Graham Greene's short ghost story "Reading at Night" has been published for the first time in the latest issue of Strand Magazine, showcasing a rarely seen darker side of the esteemed author. Set against the backdrop of a stormy night on the French Riviera, it navigates childhood fears experienced by a lone male traveler. Penned around 1962 during a creative lull for Greene, the story contrasts with his more complex psychological and political works. This edition is significant, as it also presents a previously undiscovered piece by Ian Fleming.
Greene's tale delves into a resurrection of childhood fears and imagined horrors experienced by a terrified solo male traveler as he reads supernatural stories in bed on a stormy night.
As a huge admirer of Graham Greene, whom I've often considered one of the 10 greatest writers of the 20th century, this piece was a personal highlight.
The story featured here may carry less overt menace, it still demonstrates Greene's remarkable ability to hold a reader's attention and subtly blur the line between entertainment and existential horror.
Reading at Night appears in the 75th issue of Strand Magazine, a New York literary quarterly that has built a reputation for finding and publishing lost writings of well-known authors.
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