Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
"I met Aunt Augusta for the first time at my mother's funeral..."
Described by Graham Greene as "the only book I have written just for the fun of it," Travels with My Aunt is the story of Henry Pulling, a retired and complacent bank manager, who meets his septuagenarian Aunt Augusta for the first time at what he supposes to be his mother's funeral. She soon persuades Henry to abandon his dull suburban existence to travel her way — to Brighton, Paris, Istanbul, Paraguay. Through Aunt Augusta, one of Greene's greatest comic creations, Henry joins a shiftless, twilight society; mixes with hippies, war criminals, and CIA men; smokes pot; and breaks all currency regulations.
Originally published in 1970, Travels with My Aunt gives us an intoxicating entertainment yet also confronts us with some of the most perplexing of human dilemmas. This Graham Greene Centennial Edition includes a new introductory essay by Gloria Emerson.
Review:
"A triumphant comedy....The aunt of Graham Greene's novels turns out to be one of those irrepressible souls, who, like the Wife of Bath...is wise in experience and years but gloriously foolish in all things the English traditionally face with severe prudence." Guy Davenport, National Review
Review:
"Travels with My Aunt is solid, mature, amusing, and disturbing." The New Republic
Review:
"The book...wholeheartedly embraces a Bacchic emphasis on the here and now. It is a remarkable change of emphasis to have made, and...Greene makes it with great wit." The New York Times Book Review
Review:
"No serious writer of [the twentieth century] has more thoroughly invaded and shaped the public imagination than Graham Greene." Time
About the Author
Graham Greene (1904–1991) worked as a journalist and critic, and was later employed by the foreign office. His many books include The Power and the Glory, The Third Man, Our Man in Havana, The Comedians, and Travels with My Aunt. He is the subject of an acclaimed three-volume biography by Norman Sherry.
A former journalist and war correspondent, Gloria Emerson is the author of Winners & Losers, which received the National Book Award, and, most recently, a novel, Loving Graham Greene.
REVIEWS
| Plot Summary of Travels with my Aunt |
|---|
| "Recently retired bank teller Henry Pulling is carried way from his settled lifestyle when his long-lost aunt comes to visit him on the day of his mother's funeral. Eccentric and flamboyant, Aunt Augusta has never been a conventional person, and she seems to have decided that Henry needs to have the stuffing knocked out of him. This she does, first by taking him with her on a money-smuggling trip to Istanbul on the Orient Express, and later she talks him into accompanying her on a trip to South America to rescue the love of her life, Mr. Visconti, who has got himself into trouble with his criminal activities. Along the way we learn about her life, Henry learns to relax and have fun and he finds out some startling secrets about his parents and his aunt." Jóhanna, Resident Scholar |
| "Henry Pulling is a retired bank manager, he lives in London, he meets for the second time in his life his Aunt Augusta, during his mother´s funeral. They get to know and they started to be friends. She tells him that the dead woman (Aunt augusta´s sister)is not his real mother. He likes very much growing his dahlias, it is his only hobbie. He starts knowing his step aunt, and they decide to travel all along Europe and to some parts of Asia and America. They go to france, to Turkey, to Argentina, etc. Time pases and Henry becomes more interested in knowing about his real parents; as he pases most of the time with his aunt, he starts changing dramatically into a very different way from his common life. He starts knowing his aunt, and he notices that she had many lovers as well as money, and that she has many strange friends, or people involved some time with the government or corruption. Although Aunt Augusta doesn´t tell Henry the truth of his real mother, he starts noticing that his aunt had once had a very good relantionship with his father, and that she has sentimental feelings to his father." Tomas Turreiro Manzini, Resident Scholar |
| Review Analysis of Travels with my Aunt | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High) Plot Tone of book? - humorous Time/era of story - 1930's-1950's Family, struggle with Yes Struggle with: - Aunt Crime & Police story Yes Story of - criminals stealing from other criminals Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: - unemployed Age: - 40's-50's Eccentric/Mental Yes Eccentric: - emotionally unstable Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes Ethnicity/Nationality - British How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings - mean, arrogant Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor Intelligence - Average intelligence Main Adversary Profession/status: - unemployed Has magical powers? Yes Eccentric/Smart/Dumb: Yes Eccentric: - emotionally unstable How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - almost none How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor Intelligence - Average intelligence Physique - average physique Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 3 (some) Europe Yes The Americas (not US): Yes The Americas: - South Misc setting - moving train Style Person - mostly 1st Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment Unusual Style: - written like a journal/diary/letters Is this a play? Yes Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog What does Mr Grimshaw think? 'Travels with My Aunt' is an intriguing novel, one which is overflowing with simplicity but at the same time layered with textured characters. It has been some time since I as a reader have felt that such a sudden shift of feeling towards the book´s central protagonist as well as the leading characters. On the surface the juxtaposition between Augusta's dynamism and Henry's minimalist life is filled with stark but whimsical humour. It is almost dramatic satire that the reader is so much more aware of the humorous tone of the character`s often stoical actions and speech. We love to be the audience to Augusta's colourful vivacious existence but at the same time we are equally absorbed by Henry's inabilities and unfulfilment. They are characters who are pilgrims and pilgrims who we are drawn to and wish to be a part of their journey. But, and in this case it is a big but. These characters metamorphosise through the novel and not necessarily in a positive manner. In Renaissance tragedies a tragic flaw is depicted. In present day literature and film all too often we see the protagonist defeat adversity. But the characters of 'Travels with My Aunt' leave a sour taste in the mouth. You subscribe to these charater's eccentricities and yet in the end they seem to let you down. Greene lets you down. He condenses blasts of shocking information into the final remaining pages and these aren´t just narrative plot twists or hangers. They are well crafted metamorpheses that don't shock flagrantly but disperse your securities in the characters previously aimiable natures. Wordsworth is killed. little or no weight is given to his death. Augusta who we have loved so dearly is listless and completely blinded by Visconti. She has slipped into a coma making the Augusta we came to know through the novel adistant memory. And her lack of care makes us feel the tragedy that we have misjusded- that Wordsworth may in fact be the only genuine character in the novel. And Henry, dear Henry whose pathetic nature is often so endearing suddenly announces that he is to marry, however we cannot ignore the acidity of the colonial demonisation. He has become the puppet to Visconti and moreover is to become the husband to a sixteen year old- more for business and status than for love. Yes, Henry has grown, he has moved from the stiffling world of Dahlias and Miss Keane, it just seems as though there was a betrayal in that change, a loss. Henry gave away his vulnerability. The part of his character that really is the most flavoursome. It is no enormous narrative shock that that Augusta is Henry's mother. Greene weaves this ino the final pages with aplomb through an almost Henryesque dismissive sentence. He leaves us wondering just how long has he known? And why is Augusta's response equally bland overshadowed by this dance which should have us pleased for their love but instead just seems selfish. Overall, I am left with a question. What is it Greene wanted us to feel about these characters? Because as a reader you can't help feel a little cheated. | ||
No comments:
Post a Comment