The Innocence Abroad: Graham Greene in West Africa

Abstract

Seventy-five years ago this spring, English author Graham Greene embarked upon a journey to the West African nation of Liberia. Greene is today recognised as one of the seminal authors of the twentieth century, and this trip was  groundbreaking for him and his work. This essay will examine Greene’s travels in West Africa and the book he wrote describing his experiences, Journey Without Maps. Based on this work, and other writing he produced, the essay will discuss Greene’s broad conception of “Africa”, as an abstract idea, and as a state of mind. This mythical Africa had long held a place of importance in Greene’s imagination. Working on the assumption that Greene’s views can be taken, generally speaking, as representative of a certain common strand of thought in Western culture, it is hoped that by examining them some light may be shed on the place that Africa held, and continues to hold, in the collective imagination of our society.