Just peeked at the Wikipedia article on this book, and it says the author wrote it in six weeks, fueled by speed, and was so unhappy with the result he wanted to publish under a pseudonym. But nobody agreed with him, and it was well received. I think it's brilliant. He called it "an entertainment," and it certainly did keep me engaged, but I'd give it much more credit than that. Apparently the NYT reviewer called it a "tour de force" and I would agree.

The plot and action are insane, so I can believe that the author was dissatisfied with it. Yet at the same time, the plot and action are insane in the way the world was (and is) insane, so even though it's one preposterous thing after another, it all works in a way that makes it feel absolutely true. Some of it is funny, which is another element that makes it seem true to life's absurdity. How can a thing be funny and tragic at the same time, and yet, there it is. Maybe that's why I liked it so much.

p.s. The protagonist's voice is the great strength of this book, and his commitment to doing the right thing even when his cause seems lost is powerfully contrasted with all the ugliness involved in trying to carry out his mission. So worth reading!

The Confidential Agent opens as a ferry makes a foggy approach to the Port of Dover. Graham Greene's descriptions are no less brilliant when the action moves to London and to a mining village. Unfortunately I didn't much care for the characters.

D., the eponymous protagonist, has come to England on a mission to buy coal. An ex-academic, he has been widowed by the civil war that continues to be waged in his country. He is also something of a pacifist with principles, as he says, "You've got to choose some line of action and live by it. Otherwise nothing matters at all." Unfortunately the rebels and their representative agent L. are also after the coal. Greene used capital letters for his characters in order to avoid giving them a specific nationality, nonetheless, with the hindsight of 70 years, it's hard not to imagine that they are Spanish.

The book is one of Greene's "entertainments" and it touches on the theme of the immorality that war imposes on people: "you couldn't count strangers' lives in the balance against your own people's. When war started the absolute moral code was abolished: you were allowed to do evil that good might come." This sounds very prescient now, considering that within six years of the book's publication, London experienced the Blitz and Germany the bombing of Dresden.

Half way through the book the pace picks up, when The Hunted of Part 1 becomes The Hunter of Part 2, but it's probably my least favourite Graham Greene so far. He wrote it in six weeks in 1939 and the narrative sometimes feels agitated, occasionally almost manic. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that he was fuelled by Benzedrine at the time.

Softboiled noir, with a lots of pluses, including social commentary on England just before Word War II told from a point of view of a foreigner, one who is constantly reminded of being one. Early in the story, he is also  beaten up while being reminded of it.

When I looked for reviews of this rather obscure book, that even Greene seems to have wanted to dis-own, I found this this gem of a site called Greeneland. It quotes Greene as saying that with this book he had "certain vague ambition to create something legendary out of a contemporary thriller". I think he succeeded.

The Confidential Agent is grounded in the Spanish Civil War, but Greene chose to name his protagonist D. and the antagonist L. to make the novel "region independent". It is, in a way, also period independent. D. and L. are competing to  get British coal for their respective sides in a civil war in the novel ; today they could be agents competing for oil (or, needless to say, data) in another country. The titular agent is a most un-James-Bond like character, and one wonders if Greene's stimulant-powered writing was done to make the reader "root for the poor guy".

Greene's later "entertainments" may have been more sophisticated, but people who read this one with an open mind will find much to admire by way of characters, stand-out moments, atmosphere (lots of fog...), and plot turns. That there is about one unbelievable coincident per chapter is easily forgiven, provided one has that open mind.

A friend of mine was being the "Christmas Culture Fairy" when she gave me this book for Christmas. Sadly I have never read Greene before and this book was written in the 30s. In my experience the language of many classics written pre 1950 has badly dated. However I am happy to report that in the case of 'The Confidential Agent' that is not the case.

This is an excellent book with a great plot that the narrative drives along at a wonderfully fast pace.It also has a rather nice twist at the end too.

It looks like I may be reading more Graham Greene sometime soon

I seemed to be keenest on those he subtitled 'An Entertainment'. The inside of this one explains, "in order to distinguish it from more serious work." Hey. I thought his entertainments were great.

In the introduction of this book Graham Greene confessed that the book was written as an entertainment designed to appeal to enough people to leave his family financially secure in case he died in WWII and secondly that to get the energy to push it out while writing the power and the glory he consumed large quantities of amphetimines. This last fact answers an idle curiosity I never knew I had, but which has now become rather all consuming. What would ones favourite authors produce if they ingested large quantities of recreational drugs and what would be the impact of trying differnt drugs have been. I can see Tolstoy consuming quantities of magic mushrooms and churning out Brothers Karamazov but what if he had used cocaine instead. PG Woodhouse on heroin? I feel like apart from the effect of drink and opiums effect on literature this is a sadly neglected field.

