http://www.thebigafricacycle.com/general-posts/sahara-approaching Just another WordPress weblog Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:08:14 +0100 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 http://www.thebigafricacycle.com/general-posts/sahara-approaching/comment-page-1#comment-194 Maxine Hargreaves Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:39:14 +0000 http://www.thebigafricacycle.com/?p=1181#comment-194 Pedro! "Journey without maps". Brevity, on my part, is all, certainly in this case. Reason? Story(?) does not deserve more, less even. Greene was a rampant Catholic. Theroux wrote a fairly perceptive intro.; one that could deter a possible reader. Greene was in Liberia for approx. 4 weeks; seemed like 4 years to me, was accompanied by cousin Barbara, a very shadowy figure who contributed nothing at all and who was mentioned, en passant occasionally by about 6 lines of narrative. I cannot understand how he could write that narrative of the two of them, sozzled with whisky, staggering about a small portion of Liberia and being carried by African porters in hammocks. His animal notions of the African females are typical of the late-Victorian attitudes to sex, etc. and, in particular to their social/anthropological mores that obtained therein. I found his comments tasteless, his writing callow and the subject very dubious. I could only term it slightly interesting having spent a good few years in Africa; the nearest to Liberia being in Kano, Nigeria, for a few days only but this, of Greene's, reminded me of those days; deeply depressing. When subsequently I found myself in Western Zambia, chatting with Catholic missionaries, was I reminded of Greene's fictions, based of course on realilities. I found more entertaining: not enough for me to consider re-reading any one of them. Frequently, I fast-read his more popular stories and his best, I think, was "Our man in Havana" because it has a wry humour for which I always look in every writer. If I had more time and patience I guess I could have shortened this analysis? I watch out for you. Love Grandpa Maxine Pedro! “Journey without maps”. Brevity, on my part, is all, certainly in this case. Reason? Story(?) does not deserve more, less even. Greene was a rampant Catholic. Theroux wrote a fairly perceptive intro.; one that could deter a possible reader. Greene was in Liberia for approx. 4 weeks; seemed like 4 years to me, was accompanied by cousin Barbara, a very shadowy figure who contributed nothing at all and who was mentioned, en passant occasionally by about 6 lines of narrative. I cannot understand how he could write that narrative of the two of them, sozzled with whisky, staggering about a small portion of Liberia and being carried by African porters in hammocks. His animal notions of the African females are typical of the late-Victorian attitudes to sex, etc. and, in particular to their social/anthropological mores that obtained therein. I found his comments tasteless, his writing callow and the subject very dubious. I could only term it slightly interesting having spent a good few years in Africa; the nearest to Liberia being in Kano, Nigeria, for a few days only but this, of Greene’s, reminded me of those days; deeply depressing. When subsequently I found myself in Western Zambia, chatting with Catholic missionaries, was I reminded of Greene’s fictions, based of course on realilities. I found more entertaining: not enough for me to consider re-reading any one of them. Frequently, I fast-read his more popular stories and his best, I think, was “Our man in Havana” because it has a wry humour for which I always look in every writer. If I had more time and patience I guess I could have shortened this analysis? I watch out for you.
Love Grandpa
Maxine

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