David Crystal goes 'careful' in "The Third Man"

In Deans’ Hall, Berkhamsted School (UK), on the afternoon of Saturday 3rd October 2009 at the Graham Greene International Festival, Prof. David Crystal OBE (above) (University of Bangor) gave a lively and informative conference paper titled “Going Careful in The Third Man: a Linguistic Exploration”. His text was enriched by many dramatised readings and quotations delivered in lively and convincing style by his wife, Hilary (above left), and his son, Ben (above right).

David pointed out that, whenever Greene draws attention to a character’s language, we know that he will be a bad guy. If Greene points to a problem of communication, he is giving his characters a warning. Ambiguity is a linguistic clue. Telling lies about language is the ultimate sin in Greeneland. In all of Greene’s prose fiction there are very few language jokes, for language is no laughing matter.

In The Third Man there are over forty references to language, working like a leitmotif and stressing the theme of unintelligibility. Everywhere there are foreign accents, which work as ominous signs. Lack of understanding does not bode well, and Holly Martins’ lack of language is a problem for him --- and for others whom he meets. Style too leads to awkwardness. Names also provide a special sort of tension, and so too do mispronunciations, mis-namings and insults.

In the eighteen months or so since he had been engaged by the Festival director Dermot Gilvary to give this talk --- during which time David had been busy not only with writing but also with lectures and broadcasts all around the world, as we can see on his Blog --- he had read (or re-read) the complete novels and stories of Graham Greene. What a feat! And such dedication to research and scholarship was greatly appreciated by his large and enthusiastic audience.

At the Festival’s book stall the public was able to purchase copies of David’s latest book, other titles written by him. Not surprisingly, there was a cluster of devoted readers who queued to have their copies signed and to express their pleasure at hearing such a well researched and entertainingly delivered talk.

To open the batting on the Saturday afternoon at the Festival 2010 (i.e. 2nd October 2010), we will have Michael Brearley OBE, former England cricket captain, former President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), and current President of the The British Psychoanalytical Society. His provisional title is “A (second) Psychoanalyst looks at Graham Greene”. More details will be published later.

"In Memoriam": Ken Sherwood (1935-2009)

In Deans’ Hall, Berkhamsted School (UK), on Saturday 3rd October 2009 at the Graham Greene International Festival, the Trustee former Festival director David Pearce gave a Tribute to Ken Sherwood, who died on Monday 6th April last.

Along with David, Ken was a co-founder of the Graham Greene Birthplace Trust, and with much regret David noted that this Festival, the twelfth, was the first one without Ken. David recalled that the Trust was Ken’s brainchild, that Ken had demonstrated an intuitive understanding of what works, and that he had helped to create an organisation which binds together the town of Berkhamsted, the School, Graham Greene the man and his family.

He explained that Ken’s energy had provided the essential momentum to the project, for example in establishing the charitable status of the Trust, in becoming the archivist and in founding the Friends. In these and in many other respects Ken enjoyed the unstinting help and support of his wife, Jenny.

The Guardian's Michael Billington looks at Graham Greene's plays

In Deans’ Hall, Berkhamsted School (UK), on Saturday 3rd October 2009 at the Graham Greene International Festival Michael Billington (The Guardian's theatre critic) gave a conference paper titled “The Plays of Graham Greene”, in which he placed Greene's plays in their theatrical context.

He established that Greene began writing in the heyday of the well-made, West End play, and argued that, although The Living Room and The Complaisant Lover certainly deserve revival, Greene's predicament was his adherence to formal conventions which were being questioned by the work of Samuel Beckett, Bertolt Brecht and the Royal Court school of playwrights. He suggested that Greene's plays are the work of a skilled craftsman, and he commented upon some of the differences in the ways that dramatists and novelists manage the problem of time.

Michael argued that in his fiction Greene also acknowledged the existence of rules, but in his novels he brilliantly extends the accepted conventions. Greene widened the map of modern British fiction and took it away from parochial concerns. He also raised questions about the novel’s inherent mendacity and the unreliability of the narrator.

Michael Billington is the author of State of the Nation: British Theatre Since 1945 (2007), Harold Pinter (2007) and other texts on plays and playwrights.

At the Festival 2010 on the evening of Friday 1st October at the Civic Centre, Berkhamsted (UK), Dr. Joe Spence (historian and Master of Dulwich College) will introduce a series of dramatised readings from Greene’s plays. More details will be announced later.