Creator1

Graham Greene, the author responsible for great works such as the Quiet American, Power and the Glory, The Third Man, and many more, wrote an autobiography titled, ‘Ways of Escape’. Described as ‘autobiography of a writer rather than a man’, and juxtaposed between an autobiography and a thesis, the book takes us through the life events that became the genesis of his works.

The title Ways of Escape underscores the thesis of his writings (from his perspective). There is a constant theme of escapism. He suggests that one of the most powerful reasons people write, particularly himself is the idea of escape. This is both seen as literal and metaphorical, often times his novels are set in wayward locations from his home. In this book he confesses that his writings and adventures that informed them were forms of personal escape. He describes in his youth being bored and depressed, seeking dangerous or uncomfortable situations made him feel alive.

Stating in the novel that he seeks out troubled spots, ‘not to seek out materials for novels, but to regain the sense of insecurity which I had enjoyed in the three blitzes on London.’ Really, what I found here is something I also believe deeply, ‘enjoyment of insecurity, fear, and terror, sought as an escape from boredom and depression.

Greene discovered a truth that I find myself currently learning myself. I, like Greene, would describe how the act of creating stories allowed him to channel his relentlessness. In the books, he details the real world stimuli that sparked his imagination. This would mean that for Greene, storytelling was an outlet for processing life.

One question that arises for myself and Greene in this autobiography was, ‘Yes, sure, but escape from what, exactly? Your life is fine!’ Again, his adventures are often in far flung lands, the characters confronted with a deluge of opium, alcohol, or adrenaline. Both authors (Greene and myself) are relatively coy about naming our inner demons. Perhaps, this is because we don’t know them well enough ourselves, perhaps the inner demon is ‘staving off lifelong ennui’. I have found an author who shares the same issues I face. This intense feeling of release when you’re in a foreign land that you likely will get lost in, that washes over this underlying, unexplainable, misunderstood melancholy below. His autobiography has caused me to read much more of his works. The thing that I wish I could take away from Greene and impart on myself is how he is able to convince me that everything he writes, protagonists, antagonists, descriptions, contain a piece of his soul.

Ways of Escape provides an essential, candid, though provoking map of Greene’s dangerous edge of things. The edge on which he lives, in my opinions, successfully balancing the nonsensical demands of reality and the strong pull luring of escape and adventure, both literal and through writing.