Reflections

Like the recent Last Stories , this is a collection of previously uncollected material--in this case essays, reviews and travel pieces from the entire length of the author's 60-year writing career (the earliest written while he was still at Oxford). The material varies considerably in interest and quality, though it is surprising to observe that from the start the eye for the telling, often sordid detail was at work, the knack for establishing atmosphere in a deft stroke or two. The travel pieces are superbly crafted essays, combining politics and sociology seamlessly with history and scenery: on Indo-China before the Vietnam War, on old and new Cuba, on Haiti, Paraguay, a haunting evocation of Goa. Greene also wrote passionately and despairingly on the possibilities--and mostly failed promise--of film; a movie critic in the '30s, he was one of the best. A collection like this does not add to his reputation but is interesting, nonetheless, for the consistency of his dour vision. (June)