Dr. Chris Hull to study Greene at Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas

Dr. Chris Hull (University of Nottingham, UK) has been awarded a British Studies Fellowship at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin (USA) in order to study the Graham Greene Collection.

He is one of two guest speakers at the Graham Greene International Festival 2009 to be honoured in this way, and his one-month residency at Austin will be undertaken between June 2010 and August 2011.

Despite the fact that Latin America was the setting for half of Graham Greene’s foreign-based novels, there has been little investigation into the writer’s representation and views of each country’s politics and wider inter-American relations. Taking a predominantly political and historical rather than literary approach, Dr. Hull will analyse Greene’s Cold War Latin American novels and assorted correspondence related to the countries, where these works were set. He will focus on Our Man in Havana (Batista’s Cuba), The Comedians (Papa Doc’s Haiti) and The Honorary Consul (Argentine/Paraguayan dictatorship). His cross-disciplinary methodology will also engage with the novelist’s views on dictatorship across the political spectrum, from Fulgencio Batista, François Duvalier and Alfredo Stroessner on the Right, to Fidel Castro on the Left. It is possible that this project may widen to include study of The Quiet American, another key Cold War novel, and one in which Greene proved to be remarkably prescient about U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Such research could also encompass the 1984 travelogue Getting to Know the General in order to analyse Greene’s friendship with the maverick socialist dictator of Panama, Omar Torrijos.

At the Festival 2009 Dr. Hull gave the first annual talk under the heading of New Research on Graham Greene. His title was “Prophecy and Comedy in Havana: Greene’s ‘entertainment’ and the reality of British diplomacy in Cuba”, and his talk is summarised in the blog post on 22nd November 2009.

Prof. François Gallix wins research grant at University of Texas at Austin

Prof. François Gallix (University of the Sorbonne, Paris) is one of two guest speakers at the Graham Greene International Festival 2009 who has been awarded a research fellowship at the Harry Ramsom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin (USA) in order to study the Graham Greene Collection.

So that he may complete his study of the centre’s manuscripts, letters and books concerning Greene and “The Empty Chair”, Prof. Gallix has been granted a one-month fellowship in the summer of 2010. In July 2009 the announcement of his discovery of this unfinished and unpublished manuscript, which was written when the author was only twenty-two years old, inspired a great deal of scholarly and public interest. His revelation led to extensive coverage on the BBC and in local, national and international media. Prof. Gallix’s work is important, because it breaks new ground in the study of the Greene’s life and work, because it enhances existing scholarship and reading, and because there is great interest in the writer within and beyond the academic community, as one may see from the extent of current reading of Greene and the extent of scholarly work on his writing and life.

A regular, respected and popular guest at the Festival, Prof. Gallix gave a conference paper at the Festival 2008 on “The Riddles of Graham Greene: Brighton Rock as a literary Catholic detective story”. In 2009 he delivered a short talk in a talk entitled “The Discovery of ‘The Empty Chair’” in which he explained his progress so far in preparation of the novella for serialisation in Strand magazine. His talk was summarised in a blog post on 1st November 2009. Given the significance of his work and the intensity of interest which it has aroused, Prof. Gallix will speak again to the Festival on 1st October 2010 on the title “Graham Greene’s Unpublished Material”.

Attractions at the Festival 2010

Michael Brearley (psychoanalyst and former England cricket captain), Monica Ali (author of Brick Lane; author of the introduction to Graham Greene's The End of the Affair, Vintage, 2004; lecturer at Columbia University, New York; photographed by John Follain above), Tim Butcher (formerly Middle East correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, and author of Blood River) and Humphrey Hawksley (senior BBC Foreign Correspondent, and author of Democracy Kills; top photograph) will be among the distinguished speakers at the next Graham Greene International Festival to be held at the writer's birthplace in Berkhamsted (Hertfordshire, England, UK) for four days from Thursday 30th September to Sunday 3rd October 2010.

The international dimension will be enhanced by the visits of Prof. François Gallix (University of the Sorbonne, Paris), Prof. Thomas O’Connor (James Madison University, Harrisonburg, USA) and Dr. Frances McCormack (National University of Ireland, Galway).

Amongst other attractions there will be dramatised readings from plays by Greene directed by Dr. Joe Spence (Master of Dulwich College), and the film of The Ministry of Fear (directed by Fritz Lang, USA, 1944) will be screened at The Rex Cinema in Berkhamsted.

Full details of the programme and tickets will be published soon.

Acknowledgements

In the preparation of this blog, I should like to acknowledge the great help received from three invaluable sources:

(i) Ian Garrett whose company iGDesign is responsible for the website of the Graham Greene Birthplace Trust and whose e-mail address is ian@igdesign.co.uk

(ii) Kevin Slingsby who is Head of Information and Communication Technology at Oakham School (Rutland, UK), and

(iii) Mark Steed who is Principal of Berkhamsted School (Hertfordshire, UK), which, as Graham Greene's old school, hosts many events at the Graham Greene International Festival.

