American writer Julien Green's (1900--1998) origins, artistic motivation, and identity was a source of mystery and confusion even for those that most feted him. The first non-French national to be elected to the Academie francaise, Green authored several novels ( The Dark Journey, The Closed Garden, Moira, Each Man in His Darkness, and the Dixie trilogy), a four-volume autobiography ( The Green Paradise, The War at Sixteen, Love in America and Restless Youth), and his famous Diary.

In this study, John. M Dunaway begins with an examination of the...