Greene, Graham (1904-1991), an English author, won fame for both serious novels and lighter books he called “entertainments.” His entertainments include the detective story This Gun for Hire (1936) and the adventure mystery The Third Man (1950).
Greene’s serious novels are set in varied and remote places and deal with troubled individuals. Many of his characters are mentally disturbed, suffering a religious crisis, or engaged in criminal activities. To Greene, these people are both victims and “heroes” because they struggle to achieve a kind of inner harmony. Greene implied that although his heroes are detestable in some ways, they at least avoid the common fault of false self-satisfaction. For example, in The Heart of the Matter (1948), the main character abandons his church, his wife, and society, and takes his own life. However, by suffering and by confronting himself, he at least gains some understanding. Greene’s other serious novels include Brighton Rock (1938), The Power and the Glory (1940), The End of the Affair (1951), A Burnt-Out Case (1961), The Honorary Consul (1973), and The Human Factor (1978).
Greene was born on Oct. 2, 1904, in Berkhamsted, near London. He worked on the editorial staff of The Times (London) from 1926 to 1930. He became a Roman Catholic in 1926. Much of his serious writing deals with moral problems of Catholics. He wrote two autobiographies, A Sort of Life (1971) and Ways of Escape (1981). He died on April 3, 1991.
