Customer Reviews

The Confidential Agent: An Entertainment (Twentieth-Century Classics)

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This quirky thriller begins in bleakness and continues through a trail of failures and deaths in a very foggy England, culminating in a parody happy ending. D., a former professor who specialized in _The Song of Roland_ and has survived imprisonment, the death of his beloved wife, and years of civil war, has been sent to contract coal by a government that is not specifially identified as the Spanish Republic beset by a civil war in which the anti-government side has the support of what is not specifically identified as Nazi Germany. He runs into L., the rebel forces' agent many times. He inspires fierce loyalty from two Englishwomen, and dodges bullets, double-crosses, a major explosion, the police, and trumped-up murder charges. There are farcical interludes at an Entrenationo (Esperanto) school and dangerous whiffs of precocious female sexuality (something of a Greene leitmotif). It is an odd book, with the multiple failures of D's mission oddly exhilirating. Some have read it as anti-Semitic. I don't think that it is, but a charge of derogating Asians could more convincingly be made.

Graham Greene actually manages to come up with a reasonably happy ending, bit of a shock, but then he doesn't delve so deeply into the human mind as in some of his other books.

The story revolves around the attempt by one man to buy some coal, not much of a premise, but Greene manages to build up a fair level of tension in the story, and although the love interest side of the novel isn't that beleiveable, the emotions of the central character are brilliantly portrayed.

Not as brilliant as some of his other work, but excellent reading on train into work material.

The Confidential Agent is unlike Greene's other works because it leaves the reader satisfied instead of strongly disturbed. While this makes reading it an enjoyable experience, it also makes the book not much more memorable than supermarket pulp. If you would like to see a less psychological, more action-oriented side of Graham Greene, purchace The Confidential Agent.

This is one of Greene's "entertainments" and it seems less substantial than any other book of his that I have read. D., a university professor, comes to England as confidential agent for the socialist government in his unnamed European country in the midst of civil war. He soon finds himself fighting agents for the other side and evading the British police. He also meets two young women, one of whom stirs his feelings for the underdog, while the other provides love interest of a sort; neither is very fully realized. Although Greene is a master of portraying the dark gritty world of spies and traitors, the novel never quite rings true, at times having more of the phantasmagorical quality of Chesterton's THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY than a work like BRIGHTON ROCK or THE THIRD MAN. Also, whether adopted to lend a Kafkaesque air or to avoid identification with a real country, the convention of calling the hero (and all his countrymen) by a single initial does have the effect of reducing his reality as an individual.

"The Confidential Agent," (1939) is an early-career British crime drama/thriller by much honored twentieth century English author/screen writer Graham Greene (The Third Man, The End Of The Affair). The book is set in England, a country then close to the start of World War II, whether it was aware of it or not: the so-called "Phony War" would break out in September, 1939.

Denard, the otherwise unnamed protagonist of CONFIDENTIAL AGENT is a Spanish academic who has done some distinguished work in his field. But he is now acting as the confidential agent of the liberal Spanish government, then embroiled in struggle against right-wing rebels led by the fascist Francisco Franco: a smaller but no less intense war, on the eve of World War II. That war, on the Iberian Peninsula, has come to be known as the Spanish Civil War. It deeply appealed to left-wingers all around the globe, who went there to man whole brigades - the American one was known as the Abraham Lincoln--in the early armed struggle against fascism. However, the confidential agent has been sent to the United Kingdom, then still at peace, to try to buy desperately-needed coal for the citizens of his home country, and its armies. He will bring his war with him, as the fascists send agents to try to prevent his successful purchase. And, probably, needless to say, the fascists will play dirty. Also, perhaps needless to say, this being an early Greene work, the confidential agent, widowed when the fascists mistakenly executed his wife, will meet a girl, Rose Cullen, daughter of one of the most powerful mine owners in the land.

Graham Greene (1904-1991) was one of the most illustrious British writers of the 20th century. He enjoyed a very long life, most of the century, and a very long, prolific writing career, during which he gave us The Power and the Glory (Penguin Classics), and Our Man in Havana (Penguin Classics) among others. These four books mentioned, as many others of Greene's prolific works, were made into notable films. So was Confidential Agent, starring Charles Boyer and Lauren Bacall.

The author's books were very well-written, highly literate; greatly honored; much praised by the critics, and enjoyed a wide readership, frequently being best sellers. The writer was also one of the better-known Catholic converts of his time; many of his thrillers, as this one, deal with Catholic themes of guilt and redemption. He created vivid characters with internal lives; they faced struggles and doubt. Sometimes his characters despaired, or suffered world-weary cynicism - they were always self-aware. But Greene always created a tight thriller, in a lean, realistic style that boasted almost cinematic visuals. If you've never read him before, you really might like his work, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend starting here. This early book does not represent Greene in top form, it's a little thin, a little predictable, and it's hard to find today. Might as well start with something more entertaining, like The Comedians (Penguin Classics), OUR MAN IN HAVANA, or Travels with My Aunt (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition).

Good book in line with other Graham's ones as The Third Man or Our Man in Havana. Nevertheless not so bright, intelligent and fun as Our Man in Havana.

Greene's work, although provinvial in the sense that they are terribly British (I don't always get what he is talking about), is a knockout! What great great writing! Really unbeatable travel reading ... don't hesitate...

Amazon lists the publisher as Penguin Twentieth Century Classics. Sender claims that Amazon has no way of grouping the product by publisher on its internet store website. Consequently, sender delivered to me the correct book, but not of the publisher that I ordered.