Librarians may have problems deciding where to shelve Pico Iyer’s book. The Library of Congress notes at the beginning provide information rather than enlightenment, placing it in several different categories: an account of Graham Greene’s influence; a critical study of his writings; a biography of Greene; an autobiographical account of the author’s origins and family lif (...)
May 18, 2012
Books
Greeneland
The Man Within My HeadPico IyerKnopf, $25.95, 256 pp.
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It's a great thing to have a fine critic like Bernard Bergonzi writing in Commonweal, especially on the topic of Greene, whose work he knows so well. But what a disappointment that he chose to end with a gratuitous slap. While stating that the book is an engrossing read he concludes that "there is a hint of perversity about the enterprise." Why? What does this mean? The title should tell us that the book is not about Greene but about Iyer's Greene, who is mixed up in his head with Iyer's own circumstances, works, friends and family. We all of us take a book or an author into our lives and thus each of us reads slightly differently. Iyer's book is certainly original, which I take to be a good thing, and its value is that it tells us as much about him as about Greene (or Iyer's father, who as Bergonzi points out is almost the most important figure). I just can't get my head around the meaning of "perverse" in this context. And what, in God's name, is "a hint" of perversity? We're either perverse or we're not.