Bernard Diederich -- The Seeds of Fiction -- Gables

Start: Feb 26 2013 8:00 pm

An essential read for fans of literary biography, The Seeds of Fiction (Peter Owen, $29.95) finally and fully illuminates a pivotal episode in Graham Greene's life and career in the kind of detail that will sate any fans of his work, but which also provides a fascinating glimpse into a writer's life. In 1965, Greene joined journalist Bernard Diederich in the Dominican Republic to embark on a tour of its border with Haiti, then ruled by "Papa Doc" Duvalier. They were accompanied by activist priest Jean-Claude Bajeux. The famous novelist was 61 and depressed, having struggled to finish A Burnt-Out Case, and was being plagued by religious doubt; Bajeux, meanwhile, had been informed that his family had been "disappeared" by Duvalier's henchmen. As this trio traveled along the border they met a number of rebels and other characters later fictionalized in Greene's most politically charged novel, The Comedians, published the following year. This book tells the story of how a series of extraordinary and often hair-raising journeys gave one of the greatest novelists of the 20th century new inspiration in his writing.