"And a wag said, 'I'd know that back anywhere'" -HG
The Paris Review, 1958
Terry Southern:
I've heard it remarked that your work is "too sophisticated" for American readers, in that it offers no scenes of violence--and "too subtle," in that the message is somewhat veiled. What do you say?
Henry Green:
Unlike the wilds of Texas there is little violence over here. A bit of child killing, of course, but no straight shootin'. After fifty, one ceases to digest: as someone once said, "I just ferment my food now." Most of us walk crabwise to meals and everything else. The oblique approach in middle age. The unusual at this age is to get anywhere at all-- Goddamn!
Southern:
And how about subtle?
Green:
I don't follow. Suttee, as I understand it, is the suicide--now forbidden of a Hindu wife on her husband's flaming pyre. I don't want my wife to do that when the time comes, and with great respect, as I know her, she won't...
Southern:
I'm sorry, you misheard me; I said, "subtle"--that the message was too subtle.
Green:
Oh subtle. How dull!
