Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
An American raised in Paris, the novelist, playwright and essayist Green (The Distant Lands) brings his .unique childhood to life in this thoughtful and analytic account of his early years, from 1900 to 1916. Chiefly concerned with the development of a young child's spirituality, he presents a detailed account of his early education as a Protestant by his mother and his subsequent conversion to Roman Catholicism after her death when he was 15. Green describes his early sexual feelings and their conflict with his religious awakening in a personal but carefully objective manner. Well-drawn portraits of his parents, siblings and schoolmates also distinguish this outstanding memoir, which re-creates the heart and mind of a child growing up in the early 20th century. (Nov.)
Green Paradise: An Autobiography
by Julien GreenThe first volume of Julian Green's autobiography explores his childhood memories, his burgeoning personality and nascent sexuality at the time, and some of the factors that drove the author's later creativity. [autobiography] See more details below
Overview
The first volume of Julian Green's autobiography explores his childhood memories, his burgeoning personality and nascent sexuality at the time, and some of the factors that drove the author's later creativity. [autobiography]
Editorial Reviews
Library Journal - Library Journal
At 91 a senior member of the French Academy par excellence, Green continues to write, having recently published the nostalgic Paris ( LJ 9/1/91) and Distant Lands ( LJ 10/1/91), which examined his genealogical link to the American South. This translation of the first volume of his four-volume autobiography, which covers his early life to age 15, represents an attempt to ``find the gossamer thread that passes through my life from birth to death, the one that binds, explains.'' Meticulously detailed (one wonders at his prodigious memory), this quest results in a revelation of early influences. Paramount are the mothering by his Southern belle mother and sisters; his attraction to other boys, which was a precursor to his later homosexuality; and early religious faith, which underscores a later conversion to Catholicism. This personal confession permits a microscopic self-analysis and elevates the author to the position of being his own most unrelenting critic. Of interest to academic and public libraries that include his works.-- Mary Ellen Beck, Troy P.L., N.Y.
Product Details
- ISBN-13:
- 9780714529554
- Publisher:
- Boyars, Marion Publishers, Incorporated
- Publication date:
- 04/01/1993
- Series:
- Autobiography Ser., #1
- Pages:
- 243
- Product dimensions:
- 5.56(w) x 8.77(h) x 1.02(d)
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