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Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English novelist and author regarded as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.〔〔 Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene had acquired a reputation early in his own lifetime as a great writer, both of serious Catholic novels and of thrillers (or "entertainments" as he termed them); however, even though shortlisted in 1967, he was never awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.〔 Through 67 years of writings which included over 25 novels, he explored the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world, often through a Catholic perspective. Although Greene objected strongly to being described as a Roman Catholic novelist rather than as a novelist who happened to be Catholic, Catholic religious themes are at the root of much of his writing, especially the four major Catholic novels: ''Brighton Rock'', ''The Power and the Glory'', ''The Heart of the Matter'', and ''The End of the Affair'';〔(Graham Greene, The Major Novels: A Centenary ) by Kevin McGowin, ''Eclectica Magazine''〕 which are regarded as "the gold standard" of the Catholic novel. Several works, such as ''The Confidential Agent'', ''The Third Man'', ''The Quiet American'', ''Our Man in Havana'', and ''The Human Factor'', also show an avid interest in the workings of international politics and espionage. Greene was born into a large, influential family that included the owners of the Greene King Brewery. He was born in, and boarded at, Berkhamsted School in Hertfordshire, England, where his father taught and became headmaster. He was unhappy at the school, and attempted suicide several times. He went up to Balliol College, Oxford to study history, where, while an undergraduate, he published his first work in 1925—a poorly received volume of poetry, ''Babbling April''. After graduating, Greene worked first as a private tutor and then as a journalist – first on the ''Nottingham Journal'' and then as a sub-editor on ''The Times''. He converted to Catholicism in 1926, after meeting his future wife, Vivien Dayrell-Browning. He published his first novel, ''The Man Within'', in 1929; its favourable reception enabled him to work full-time as a novelist. He supplemented his novelist's income with freelance journalism, and book and film reviews. His 1937 film review〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Graham Greene’s infamous review of Wee Willie Winkie (1937), starring Shirley Temple )〕 of ''Wee Willie Winkie'' (for the British journal ''Night and Day''), commented on the sexuality of the nine-year-old star, Shirley Temple. This provoked Twentieth Century Fox to sue, prompting Greene to live in Mexico until after the trial was over. While in Mexico, Greene developed the ideas for the novel considered his masterpiece, ''The Power and the Glory''.〔 Greene originally divided his fiction into two genres (which he described as "entertainments" and "novels") : thrillers—often with notable philosophic edges—such as ''The Ministry of Fear''; and literary works—on which he thought his literary reputation would rest—such as ''The Power and the Glory.'' Greene suffered from bipolar disorder, which had a profound effect on his writing and personal life.〔(Extract from Graham Greene: A Life in Letters edited by Richard Greene ), ''The Times'', 13 September 2007.〕 In a letter to his wife, Vivien, he told her that he had "a character profoundly antagonistic to ordinary domestic life," and that "unfortunately, the disease is also one's material." William Golding described Greene as "the ultimate chronicler of twentieth-century man's consciousness and anxiety."〔Encyclopedia of British Writers, 1800 to the Present, Volume 1, page=218;retrieved=18 February 2012; George Stade (editor)〕 He died in 1991, at age 86, of leukaemia,〔 and was buried in Corseaux cemetery.〔 == Early years (1904–1925) == Henry Graham Greene was born in 1904 in St. John’s House, a boarding house of Berkhamsted School, Hertfordshire, where his father was housemaster. He was the fourth of six children; his younger brother, Hugh, became Director-General of the BBC, and his elder brother, Raymond, an eminent physician and mountaineer. His parents, Charles Henry Greene and Marion Raymond Greene, were first cousins,〔(Thornton, Michael ''The decadent world of Graham Greene – the high priest of darkness'' Daily Mail UK 19 March 2008 ) Retrieved 17 September 2013〕 both members of a large, influential family that included the owners of Greene King Brewery, bankers, and statesmen; his mother was cousin to Robert Louis Stevenson. Charles Greene was second master at Berkhamsted School, where the headmaster was Dr Thomas Fry, who was married to Charles' cousin. Another cousin was the right-wing pacifist Ben Greene, whose politics led to his internment during World War II. In his childhood, Greene spent his summers with his uncle, Sir William, at Harston House. In Greene's description of his childhood, he describes his learning to read there: "It was at Harston I found quite suddenly I could read — the book was ''Dixon Brett, Detective''. I didn't want anyone to know of my discovery, so I read only in secret, in a remote attic, but my mother must have spotted what I was at all the same, for she gave me Ballantyne's ''The Coral Island'' for the train journey home — always an interminable journey with the long wait between trains at Bletchley…" In 1910 Charles Greene succeeded Dr Fry as headmaster of Berkhamsted. Graham also attended the school as a boarder. Bullied and profoundly depressed, he made several suicide attempts, including, as he wrote in his autobiography, by Russian roulette and by taking aspirin before going swimming in the school pool. In 1920, aged 16, in what was a radical step for the time, he was sent for psychoanalysis for six months in London, afterwards returning to school as a day student. School friends included Claud Cockburn the satirist, and Peter Quennell the historian. In 1922, Greene was for a short time a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, and sought an invitation to the new Soviet Union, of which nothing came.〔(Graham Greene Biography, Encyclopedia of World Biography )〕 In 1925, while he was an undergraduate at Balliol College, Oxford, his first work, a poorly received volume of poetry titled ''Babbling April'', was published.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Graham Greene Biography )〕 Greene suffered from periodic bouts of depression while at Oxford, and largely kept to himself.〔Michael Shelden, ‘Greene, (Henry) Graham (1904–1991)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2008 (accessed 15 May 2011 )〕 Of Greene's time at Oxford, his contemporary Evelyn Waugh noted that: "Graham Greene looked down on us (and perhaps all undergraduates) as childish and ostentatious. He certainly shared in none of our revelry."〔 He graduated in 1925 with a second-class degree in history,〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Graham Greene」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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