Customer Reviews

Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party

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I enjoy Graham Greene's earlier work immensely. The manner in which a tense readable, complicated (morally, emotionally, but rarely plotwise), literary story can be written using the conventions of genre. Many of Greene's later stories leave me cold. There is the occasional masterpiece (The Human Factor), but some of the work feels slight, painting Greene by numbers. And one recalls the true story of the magazine competition in the UK where competitors were asked to provide a parody of an opening paragraph by Greene. No prizes for guessing the winner...

Dr Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party is late Greene. It is very short, unremittingly bleak in its outlook on humanity (or rather one sector of society), and is a savage sarcastic satire on capitalism.

Fischer is a multi-millionaire, his fortune founded on human hygiene. At regular parties he surrounds himself with acolytes, all rich, all prepared to go through humiliation for one of Fischer's gifts. Fischer is cold, cruel, manipulative. The narrator's encounters with Fischer and his parties spawn disgust on many levels - Fischer's view of others; the visceral disgust of his "porridge" party; and the disgust of the corruption of money, and the greed that goes with it.

Aside from the (allegorical?) examination of capitalism all aspects of human life are here. We see poverty, extreme wealth, love, and death. And in illustrating these aspects the relationships in the book are conveyed powerfully (be the underlying emotion affection or anger). The relationship between Fischer and his daughter, a gentle creature abhorring her father's attitude and more particularly the attitude of those acolytes of Fischer (whom she christens "toads"); and that of Fischer's late wife and her friend/lover are especially noteworthy.

The book is short, but the imagery of Fischer's parties, his humiliations, and the bleakness of his view of humanity will live long with this reviewer.

It is a minor book, but highly recommended. Still in print in the UK it is perhaps time for a US publisher to reprint this later work of one of the twentieth century's greatest novelists.

Alfred Jones, the dull main character of The Bomb Party, leads a dreary existence in Vevey, Switzerland translating letters at a chocolate factory. His life is marked by losses: the loss of his left hand as well as his parents in the London blitz, the loss of his wife in childbirth - the loss of expectation of anything yet to come. His is a life of limitation coloured in grey by the occasional prostitute.

When he meets the young and beautiful daughter of the powerful Dr Fischer, his world suddenly expands - not by numbers or any increase in wealth, but by love. Anna-Luise finds in him a husband as well as a father in a happy twosome clouded only by the demonic disinterest of her father.

Nevertheless, Alfred Jones becomes a part of Dr Fischer's world and his experiment with the greed of the rich when he, contrary to his wife's wishes, partakes in Dr Fischer's infamous parties.

If you read The Bomb Party as a failed "accurate depiction of a certain class of society" as the Amazon reviewer Kevin Kane seems to have done, you miss the point. Dr Fischer's guests are only minor characters, flat characters who are functions in the plot, not the focus of our attention. At one point they are even described as Pavlovian dogs which suggests to me that Dr Fischer's experiment ("to test the greed of the rich") was meant to fail: they would be greedy by nature, but the extent to which their greed takes them has been set up by the master engineer, Dr Fischer.

The focus of the novel is the contrast or confrontation of Alfred Jones and Dr Fischer which ends in the survival of one and the downfall of the other. The operative words are "the poor man's pride", arrogance and the difference between contempt and hatred. A question seems to be whether contempt is contagious, a disease which spreads to infect your entire conception of the world as opposed to hate understood as provoked and focused.

However, Alfred Jones is never caught up by the splitting of hairs of Dr Fischer and his victim Steiner, nor by the circumlocution of the toadies. However drab, dreary and resigned Alfred Jones is, he is present in his own life.

It is true that the novel is not a comedy, but it is a comment on human nature which very indirectly celebrates a life of integrity.

An alternative version of the Great Gatsby with the essence of a Saint Exupery so cleverly captured in creating the characters of the "Toads". Be prepared to rethink a whole journey of themes closest to the human heart like love,death and God in a whole new dimension!

I have the Simon and Schuster 1980 hardcover edition (which boasts an excellent red cloth binding and an attractive dust jacket) of this single-evening yarn. While it's not exemplary of Greene's finest work it still handily remains within the realm of worthwhile reading, perhaps best to pick up and consume on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

THE STORY: Doctor Fischer of Switzerland is a fabulously wealthy man, a toothpaste magnate, who exhibits and practices the ethics of Emperor Nero combined with the dubious and cruel humor of Papa Doc Chevalier. Fischer's wife has been long dead but he has a twenty year-old daughter, Anna-Luise, who is striking in appearance and to whom he pays not the slightest level of attention. For love and to flee the hubristic activities of her mendacious father, the affable Anna-Luise marries the story's protagonist, Alfred Jones, a mid-level working-class employee of the local chocolate factory.

"Jones," as he is curtly addressed by his rascally father-in-law, is an Englishman of fifty-some who had years ago lost a hand while performing his duties as a fireman during Germany's ghastly World War Two bombing of London. And Jones can hardly believe his good fortune when a loving Anna-Luise accedes to marry him, which they immediately attend to in a low-key civil wedding, an event which was overtly disregarded by Doctor Fischer.

