3 Review(s)

'In childhood all books of divination. . . and like the fortune teller who sees a long journey in the cards or death by water they influence the future'. So writes Graham Greene, describing his childhood love of reading and how it grew into a passion for writing. Collected Essays contains nearly eighty essays, reviews and occasional pieces composed between novels, plays and travel books over four prolific decades. From Henry James and Somerset Maugham to Ho Chi Minh and Kim Philby, the range of subjects is eclectic and stimulating, and the characters are brought vividly to life. 'A man should be judged by his enmities as well as his friendships', Greene wrote. In that sense Collected Essays is as revealing as autobiography and as characteristically rich in humour, insight and doubt.