SEEDS OF FICTION: Graham Greene's Adventures in Haiti and Central America 1954-1983.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn. FINE+/FINE+. No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj - absence of publisher's price - usually indicating an export edn, which is believed to precede the UK's trade issue. Bright, crisp,clean,glossy laminated,cream background with black illustrated portrait sketch of author,by Phillipe Diederich,illustrated upper panel, contemporary author+subject b/w photographic illustrated rear panel of dw/dj,with black+brown lettering; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top+ fore- edges generally bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean - near pristine - faint dog-ear reading creases or production fault(?) to top+bottom corners to pp149-52,otherwise would appear unread apart from my own collation.Publisher's bright,crisp, clean,sharp-cornered,original plain brown cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine /backstrip and immaculate plain white endpapers.UK, 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,7-315pp [paginated] includes acknowledgements,illustrations/photographs list/table,a foreword by Pico Iyer,an introduction by Graham Greene,Pts I+II comprising 25 chapters,an epilogue,an afterword,16pp contemporary b/w subject+author's auto+biographical photographs,in 1 block,between pp160/1 and an index.Plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,a contents list/table,a b/w map of Hispaniola,Pts separator pages,2pp blanks at rear and 1pp publisher's advert.
In 1965 Graham Greene made what he described as 'a trip down the Dominican and Haitian border . . . in the company of two exiles from Haiti'. Bernard Diederich was one of those two exiles,and 'Seeds of Fiction' includes a first-hand account of that trip,one that inspired one of Greene's most significant works,'The Comedians'.
Diederich,a seasoned correspondent for the British and North American press,had lived in Haiti for many years.In 1963 he had been thrown out by Papa Doc Duvalier, and,in exile in the neighbouring Dominican Republic,soon became a champion of the cause of the Haitian opposition.
Diederich and Greene had become friends in the mid-1950's when the celebrated author visited Haiti.When Greene met Diederich in Santo Domingo in 1965 he was sixty-one and depressed and plagued by religious doubt.Sensing that the volatile political situation in Haiti was something Greene could write about and so help to expose the Duvalier regime in all its brutality,Diederich suggested they tour the border region between the two countries,and together with an exiled Haitian priest,Fr Jean-Claude Bajeux - whose family had recently been 'disappeared' - they set off.
Along the way they met a number of characters later fictionalized in Greene's most politically charged novel.'The Comedians',and 'Seeds of Fiction' illuminates in detail this pivotal episode in Greene's career and provides a fascinating glimpse into the writer's life from a very personal perspective.
Diederich arranged for Greene to visit Panama and to meet its leader Omar Torrijos,and a friendship quickly developed between the two men,with Greene making a number of trips to visit Torrijos and to get to know the region.This formed the background to 'Getting To Know the General' (see my book ID rja1021),Greene's seminal work on the situation in Central America at that time. These journeys and Greene's relationship with Torrijos are also explored in intimate detail in this book - everything from where to get the best rum punches to Greene's views on US policies in the region.
With extensive new material and exclusive,never-before-seen photographs of the author (Greene) on his travels,'Seeds of Fiction' tells the story of how a series of extraordinary and often hair-raising journeys gave one of the greatest novelits of the 20thC new inspiration in his writing.
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