Fischer is renowned throughout the region for the peculiar and disturbing parties which he personally organizes and conducts. These private affairs provide a great deal of fodder for the rumor-mongers of Geneva and its environs. Fischer invites only a select few rich souls who collectively exhibit the commonality of flawed personal integrity, folks who Fischer effectively baits with incredibly expensive gifts. The singular purpose of these madcap get-togethers for the host is purely to humiliate and intimidate his victims at the supper table -- each must comply with his specific instructions in order to receive their gift at the evenings' conclusions, regardless of the level of groveling and embarrassment which prevails. Anna-Luise refers to the attendees as "Toads" and these high-class dupes are respectively at least as phony and superficial as the worst of Hollywood's current list of spoiled-brat actresses.

When Jones finds himself on the abbreviated guest list for one of these insalubrious festivities, (Anna-Luise refuses to be present and is never invited anyway), he attends with the intention of demonstrating to his new father-in-law that he is a man of high principles. But Doctor Fischer did not achieve his millions through buffoonery - he fosters an alternate means to exploit his unsuspecting son-in-law. Dark humor and tragedy ensues.

This story is yielded in First-Person delivery, (an approach which nearly always presents authors with unique and often difficult nuances), and in retrospect by the protagonist/hero/narrator, Alfred Jones. Greene retained complete and artful control of the story through Jones and, while this fictional narrative impresses one as somewhat improbable, it still manifests an acceptable level of plausibility thanks to the author's masterful writing and his undeniable literary skill.

One can only guess at Greene's inspiration for penning such an offbeat account but having now read the book, I'm gratified that he did. Greene was much a man of the world, somewhat opinionated, and one could speculate that he was attempting to say something stereotypically critical of Swiss culture. If this was an objective then I think he succeeded without coming across as being overly provocative.

While the content of this title carries no deep moral significance it still endures as a noteworthy psychological study of one unique aspect of human society: "Is there anything which individuals WON'T do when stimulated by greed?" The question is plainly answered here.

I'm a huge fan of Graham Greene, having read his profusion of books, plays, and essays -- so I feel assured in stating that this particular novelette is not nearly as profound as his The Power and the Glory (A Bantam Modern Classic), nor does it convey the notable level of humor-noir atmosphere as does The Comedians (Penguin Classics). But this story does tenon a palatable blend of those two fine works in a very abbreviated and readable form.

156 pages -- highly recommended.

The story of a lonely and wealthy doctor who, given no reason to care about the world, settles into sadistically manipulative "experiments" to fill the void in his soul, while allegorical, is also true to life (but not "realistic") in its assessment of the place of our souls at this time. The Doctor is like us all, bloated with the pursuit of wealth and yet emptied by the process, so that all things not quantitative (love, joy, fear, desire) are suppressed in him, creating a tyrant that seeks to control a world he understands through only a narrow spectrum of sensation. While many allegorical novels drive me up the wall, this one balances wit and wisdom and psychology with an understanding of the loneliness and yet hopeful side of human experience.

I'm going against the tide of public opinion and I say this is a silly book. It's not exactly overrated, but I thought it was dumb. That said, it is a definite literary work of value. It was too juvenile and heavy handed for my taste. "Doctor Fischer" - doctor, a healer, and Fischer, a fisher of men Jesus reference, except this is a bitter upside down version, full of spite and revulsion, which is not an uncommon intellectual position to have, I simply feel the subject of greed and self-centered regard for one's moral superiority based on how wealthy one is is handled too ham-handedly and it is too clumsily written for seamless reading. The Doctor's success at creating a commercial toothpaste (which prevented rot and destruction, get it?) and made him rich did not satisfy him. His social life horrifies him so he decides to restrict it to providing dinner and breaking bread with the worst sinners (Jesus again); however group humiliation is his goal rather than saving souls for Heaven. He wants to tempt them, which puts him in the role of Satan. Finally, the Doctor has a bomb party where greed might lead to burning fire and eternal death, if people agree to participate. Sigh.

This is my second foray into Graham Greene territory. I loved THE MINISTRY OF FEAR, and so wanted to read more of the man. As my title states, the book reads quick and easy like. It does not take too long to get to the heart of the matter, namely, the nature of Dr. Fischer himself. The upshot is that one does not have to wait; the downside is that the opening feels a little hollow. It covers all the basic bases of the backstory, but lacks emotional oomph.

While I wholly enjoyed the story, the one thing that stuck with me was the stuffiness of the book. By my reckoning, the action is supposed to take place in or around 1970, but the language of the book has a weird effect. I kept transposing the action in my mind to somewhere between 1886 and 1921. It just had that stuffy English feel to it. Outside of the brilliantly mean-spirited tongue of Dr. Fischer, the dialouge has the same pent-up feel about it. Perhaps it is meant to refelct on the age of the primary characters and harken back to a different period, but it just seemed odd. References to Fiats and credit cards kept catching me off-guard: "there were no credit cards in 1886!".