With that inane digression aside, The Confidential Agent follows a man sent by his government to secure essential resources from the UK while a civil war rages in his home country. Reading the book in the present day I was impressed by the broody atmosphere so expertly conjured by Graham Greene. The hero is an everyday man utterly unsuited to his task, morally conflicted, emotionally scarred, trying to do his duty to the very best of his limited abilities for a cause he can no longer really believe in. A character so widely copied by subsequent authors that the freshness it had on publication was lost me. A good and interesting read none the less. Particularly the Esperanto driven craziness rammed into the plot, the pathos of Elsa and the self righteousness of an outraged citizen versus constable plod.

گراهام گرين در دوم اكتبر 1904 به دنيا آمد. او چهارمين فرزند از شش فرزندي بودكه «چارلز هنري» و «ماريون» گرين داشتند. پدر وي چارلز هنري گرين رئيس مدرسه «برك همستند»[1:] بود. برادرش «هيو» تا مدير كلي شبكة‌بي‌بي‌سي ترقي كرد. برادر ديگرش «ريموند» يكي از كوهنوردان مشهوري بود كه توانست در سال 1933 قلة اورست را فتح كند.

گرين در مدرسة پدرش و سپس در آكسفورد تحصيل كرد. وي نوشتن را از مجلات دانش‌آموزي آغاز كرد. اولين مجموعة شعر وي به نام «آوريل سرايي»[2:] در سال آخر حضورش در آكسفورد به چاپ رسيد پس از فارغ‌التحصيل شدن مدتي را در روزنامة ناتينگهام كار كرد. سپس به عنوان معاون و سردبير روزنامة تايمز لندن مشغول به كار شد.

در اكتبر سال 1927 با «ويوين داريل برونينگ»[3:] ازدواج كرد. اولين رمان وي كه در سال 1929 انتشار يافت «مرد وسط» نام داشت. به خاطر انعقاد قرارداد مناسب براي 3 رمان بعدي خود از روزنامة تايمز بيرون آمد و وقت بيشتري را به نگارش داستان‌هايش صرف كرد. دو كتاب بعدي وي «نام عمليات»[5:] و «شايعه در شب»[6:] چندان خوب از آب در نيامد. در سال 1931 به «كاتس وردز» مهاجرت كرد و در آنجا كتاب ترن استانبول را نوشت كه او را به عنوان چهرة شاخص ادبي معروف كرد و موفقيت مالي خوبي داشت.
در همين زمان شروع به نوشتن مقالة انتقادي از فيلم‌هاي آن روزگار در روزنامة تايمز كرد و به يكي از بهترين منتقدين سينمايي در آمد.
در سال 1933 دخترش به دنيا آمد و در سال 1936 نيز پسرش «فرانسيس» به دنيا آمد. مسافرت گرين از سال 1934 و با سفر كوتاه به كشورهايي چون آلمان، ليتواني، استواني شروع شد كتاب‌هاي «انگلستان مرا ساخت» و «تفنگي براي فروش» را در طول سال‌هاي 1936 و 1937 به رشته تحرير در آورد. سپس در 1938 به مكزيك سفر كرد. نتيجة اين سفر 2 كتاب به نام‌هاي «جاده‌هاي بي‌قانون»[7:] در سال 1939 و «قدرت و شكوه»[8:] بود كه از بهترين كتاب‌هاي وي به شمار مي‌رود. واژه «گريلند» به خاطر فضاي داستان‌هاي گراهام گرين در زماني بر سر زبانها افتاد كه وي اولين جايزه مهم ادبي خود را از «هاوتورن دن»[9:] دريافت كرد.

گرين با شروع جنگ جهاني دوم در وزارت اطلاعات مشغول به كار شد. پس از آن به عنوان داوطلب در جوخة پدافند هوايي خدمت كرد. داستان‌هاي چهارگانه خود را در همين زمان نوشت و اين كتاب‌ها پس از جنگ به چاپ رسيدند. رمان «مأمور سري»[10:] در سال 1939 به چاپ رسيد.

در ماه اوت 1941 به خدمت سرويس اطلاعاتي SIS انگليس درآمد و در شهر «فري تاون» سيرالئون گمارده شد. در سال 1943 به لندن بازگشت و به عنوان مسئول ضد اطلاعاتي در امور پرتغال در آمد و با «كيم فيلبي» مسؤول اطلاعات منطقه دوست شد. گرين در مقدمة كتاب «جنگ خاموش من»[11:] از وي ياد كرده است.

