The Graham Greene Papers Part 2 consists mainly of original correspondence and manuscripts. The collection also contains Greene's appointment diaries and two audio recordings.
The correspondence includes a series of letters written by prominent authors in response to Greene's proposal of a mass resignation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in response to the war in Vietnam. The letters often contain the authors' views on the war and the opposition to it. Some of the authors included are Bertrand Russell, Herbert Read, Isaiah Berlin, E.M. Forster and Cecil Day-Lewis.
A series of letters from Constant Lambert discuss the possibility of a monthly article written for Night and Day. There are also two series of personal correspondence in the collection. Letters from Violet Hunt to Greene comment on the literary circles of her time. Letters between Kim Philby and Greene discuss the current political situations and literary publications. After 1986, the letters include references to the visits Greene paid to Philby in Moscow.
The collection contains manuscripts of some of Greene's major works including The Captain and the Enemy and The Tenth Man and theater scripts such as For Whom the Bell Chimes. There are also numerous manuscripts for letters published in newspapers, many of them dealing with issues in Nicaragua and Central America. A few manuscripts of prefaces, speeches, and reviews are also included.
Appointment diaries for the years 1978 through 1980 contain autograph entries by Greene and monthly reading lists. Also included in this collection are materials related to Greene's visit to Georgetown University in 1985.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES: Graham Greene was born on October 2, 1904 in Berkhamsted, England. His father was Charles Henry Greene and his mother was Marion Raymond Greene. He married Vivien Dayrell Browning in 1927. Their two children are Mrs. Lucy Caroline (Greene) Bourget and Francis Greene.
Greene, a prolific writer, is best known as a novelist though he also wrote plays, short stories, and non-fiction. He was on staff at The Times from 1926-1930 and held the position of Literary Editor at The Spectator from 1940-1941. During the 1930s he was on staff at Night and Day, and, in 1954, was the Indo-China correspondent for the New Republic. His career also included serving the British Foreign Office in Africa from 1941-1944, and a being member of the Panamanian delegation to Washington for the signing of the Canal Treaty in 1977.
Greene died of a blood disease on April 3, 1991 in Vevey, Switzerland.
Violet Hunt (1866-1942) was the daughter of Alfred and Margaret Hunt. She was a prolific writer and moved in the literary circles which included Joseph Conrad and Henry James. Hunt was the companion of Ford Madox Ford and for a time regarded herself as his wife when Ford's first wife, Elsie, refused a divorce.
Constant Lambert (1905-1951) was a composer, conductor and writer on music; a member of the Sitwell circle.
Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1912-1988) was a British Intelligence Operative and a spy for the Soviet Union. He provided the Soviet Union with a wealth of information which he was able to gather as a high ranking British diplomat and insider. In 1949 he was posted to Washington, D.C. as the British liaison to the Central Intelligence Agency. In 1963 he defected to Moscow where he lived the rest of his life. He married his fourth wife, Rufa, a Russian woman, in 1971. Greene visited Philby in Moscow in 1986 and 1987. Greene also wrote the introduction for Philby's book, My Silent War.
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ABBREVIATIONS:
ACS - Autograph Card Signed
AL - Autograph Letter
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
AMS - Autograph Manuscript Signed
TL - Typed Letter
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
TM - Typed Manuscript
TMS - Typed Manuscript Signed
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ACCESSION DATA:
Status: Open
Provenance: Graham Greene and others, 1985-1998.
Processed
by Heidi Rubenstein, June 2005.
BULK DATES: 1967 - 1985
SPAN DATES: 1944 - 2001
EXTENT: 5 boxes