check it as I had a problem reading travel reports, essays and reviews which your writing and want to be sure I got it make up Reflections (1990). In May 1989, down properly.” (Adamson was working Professor Judith Adamson, who assisted from a holograph in Greene’s notoriously the aging writer in preparing the book difficult handwriting.) Two months later, for publication, wrote to him: “Do you Greene replied, ‘I hesitate about using want ‘The Ritz’ added as a PS to ‘Ghosts THE RITZ as I still go there and Victor of a Possible Adventure’?” (an essay in has retired. In actual fact things have a bit Reflections about the Café Royal, another improved there. On yet third thoughts I London luxury hotel). I prefer it there to would rather leave out THE RITZ.’ placing it chronologically. And would you We are pleased to publish the poem for the first time.

Joyce Stavick & Jon Wise December 2016

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