نتيجة كار وي در سرويس SIS كتاب داستان «گارسيا» بود. اين كتاب به شرح حال يك جاسوس دو جانبه در ليبون پرتغال مي‌پردازد. جاسوسي كه از آلمان‌ها پول مي‌گرفت و اينگونه وانمود مي‌كرد كه كنترل شبكة جاسوسي در سراسر انگلستان را در دست دارد. اين مأمور در كنار اين كارها جنبش‌هاي مسلحانه و طراحي عمليات را بر عهده دارد و از رمان گارسيا به عنوان الهام بخش شخصيت داستان «مردان ما در هاوانا»[12:] نام برده مي‌شود.

در سال 1944 خدمت در نظام را كنار گذاشت. پس از جنگ براي نگارش رمان «مرد سوم»[13:] كه داستاني است ماهرانه از قاچاق مواد مخدر، با «كارول ريد»[14:] همكاري كرد. فيلم آن توانست در سال 1949 جايزة اول جشنوارة كن را از آن خود كند.

گرين در سال 1950 براي دريافت بهترين فيلم نامه به خاطر كتاب «بت شكسته» [15:]نامزد شد.

گراهام گرين در سال 1991 در سن 87 سالگي در منزلش در منطقه «ويوي» كشور سوئيس بدورود حيات گفت.

مكان‌هاي «آمريكاي آرام» Quiet American

كساني كه مي‌خواهند از ويتنام ديدن كنند بهتر است كتاب آمريكاي آرام گراهام گرين را مطالعه كنند. اين كتاب كه نمايش دهنده روزهاي پاياني دوران حاكميت استعمار فرانسه در اين كشور است به مدت 40 سال مورد توجة منتقدان قرار گرفت. اين كتاب هنوز به عنوان كتاب قابل توجه و كاملي براي ارايه تقابل جهل اخلاقي و ساده لوحي محضي است كه اين كشور استوايي را براي چندين دهه گرفتار بلا كرد.

از زمان مرگ گراهام گرين در سال 1991 بيوگرافي‌هاي فراواني نوشته شد كه هر يك بر جهان واقعي‌اي كه نويسندة به تحرير در آورده بود تأكيد دارد. البته با در نظر گرفتن اين موضوع كه ويتنام 20 سال جنگ و 21 سال انزواي سياسي را پشت سر گذاشته است نبايد چندان به ماندگاري سفرنامة گرين اميدورا بود. اما بسياري از توصيفات گرين همچنان به حالت قبلي باقي مانده است. در ويتنام امروز نيز تكامل زوال‌جهان اعتياد زده ديده مي‌شود.

اگر بخواهيد با سفر گراهام گرين به شهر «هوشي مينه» همراه شويد بايد از «روكاتنيان»‌كه اكنون «دونگ خوي»‌ نام دارد آغاز كنيد. شايد اسم تغيير كرده باشد اما حتماً خيابان‌ها را پيدا خواهيد كرد. وقتي به «سايگون ريور» برسيد خياباني مي‌بينيد كه نام «كاتينانت فشن»[16:] نگاه را به خود جلب مي‌كند و سپس ساختمان مجلل به سبك فرانسوي مي‌بينيد كه لباس فروشي شيكي زير آن قرار دارد. رنگ كرم رنگ آن به اين هتل مجلل، شكوه و زيبايي لازم را مي‌دهد. به هر حال گرين اين هتل را به هتل «كانتيننتال»[17:] كه معمولاً‌ توسط خبرنگاران مورد استفاده قرار مي‌گرفت، ترجيح داد.

هتل مجلل (مجستيك) كه در سال 1928 ساخته شده بود به زندگي دلخواه گرين به عنوان يكي از نويسندگان ثروتمند و مشهور آن زمان سازگارتر بود تا محل سكونت «تام فولر» قهرمان داستان آمريكايي آرام كه اتاقي رنگ و رو رفته در خيابان پشتي بود. شايد تمايل گرين به هتل مجستيك بيشتر به اين خاطر بود كه او را از خطراتي كه در كوچه و خيابان وجود داشت، دور مي‌كرد.

از بام هتل، منظره زيبايي از بالا و پايين رودخانه قابل مشاهده است. جايي كه مي‌توان از مكاني امن در مورد رنگ و طعم و تركيب غريب فرهنگي ويتنام انديشه كرد.

