Graham Greene: The Enemy Within

Rating:
Summary: A Hateful Book
Review: In the introduction to this biography, Michael Shelden claims that he undertook this study Graham Greene's life with the hope of showing that Greene was unfairly denied the Nobel prize for literature. But Shelden's insistence that Greene's work is filled with hate and devotion to the 'glory of evil' belies his stated intention. At one point, Shelden waxes about his desire that Greene's work die out completely so that the world can finally be rid of it. The paucity of praise for Greene's good work, the almost gleeful anticipation of Greene's declining years, and the way Shelden repeatedly read ridiculously bad motives into Greene's every private action led me to believe that Shelden had never enjoyed reading Greene's work and had only undertaken this biography in order to smear his name. It is true that Greene was not a morally upright citizen, but he never claimed to be. The mystery of Greene's novels is that imperfect, even evil, people can become instruments of grace. Such may also be said of Greene's life and work.

Rating:
Summary: Well-documented? I think not
Review: One of my authors asked me recently about whether I wanted footnotes in a piece that he was writing. I told him that if he was making any claims that people might dispute, he should footnote the h... out of it. Michael Shelden doesn't do this. His biography is full of controversial claims but his critical apparatus is very weak. In fact, one of his claims, that a gardener at an uncle's home was a central figure in his life, doesn't seem to have any documented source at all.

If the claims were restricted to gardeners, this would not be an important detail, but Shelden makes an assortment of claims, identifying Greene as a homosexual, an antisemite, a closet fascist, and even insinuates that Greene was a murderer as well. Of all of these claims, only the antisemitism claim seems to have any merit and what merit there exists is for a weaker antisemitism than Shelden claims. The claim of homosexuality doesn't jibe with Shelden's own account of Greene's life.

Perhaps most amusing is that while Shelden is eager to point out Greene's fondness for deception, he doesn't seem to acknowledge the possibility that he himself was being deceived.

Rating:
Summary: Biography as Character Assassination
Review: THE ENEMY WITHIN is probably the most mean-spirited biography I've ever read. Shelden's disdain for his subject seems to border on pathology, and his insinuation that Greene was responsible for a famous (and famously grisly) murder in Brighton marks a new low in literary biography.

Rating:
Summary: Well researched expose of Graham Greene
Review: The negative reviews preceding mine certainly do not mince words in castigating Shelden's biography of Graham Greene. However, they offer nothing to refute Shelden's well documented research; they are simply expressions of displeasure (and possibly embarrassment--how do you reconcile your world-class super-sophisticated British novelist toting around a teddy-bear like Radar O'Reilly?) Although I have been fascinated by much of Greene's fiction, and will continue to read and re-read his best works, I think Shelden makes quite a good case that Greene was an extremely manipulative, bisexual, anti-Semitic, hypocrite who stood for nothing in his personal life. Indeed, Greene belongs with Rousseau, Hemingway, Brecht, et al., in Paul Johnson's famous book of misfits, Intellectuals. Greene's sham Catholicism is particularly galling, since he converted as a young man only as a means to win Vivien's hand, yet he used it for the rest of his life as a bogus defense against those who might question the sincerity and depth of his religious sentiments. As Shelden says, if one did not know that Greene was (allegedly) Catholic, it would be very difficult to read works like Brighton Rock or The Comedians as some kind of theological statement about grace and transcendence. Let's face it: Greene was only looking out for number one. There is nothing wrong with that, except if you are passing yourself off as a humanist.

Rating:
Summary: Well researched expose of Graham Greene
Review: The negative reviews preceding mine certainly do not mince words in castigating Shelden's biography of Graham Greene. However, they offer nothing to refute Shelden's well documented research; they are simply expressions of displeasure (and possibly embarrassment--how do you reconcile your world-class super-sophisticated British novelist toting around a teddy-bear like Radar O'Reilly?) Although I have been fascinated by much of Greene's fiction, and will continue to read and re-read his best works, I think Shelden makes quite a good case that Greene was an extremely manipulative, bisexual, anti-Semitic, hypocrite who stood for nothing in his personal life. Indeed, Greene belongs with Rousseau, Hemingway, Brecht, et al., in Paul Johnson's famous book of misfits, Intellectuals. Greene's sham Catholicism is particularly galling, since he converted as a young man only as a means to win Vivien's hand, yet he used it for the rest of his life as a bogus defense against those who might question the sincerity and depth of his religious sentiments. As Shelden says, if one did not know that Greene was (allegedly) Catholic, it would be very difficult to read works like Brighton Rock or The Comedians as some kind of theological statement about grace and transcendence. Let's face it: Greene was only looking out for number one. There is nothing wrong with that, except if you are passing yourself off as a humanist.

Rating:
Summary: Graham Greene: the Enemy Within
Review: The only reason I gave this repulsive book one star is that there was no way to register zero stars! This is an ugly, ugly book, and I had to shower after reading a few chapters. I never finished it.

Rating:
Summary: Not a reliable surveyof Greene
Review: This "biography" spends much time summarizing the plot of nearly every work of fiction written by Greene [and I must admit, Shelden does a remarkable job at *this* task], but loses nearly all credibility when every story is "traced" back to possible real-life situations. For example, *The Third Man* is Greene's coverage of his knowledge of the Hitler assasination attempt [courtesy of his time with the British Secret Service], as was reported to him to British defector Kim Philby(yes, *that* Kim Philby). Now, before you say, "well, could happen", I say yes, except: bear in mind that Shelden's sources are *not* private letters and journals by Greene, but newspaper reviews and readily-available texts of Greene's interviews - which, as anyone who studies Greene in any capacity, is scarely enough to delve into this novelist's highly-precocious mind. Look at the sources at the end of the book.... NO exposure of the private Greene at all.

Stickto Shelly.