/lit/ - Literature

he's great but i think he's just out of fashion right now. maybe because he wrote a ton of books and does not really have one magnum opus? i'm not too sure.
he wrote some fun books too and maybe this board doesn't like fun books? i like that one with the vacuum cleaner salesman. what's your favorite?

>>19355602
The Quiet American is great.

Have a copy of the power and the glory laying around somewhere. Maybe Ill pick that up next

>>19355602
>>19356151
>>19356159
>>19356171
Mediocre pulp fiction writer who mostly wrote airport novel thrillers, not high literature or intellectual in the slightest. May as well read Girl With the Dragon Tattoo or Gone Girl for the equivalent level of literature. And his so-called "literary" novels like The Power and the Glory? They may be even more embarrassing and worthless.

I read a lot of his books years ago, but when I recently tried one (Stamboul Train) I found it too melodramatic and gave up halfway through.

There's multiple reasons why he's faded as time has gone on. Although he covered both 'entertainments' and 'serious' fiction, both types have suffered in different ways. His 'entertainments' seem rather fusty now, and his 'serious' fiction doesn't get much attention as all the focus now in that area is on authors' trendy identities, which Greene doesn't have. I also don't know whether any of his books are still taught in schools (maybe The Quiet American?).

>>19357021
has he faded that much? he's reprinted regularly. ive probably read three of his novels, years ago, don't remember them. his collection of short stories is better and worth reading.

>>19357030
I think he falls into that category of good 20th century writer who didn’t have a major work to withstand time, or a style/persona that was memorable. So many good writers are fading rapidly. Updike, Bellow, Mailer, Ford, Maugham, Norris, etc will probably become footnote material soon.

>>19357780
not been dead long enough, perhaps. hemingway fell off for a while after his demise.

>>19357063
>Updike, Bellow, Mailer, Ford, Maugham, Norris, etc

There's a whole stratum of 20th century authors who are currently in that odd limbo state where their books are still in print, but they no longer get discussed - or if they are discussed, it's to criticise them. Add Gore Vidal too, and Philip Roth will join them in the next decade. I wonder how long before they dwindle down to just a couple of books in print each, then eventually nothing. The only alternative is if there's a 'rediscovery' of an author's books, though it's unlikely in the current cultural climate.

>>19355602
I enjoyed Power and the Glory. Also he went on an expedition to an uncharted area of Liberia inhabited by cannibals and nearly swapped his sister with the top girl of a local chieftain's harem for a night. Solid author

I intend on reading Monsignor Quixote soon, how is it both in Graham's bibliography and as a follow-up to a recent readthrough of the original Don Quixote?

>>19356151
>does not really have one magnum opus
The Power and the Glory

>>19356220
Grow a brain.

>>19358330
orson welles said near enough the same about him

The End of the Affair, The Quiet American, Heart of the Matter, The Power and the Glory, Our Man in Havana and Brighton Rock are generally considered his best. One of the most compelling and technically able writers. He basically salvaged mid-20th century British novel from it's provincialism and mediocrity.

>>19355602
I liked The Power and The Glory the best. As a Catholic writer, though, I feel he's outstripped by the other heavyweights roughly contemporaneous with him, like Chesterton, Waugh, and Flannery O'Connor. And Bernanos' priests are slightly more compelling to me. Though, nonetheless, I have a bit of a soft spot for Greene's Whisky Priest.

The End of the Affair is good, too, although I wasn't a huge fan of the subplots - the PI's kid, and the ugly ex-priest, both detracted from the main narrative for me. I would rather have had more Bendrix and Sarah shenanigans. I also feel Sarah's husband (civil servant - name escapes me) was, if anything, overly pathetic, though I appreciate the narrative is from Bendrix' perspective. But as far as cuckolded husbands go he's no Karenin, Casaubon, Charles Bovary, etc.

If it's Catholic literature you're after I highly highly highly recommend Diary of a Country Priest. It did more for my faith than literally any book other than the Bible, and ranks alongside The Brothers Karamazov for me as the best religious novel of all time. Never see it get discussed here, probably because it's quite slow for the first third.

>>19357780
>Philip Roth
He is still on university reading lists and is still culturally relevant. Roth is going nowhere