گرين دستكم در 2 مكان مختلف در ريوكاتينات زندگي كرد و پس در جايي شبيه آپارتمان محل اقامت فولر قهرمان داستان «‌آمريكايي آرام» زندگي كرد. از آن‌جايي كه هتل مجستيك در گوشه ديگر از خيابان قرار دادشت گرين از مكان قهرمان داستانش دور نبود. در زندگي‌نامه «نرمن شري» عكسي وجود دارد كه اين ساختمان را كه اكنون ساختمان «گراند هتل» جاي آن را گرفته است، نشان مي‌دهد.

گرين مدتي را نيز در آپارتمان شماره 109 كه ساختمان كوچكي در بالاي ريوكاتينات است زندگي كرد. اكنون اين ساختمان به هتلي به نام «مونديال» تبديل شده است.

آخرين محل اقامت گرين در ويتنام هتل كانتنيتال بود كه براي چندين دهه محل تجمع روزنامه‌نگاران خارجي در محل مباحث سياسي بود. اين هتل پيش از ديگر هتل‌ها در منطقة ريوكاتينات ساخته شد. اين هتل شكل و شمايلي ويتنامي و سنتي دارد حال آن‌كه هتل مجستيك و گراند هتل به سبك فرانسوي ساخته شده است. در كتاب آمريكايي آرام و در سالن مبلة هتل يعني جايي كه مي‌تواند محل ديدار دوستان باشد، شخصيت داستان آمريكايي آرم به مأموريت سري منصوب مي‌شود.

خلاصه آن‌كه ما به تصوير كشيده شدن جزئيات بيشتر و مقايسه آن‌ها شباهت‌هاي ويتنام آن زمان و ويتنام كنوني تعجب‌انگيز خواهد بود.

به عنوان مثال گرين در اين كتاب به مكاني اشاره مي‌كند كه «خانه 500 دختر» نام دارد فرانسوي‌ها اين مكان را «پارك اوبوفلز» مي‌نامند. اكنون نيز اين ساختمان وجود دارد و كازينوي آن به يك مركز آموزش هنري تبديل شده است.

پل «داكو»‌ يعني جايي كه مأمور سري آمريكا به خاطر اشتباهاتش توسط نيروهاي مقاومت كشته مي‌شود، اكنون وجود ندارد. ساختمان قديمي پل برداشته شده و پل جديدي در حال ساخت است. بسياري از ساختمان‌هاي ديگر از جمله دفتر مركزي پست، ساختمان بانك چين كه اكنون بانك ملي ويتنام است و ديگر مراكز هنوز در منطقه ريوكاتينات يا همان «دونگ خوي» ديده مي‌شوند. در حقيقت گرين در آمريكايي آرام به توصيف كامل بافت ويتنام و بخصوص دونگ خوي يا بهتر بگوييم مريوكاتينات پرداخت است.


1. Berckhamsted

2. Babbling April

3. Vivienne Dayrell-Browning

4.The man within

5.The name of action

6.Rumour at night fall

7. Lawless roads

8.The power and The Glory

9.Hawthorden

10. Confidential Agent

11. My Silent war

12. Our man in Havana

13. Third man

14. Carol Reed

15. Catinant Fashions

16. Continental Hotel

17. Parc au Buffles

The Confidential Agent
1939
Graham Greene
4 Stars

A secret agent is sent by his government on a mission to buy a large amount of coal. Meanwhile, another agent is sent to stop him. Will he buy the coal or will his enemy get in his way?

I bought this book because it was on sale and I like the author, Graham Greene. Greene is perhaps best known for his original screenplay for The Third Man (1949), starring Orson Wells, Joseph Cotton, and Trevor Howard. It was a fantastic movie, so I became interested in Graham Greene’s other works.

The Confidential Agent is a classic spy-vs-spy tale. Agent D must negotiate a contract for a large amount of British coal. Meanwhile, Agent K must stop him and obtain the coal for his government.

Set in Britain in the early days of World War II, The Confidential Agent captures the feel of England during the war, including shabby boarding houses, prostitution, child abuse and neglect, ships, trains, taxis, nosy neighbors, the careless attitude of the children of the rich, and the haughtiness of the older wealthy generation.

Graham Greene was the Real Deal—he was a spy for MI6 and obviously knows his business. Greene’s talent puts you in the scene.

I recommend this book to history buffs, spy-story buffs, and anyone who wants a thrilling, absorbing story. The plot, the characters, and the locations combine into solid, page-turning read.

