The Invisible College Lesson Fourteen: In Search of a Character with Graham Greene
May 28, 2017
Graham Greene, renowned novelist known for Brighton Rock and The Heart of the Matter, recounts a research trip to a leper colony that sparks a character and a novel. He explores arriving at Yonda, using diary fragments as raw material, choosing narrative perspective, shaping routine and concrete detail, and wrestling with a protagonist’s fate and moral ambiguity.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Research Trip To A Leper Colony
- Graham Greene traveled to a leper colony in the Congo to find material for a novel about a man who arrives there.
- He records sensory detail and routine in a diary as raw material for fiction.
Routine Builds Fictional Reality
- Greene shows how daily routine creates a fictional world's believable texture.
- Small, repeated actions become the foundation for atmosphere and character.
Choose Your Narrative Eye Deliberately
- Consider narratorial perspective carefully and avoid penetrating characters' thoughts gratuitously.
- Use action and dialogue to indicate interior life and preserve mystery.