Graham Greene
Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:12 pm
I got an obscure book of Greene's letters to newspapers. Since I am a big fan of his work I buy the obscure stuff knowing it might very well suck, and parts of it do suck.
But what is interesting is that when comparing his letters that are critical of US involvement in Vietnam, Greene is so dead-on in predicting everything from 1955 until the end of the war. He called it and was rarely off.
But at the same time he predicted Cuba all wrong. One letter he taunts an editorial that suggested the Fidel Castro will switch sides to the Soviets and demands that the UK sell fighter jets to Castro (they were about to until the US objected). He also predicted that the Revolution would lead to a multi-party society with just the supporters of Battista and the Mafia purged (he did get the correct estimate of the involvement of the US Mob in Cuban affairs when no one else bothered to mention it).
It was strange because he traveled extensively to both countries. His French was pretty good so perhaps he was able to communicate with the Vietnamese better. But also I think he was charmed by Castro (whom he always called Dr. Castro) as many were, where the Viet Mihn did not charm him but rather just impressed him with their fighting ability, so he was able to look for facts about Vietnam while there but in Cuba he perhaps listened to what others told him.
But what is interesting is that when comparing his letters that are critical of US involvement in Vietnam, Greene is so dead-on in predicting everything from 1955 until the end of the war. He called it and was rarely off.
But at the same time he predicted Cuba all wrong. One letter he taunts an editorial that suggested the Fidel Castro will switch sides to the Soviets and demands that the UK sell fighter jets to Castro (they were about to until the US objected). He also predicted that the Revolution would lead to a multi-party society with just the supporters of Battista and the Mafia purged (he did get the correct estimate of the involvement of the US Mob in Cuban affairs when no one else bothered to mention it).
It was strange because he traveled extensively to both countries. His French was pretty good so perhaps he was able to communicate with the Vietnamese better. But also I think he was charmed by Castro (whom he always called Dr. Castro) as many were, where the Viet Mihn did not charm him but rather just impressed him with their fighting ability, so he was able to look for facts about Vietnam while there but in Cuba he perhaps listened to what others told him.