Authors: Richard Greene
Louise Dennys:
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Nicholas Dennys:
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Francis Greene:
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Oliver Greene:
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Alberto Huerta:
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Richard Ingrams:
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Hans Küng:
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Hon Julia Camoys Stonor:
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Ralph Wright, OSB:
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Ekstrom Library, University of Louisville:
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The so-called ‘deathbed letter’ has become notorious in recent years. Its place in this volume is questionable, since Greene did not actually write it although he did contribute a signature and a comma. In fact, it is not, strictly speaking, a letter. Still, an editor of Graham Greene’s letters, whatever his preference, cannot pass over it in silence.
Greene’s decision to accept Norman Sherry as his biographer was based on assurances that the work would focus on Greene’s writings in the context of his travels and that it would not be a sexual exposé. Sherry wrote to him on 3 July 1975: ‘Understanding your fears, I will try to keep away from the personal, where this is irrelevant to my work. I will try to work in the manner of my Conrad but if the work begins to move in a biographical direction you will be free to censor it.’ And again: ‘If I seem to be moving into the more private sphere I’ll consult with you hurriedly.’ When the book appeared, Greene was shocked to discover that a quarter of it was devoted to a paraphrase of his courtship letters to Vivien, including a great many direct quotations of copyright material for which he had not given permission and which he wanted cut (
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). At the end of 1989, the two met in a fraught session at Antibes, which left the biographer ‘contrite’.
1
Greene did not meet again with Sherry and considered withdrawing from the project, but he gradually accepted that other biographers might make a worse job of his life. For his part, Sherry’s contrition was short-lived; once the novelist was dead, he stooped to the keyhole again in volumes two and three, eventually declaring: ‘you can’t help but admire him for having sex with everything in sight’.
2
In the meantime, however, Sherry needed to get copyright clearance for his future work and to secure his position against rival biographers. He wrote to Greene on 25 March 1991, that is, ten days before the novelist’s death: ‘After 17 years as your authorized biographer (and how many more years will be needed and how many more volumes before I complete my work?), I should like your blessing to quote – I promise to be sensitive. We must avoid the possibility of Mockler and Grub Street wallahs (and Grub Street wallahs are everywhere) coming along and upsetting the applecart.’ Greene accepted Sherry’s renewed assurances, and a document was drawn up: