My man in Antibes Getting to know Graham Greene : a memoir

Graham Greene was among the most revered writers of the twentieth century and one of the most enigmatic. An iconoclast of Orwell's generation, he traveled widely with a journalistic fervor, spinning those experiences into classic novels. He also was a serial adulterer who kept a list of favorite prostitutes and likely suffered from bipolar disorder. His association with British intelligence and ties to double agent Kim Philby raised questions, but the extent of that connection remains unclear. Mewshaw, who has written previously about Gore Vidal and Pat Conroy, has a knack for befriending famous writers and the narrative flair of a seasoned raconteur. Greene is an ideal subject, reliably regaling his young acolyte with tales of adventure and his encounters with the likes of Castro, Ho Chi Minh, and Papa Doc Duvalier, adding a splash of embellishment for good effect. Greene's recollections should bear the disclaimer, "inspired by a true story." Mewshaw's tale is one of affection for a literary idol and mentor turned friend. Mewshaw clearly learned well, as is evidenced in this engaging read.

Meeting his literary hero led a young writer to a decadeslong friendship and correspondence with the older and sometimes volatile author. Mewshaw has published novels, travel writing, literary profiles, and reviews, but this memoir centers on his friendship with author Graham Greene (1904-1991). During the last two decades of Greene's life, Mewshaw paid many visits to his house in Antibes, France, keeping up the acquaintance through letters now archived at Boston College and the University of Texas. "What Greene thought of me comes across in his letters," writes Mewshaw, "the bad along with the good." The former mostly involves the fallout from a profile the author wrote about Greene that was published in the Nation and London Magazine in 1977. The author includes a reprint of the entire offending profile, "The Staying Power and the Glory," as well as Greene's excoriating response and Mewshaw's wounded reply. The younger author clearly considered the older one a role model, even a "surrogate father," though Greene was born into a family of wealth while Mewshaw's upbringing was blue collar. Even before their meeting, Mewshaw spent his honeymoon in Haiti in order to stay at the Hotel Oloffson, "the disintegrating gingerbread palace where Greene had set his novel" The Comedians. He was 29 when he first wrote to Greene, 68, who responded by inviting him to visit Antibes. In their initial encounter, he found that "behind a mask of detachment, he concealed a loquacious nature," but the celebrated author was also an "expert at frustrating expectations." He couldn't drive, cook, type, or use maps. Yet as an intrepid adventurer, he was able to meet with Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro, Omar Torrijos and others, a record of power interviews that "even Oriana Fallaci would envy." Mewshaw finds much in Greene's life and work to admire and emulate, along with human frailty, and he conveys the ups and downs of their relationship with genuine intimacy. The humanity of a renowned literary figure is fascinatingly revealed through a long friendship. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.