I own other books by this author and I will buy more of his books.

In terms of composition, but especially in terms of style, much better than A Gun for Sale. Beautiful descriptions, although some characters are still too rudimentary. It's a little masterpiece in its genre, although this genre isn't my favorite. (2.5 stars)

https://youtu.be/ThYn8PlCjew
Una obra entretenida a pesar de no se tan contundente como otras del género. Sorprende la rapidez del autor en escribirla, lo que hace pensar en el mercado del arte. Es una obra que nos permitirá apreciar el valor de otras. En particular, creo que se pudo aprovechar más los personajes de los negocios internacionales o ahondar en el origen de D. como agente o una relación más clara con la canción de Rolando.
Compartamos impresiones.

Read by Patrick Tull

Description: In a small continental country civil war is raging. Once a lecturer in medieval French, now a confidential agent, D is a scarred stranger in a seemingly casual England, sent on a mission to buy coal at any price. Initially, this seems to be a matter of straightforward negotiation, but soon, implicated in murder, accused of possessing false documents and theft, held responsible for the death of a young woman, D becomes a hunted man, tormented by allegiances, doubts and the love of others.

So, what we have here is a good old-fashioned pot-boiler:

n Fueled by Benzedrine, Greene wrote it in six weeks. To avoid distraction, he rented a room in Bloomsbury from a landlady who lived in an apartment below him. He used that apartment in the novel (it's where D. hides for a day) and had an affair with the landlady's daughter. He wrote the book for money and was so displeased with his work that he wanted it published under a pseudonym." -(wiki sourced)

It was an enjoyable listen, yet I would have to agree with Greene to some extent, it is a little 'odd'.

2* The Man Within (1929)
TR Stamboul Train
3* A Gun for Sale (1936)
4* Brighton Rock (1938)
3* The Confidential Agent (1939)
3* The Power and the Glory (1940)
4* The Ministry of Fear (1943)
2* The Heart of the Matter (1948)
3* The Third Man (1948)
4* The End of the Affair (1951)
TR Complete Short Stories (1954)
3* The Quiet American (1955)
3* Our Man in Havana (1958)
4* A Burnt Out Case (1960)
5* The Comedians (1965)
4* Travels With My Aunt (1969)
3* The Honorary Consul (1973)
4* The Human Factor (1978)
4* Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party (1980)
4* Monsignor Quixote (1982)
WL The Tenth Man
3* The Captain and the Enemy (1988)

In 1938, Graham Greene was busy writing two novels. The better-known book became his classic, The Power and the Glory, about the Mexican whiskey priest. But Greene feared that The Power and the Glory would not sell, and he needed money to support his family. Therefore, in the mornings, he wrote one of his “entertainments”, The Confidential Agent. As an entertainment, The Confidential Agent qualifies as a thriller. It has a fast-moving plot, reversals of fortune, and plenty of action. In this regard, Greene’s tale is like those of his contemporary, Eric Ambler, and later writers such as Alan Furst, who inhabit the same shady and treacherous underworld of pre-World War II Europe.

But this is Graham Greene. This is Greeneland.

So while The Confidential Agent meets all of the requirements of a thriller, nevertheless, it has that twinge of angst for which Graham Greene is famous. For instance, the protagonist is never given a name, only the initial “D.”. In this, we perceive shades of Kafka. Further, D. is haunted by the past. The civil war in his home country (the Spanish Civil War?) killed his wife and left him in prison, expecting execution. Having escaped captivity, D. is assigned a mission to England by his embattled government. But D’s past pulls at him all the while. His memories, his wounds, and the adversaries have traveled with him to try to thwart his mission to buy coal on behalf of his government. D. is not a James Bond or even a George Smiley. He’s an amateur, a scholar of the medieval French text The Song of Roland. He’s intimidated by the thought of personal violence even though he has suffered his share.

I don’t know if there’s any Graham Greene book that I wouldn’t recommend. Graham Greene’s “entertainments” are weightier than many other writers’ most ambitious works. Greene establishes characters quickly and deeply. Although one can describe the tale as “action-packed”, you are taken by fleeting and seemingly minor characters such as Else the cleaning girl at the hotel and the gang members of the mining town. Thus, if you’re looking for something both entertaining and more considerate, you will likely enjoy Graham Greene’s The Confidential Agent.

P.S. If you happened to get the Vintage books edition, be sure and read the introduction by Scottish (crime) writer Ian Rankin. For a further appreciation of Greene, check out Pico Iyer’s The Man Inside My Head.