The next Festival will be held in Berkhamsted (England, UK) from Thursday 30th September to Sunday 3rd October 2010. The programme is now complete, and details will be announced soon.

Brief summaries and images of the events in the Festival 2009 may be seen in previous entries on this blog.

Prof. Neil Sinyard remembers "The Tenth Man"

At the Graham Greene International Festival in Deans' Hall, Berkhamsted School (Hertfordshire, England, UK) on the morning of Sunday 4th October 2009 Prof. Neil Sinyard brought down the curtain on the twelfth Festival, when he gave yet another in a series of witty and erudite talks illustrated by film. On this occasion his theme was "Forgotten Memories and the Mystery of The Tenth Man".

In 1937, Prof. Sinyard recalled, Greene had an idea for a film in which a rich man offered to give his entire wealth and possessions to anyone who would take his place at an execution. In 1944 the idea became a short novel, which he sold to MGM. Forty-one years later the same story was sold to an American publisher, who liked the tale so much that it was published in 1985. It was also filmed for television three years later in a version which starred Anthony Hopkins, Kristin Scott-Thomas and Derek Jacobi, and which earned three Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy for Derek Jacobi.

Prof. Sinyard taught in the Department of Film Studies at the University of Hull (England, UK). His many publications include Graham Greene: A Literary Life (2003), Jack Clayton (2000), Clint Eastwood (1995), Silent Movies (1995), Mel Gibson (1993), Marilyn (1992), Classic Movies (1988), Films of Steven Spielberg (1987), Filming Literature: The Art of Screen Adaptation (1986) and Journey Down Sunset Boulevard: Films of Billy Wilder (1979).

After his talk the Trustees, friends and guests gathered in Berkhamsted School's Old Hall for the Farewell Lunch, when the chairman of the Graham Greene Birthplace Trust, Giles Clark, thanked everyone for their work and support, hoped to see them next year and wished them "Bon Voyage".

David Pearce meets Dr. Fischer of Geneva

At the Graham Greene International Festival in Deans' Hall, Berkhamsted School (Hertfordshire, England, UK) on the morning of Sunday 4th October 2009 David Pearce gave a characteristically entertaining and enlightening talk on "Dr. Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party and coming to terms with terrorism".

In this novel, argued David Pearce, Greene writes a story which is compact, which has great economy and composure. It is a mature statement from the writer, whose daughter Caroline was present at the moment of creation, namely a dinner on Christmas Eve with grandsons there too. The plot is simple, uncluttered and static, yet ideas twist and turn. The author recycles and reinvents everything: names, characters, situations. It is a love story, but also a tale of loneliness and emptiness. The thought is offered that, if love and benevolence are taken away, there is nothing to choose between God and Satan. The final joke is that death may provide a respite, yet we are frightened of it. The last enemy, however, is not death; it is undeath, not being able to remove oneself from the nightmare. There is infinite longing in this novel: it celebrates love and hope; it is witty and perceptive, but never sentimental and it offers the possibility of happiness. David Pearce added that, if he were still an English master at Berkhamsted School, he would make this book compulsory reading.

Prof. Cedric Watts (University of Sussex, UK), author of A Preface to Greene (Longman, 1997) and a regular guest speaker at Festivals, rose from his place in Deans’ Hall to tell the audience that in the light of David’s talk he needed to rewrite his own book!

David Pearce is a Trustee and co-founder of the Graham Greene Birthplace Trust, and was Festival director for four years.

Karas' zither music flavours Austrian Dinner in Heart of Greeneland

At the Graham Greene International Festival on the evening of Saturday 3rd October 2009 the guests at the Austrian Dinner in Old Hall at Berkhamsted School (Hertfordshire, England, UK) were treated to Wiener Schnitzel, Sachertorte and a selection of Austrian wines. Dinner was followed by a selection of Anton Karas' music for the film of The Third Man (directed by Carol Reed, UK, 1949) played on the zither by Cornelia Mayer (above) and introduced by the film historian Dr. Brigitte Timmermann.

The Festival director, Dermot Gilvary, welcomed the Deputy Mayor of Dacorum, Cllr. Roger Taylor, the Mayor of Berkhamsted, Cllr. David Collins, and the Lady Mayoress, Elaine Collins (who is a trustee of the Graham Greene Birthplace Trust), the President of the Old Berkhamstedians, Natasha Charlton.

He gave thanks to Mark Steed (Principal, Berkhamsted School) for his generous hospitality, to the members of the local council and other organisations for their help and cooperation, to the Festival secretary Colin Garrett for his immense organisation, to Peter Gieler (general secretary of the Anglo-Austrian Society) for his society's generous sponsorship of Cornelia Mayer's appearances, to the Trustees for their unswerving support, to the many guest speakers whose quality so enriched the four-day event and to the public who come from near and far to support the Festival and to make it such an exciting and thriving event.