The Comedians [Paperback]

USGraham Greene(1904-1991), whose long life nearly spanned the length of the twentieth century, was one of its greatest novelists. Educated at Berkhamsted School and Balliol College, Oxford, he started his career as a sub-editor ofThe Times of London.He began to attract notice as a novelist with his fourth book,Orient Express,in 1932. In 1935, he trekked across northern Liberia, his first experience in Africa, recounted inA Journey Without Maps(1936). He converted to Catholicism in 1926, an edifying decision, and reported on religious persecution in Mexico in 1938 inThe Lawless Roads,which served as a background for his famousThe Power and the Glory, one of several “Catholic” novels (Brighton Rock, The Heart of the Matter, The End of the Affair).During the war he worked for the British secret service in Sierra Leone; afterward, he began wide-ranging travels as a journalist, which were reflected in novels such asThe Quiet American, Our Man in Havana, The Comedians, Travels with My Aunt, The Honorary Consul, The Human Factor, Monsignor Quixote,andThe Captain and the Enemy.In addition to his many novels, Graham Greene wrote several collections of short stories, four travel books, six plays, two books of autobiography—A Sort of LifeandWays of Escape—two biographies, and four books for children. He also contributed hundreds of essays and film and book reviews toThe Spectatorand other journals, many of which appear in the late collectionReflections.Most of his novels have been filmed, includingThe Third Man, which the author first wrote as a film treatment. Graham Greene was named Companion of Honour and received the Order of Merit among numerous other awards.

Paul Theroux, an internationally acclaimed travel writer, is also the author of over two dozen novels and works of non-fiction. He divides his time between Cape Cod and the HawaiianlC!