Shades of Greene: One Generation of an English Family
by Jeremy Lewis
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In the early years of the last century, two brothers, Charles and Edward Greene, settled in Berkhamsted, a small country town thirty miles from London. There they were to found a remarkable dynasty - fathering twelve children between then - each of whom were to lead varied, well-documented and extraordinary lives. This book explores for the first time this generation of the Greene family in colourful detail - their relationships and shared history, and their lives - as explorers, writers, show more doctors, spies, politicians and much more. There is Graham, one of the greatest English writers of the twentieth century; Hugh, the Daily Telegraph's Berlin corespondent in the years leading up to WW2, and later Director-General of the BBC; Raymond, a brilliant mountaineer and medical man who took part in the 1933 Everest expedition; their sister Elisabeth, MI6 agent, enlisting family and friends into the secret service; cousin Ben, a pacifist and Labour Party activist who was interned in 1940 at the same time as Oswald Mosley; his sister, Barbara, who spent the war in Germany; and their younger brother Felix, a pioneer of radio journalism and apologist for Communist China, who moved to a commune in California with his cousin Christopher Isherwood and Aldous Huxley; and Herbert, the black sheep of the family, fantasist and amateur spy. Interlacing biography, history, high adventure and scenes from literary life, Shades of Greene provides a riveting insight into the self-confident, enterprising, upper middle-class English world that flourished between the 1920s and the 1970s: and into a truly remarkable tribe. show lessTags
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This is a parallel biography of the two branches of the upper middle class Greene family. Graham Greene, the most famous one amongst them, had many siblings and cousins. Twelve Greenes in all. Age-wise, they were lucky in an unlucky era: Two young for the First World War, they were too old for the Second World War. The worst passed them by. The 1930s and 1940s were the crucial years of their lives. Apart from Graham Greene, writer and amateur spy, we meet one Greene as a doctor and Himalaya explorer, another as a German war correspondent and later BBC director general.
The Greenes produced weirdos too: One became a proto-Hippie in California, one a leftist turned fascist extremist and finally the black sheep of the family, a drunken show more traitor. Graham Greene's branch was much more successful than that of his cousins despite their initial financial advantage. Their German mother instilled German sympathies in them - which was not helpful during the 1930s and 1940s. One sister even married a German count and spent the Second World War in Germany. Overall, I found the story of Graham's sisters and brothers far more interesting than the rather weird lives of his cousins. In sum, it shows the global reach and small world of a well connected English family. The author's name-dropping of minor lights of British society at times is distracting. These shout-outs to his social circle must be of little relevance to most readers. The author also avoids all mention of Graham Greene's homo- or bisexuality. Given the standard account in most modern biographies, this "no sex, we are English" approach seems rather outdated and prissy. show less
The Greenes produced weirdos too: One became a proto-Hippie in California, one a leftist turned fascist extremist and finally the black sheep of the family, a drunken show more traitor. Graham Greene's branch was much more successful than that of his cousins despite their initial financial advantage. Their German mother instilled German sympathies in them - which was not helpful during the 1930s and 1940s. One sister even married a German count and spent the Second World War in Germany. Overall, I found the story of Graham's sisters and brothers far more interesting than the rather weird lives of his cousins. In sum, it shows the global reach and small world of a well connected English family. The author's name-dropping of minor lights of British society at times is distracting. These shout-outs to his social circle must be of little relevance to most readers. The author also avoids all mention of Graham Greene's homo- or bisexuality. Given the standard account in most modern biographies, this "no sex, we are English" approach seems rather outdated and prissy. show less
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Lewis has a first-class nose for truffling out good anecdotes, and there is a large cast of famous names and eccentric characters, including guru Gerald Heard and spymaster Maxwell Knight. It is to his credit that he doesn't try to force some overarching social or psychological theory on to these interesting lives – though there is certainly enough material in the Greene family for a show more sociological study of upper-middle-class transformation in the 20th century. But that might well be a far less enjoyable book. show less
added by John_Vaughan
To save paper, Douglas Matthews' fine index to Jeremy Lewis's Shades of Greene has been shrunk to a font size so small that one virtually needs a magnifying glass to read it.
added by KayCliff
Author Information
10+ Works 361 Members
Jeremy Morley Lewis was born in Salisbury, England on March 15, 1942. He read history at Trinity College, Dublin and received a master's degree in European studies from the University of Sussex. He worked for several publishing houses including William Collins, Oxford University Press, and Chatto and Windus. He also worked on literary magazines show more including the Literary Review and The Oldie. He wrote three autobiographical books entitled Playing for Time, Kindred Spirits: Adrift in Literary London, and Grub Street Irregular: Scenes from Literary Life. His other books included Cyril Connolly: A Life, Tobias Smollett, Penguin Special: The Life and Times of Allen Lane, Shades of Greene: One Generation of an English Family, and David Astor. He died on April 10, 2017 at the age of 75. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Classifications
- Genres
- Biography & Memoir, Nonfiction, History, Literature Studies and Criticism
- DDC/MDS
- 941.0820922 — History & geography History of Europe British Isles Historical periods of British Isles 1837- Period of Victoria and House of Windsor 1901-1999
- LCC
- CS439 .G68 — Auxiliary Sciences of History Genealogy Genealogy By region or country
- BISAC
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- 32
- Popularity
- 877,406
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.50)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
- ASINs
- 2
