Lost Childhood

From Dickens to Wilde-literary criticism and personal reflections by a master "e;unmatched . . . in his uncanny psychological insights"e; (The New York Times). Graham Greene shares his love affair with reading in this collection of essays, memories, and critical considerations, both affectionate and tart, "e;[that] could have come from no other source than the author of Brighton Rock and The Power and the Glory"e; (The Scotsman). Whether following the obsessions of Henry James, marveling at the "e;indispensible"e; Beatrix Potter, or exploring the Manichean world of Oliver Twist, Graham Greene revisits the books and authors of his lifetime. Here is Greene on Fielding, Doyle, Kipling, and Conrad; on The Prisoner of Zenda and the "e;revolutionary . . . colossal egoism"e; of Laurence Stern's epic comic novel, Tristram Shandy; on the adventures of both Allan Quatermain and Moll Flanders; and more. Greene strolls among the musty oddities and folios sold on the cheap at an outdoor book mart, tells of a bizarre literary hoax perpetrated on a hapless printseller in eighteenth-century Pall Mall, and in the titular essay, reveals the book that unlocked his imagination so thoroughly that he decided to write forever. For Greene, "e;all the other possible futures slid away."e;In this prismatic gallery of profound influences and guiltless pleasures, Greene proves himself "e;so intensely alive that the reader cannot but respond to the dazzling combination of intelligence and strong feeling"e; (Edward Sackville West).