That being said, once the book revs up to The Bomb Party of the alternate title, the pace really revs up and I found myself unable to stop reading. The ending is a bit abrupt and a little anti-climactic, but, upon refelction, that plays into the moral story of the book.

This is one of those pieces that might have been better if a little bit shorter or a little bit longer. Outside of Alfred Jones interacting with Dr. Fischer, the narrative feels a little thin. I could have used more development of Anna-Luise, she never felt very real to me. There are several references to sex in the book, but most have a very simple, very matter-of-fact feel to them. More of that stuffiness of which I spoke. (Some are even a bit creepy, but that is probably just me, for I cannot explain why they felt thus.)

All in all, it is a good read that doesn't dissapoint. It is not on par with THE MINISTRY OF FEAR in that it lacks the universal moral and emotional depth (regardless of the suppossed statements on class/wealth/privilage/decency) and feels more focused to a moment in time between two men. It also fails to capture the period in time where it takes place. I supppose this is no big deal, but after MINISTRY and its recently-Post-War world, I was anxious to read a more modern Greene tale, and Dr. Fischer and Mr. Jones could have been placed in the the late 19th or early 20th century and would not have felt out of place. Perhaps that was part of the plan to make them more timeless, but it felt more like a hrumphy distraction.

"Dr. Fischer of Geneva,"(1980), was, I believe the 25th novel published by widely-known and respected British author Graham Greene in his very long career that spanned most of the 20th century. It is one of his last published novels, and is a 150 page, novella length, very dark comic thriller.

It is narrated by Alfred Jones, child of a knight in the British Foreign Service, who has fallen very far socially and economically from the class into which he was born. He does, however, have that proficiency in languages so useful to the Foreign Service, and lives and works in Switzerland, as a translator at a firm that produces that characteristic Swiss product, chocolate. Jones, who lost both his left hand and his parents in the same night's World War II German bombardment of London, has married Anna-Luise, Fischer's beautiful heiress daughter, who is, furthermore, much his junior. He comes to discover he hates his father-in-law, a powerful multi-millionaire who made his fortune by inventing Dentophil Bouquet, a supposedly more effective toothpaste. Although, to be sure, the author Greene, who never lost his eye for the telling detail, has Anna-Luise tell Jones that her father doesn't use his own product: he instead uses, she says, "Something called a Water-Pik."Go know that Water-Piks were even available thirty years ago.

At any rate, Dr. Fischer is known for his dinner parties, at which he debases and humiliates other rich people, his so-called "friends," whom his daughter calls "toads." His guests apparently are so greedy for the lavish gifts which their host--for whom they do not really care-- will ultimately present them that they will swallow any treatment he dishes out, up to and including possible death.

Like most of Greene's prodigious output, this novel was filmed, as an all-star television production. It was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, starred James Mason as Dr. Fischer, Alan Bates as Alfred Jones, Greta Scacchi as Anna-Luise, and Cyril Cusack as Steiner, a companion music lover of Anna-Luise's late mother.

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, THE END OF THE AFFAIR, and OUR MAN IN HAVANA, among many others. Many, if not most, of his works were made into notable films.

The author's books were very well-written, highly literate; much praised by the critics, and enjoyed a wide readership; they were frequently best sellers. The writer was also one of the better-known Catholic converts of his time; many of his thrillers deal with Catholic themes of guilt and redemption. Greene, who also worked as a screenwriter, always created a tight thriller, in a lean, realistic style that boasted almost cinematic visuals. However, if you've never read him before, I wouldn't necessarily recommend starting here. It's black-on-black, occasionally veering into Grand Guignol, to which I must admit I didn't know quite how to respond. It's also hard to find. Might as well start with something more entertaining, like THE COMEDIANS, or TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT.

While this novella - my early Avon paperback edition reaches 142 pages, while I notice some other editions are @ 120, it's clearly not a novel - is deeply moral, it is also entertaining yet also deeply poignant, and never preachy in tone or sanctimonious. Written from the embittered, disillusioned, disheartened viewpoint of Mr Jones, the man who falls deeply in love with the enigmatic, sad but wonderful Anna-Luise, the only daughter of multi-millionaire, megalomaniac and entirely monstrous Doctor Fischer (rich because of a toothpaste formula), it has an easy, graceful style (as to be expected of Greene), and the tone of a fable (on greed, and questions of integrity and submission).

The opening line immediately draws you into what you know will be a compelling tale: "I think that I used to detest Doctor Fischer more than any other man I have known just as I loved his daughter more than any other woman."

It's a joy to read, and every single one of the characters is drawn so well and succinctly; one of his last works of fiction - published in 1980, he wrote only a few more thereafter - it reminded me of something Picasso apparently said once in an interview on French TV, when he was in his eighties: the interviewer asked him to draw something - anything - but quickly, without thought. A moment later, Picasso returns the piece of paper, with a wonderful little abstract line drawing. The interviewer looks admiringly, and then asks Picasso does he feel guilty that something he drew in mere moments could sell instantly for a large sum of money. Picasso replies simply, and immediately: not at all, what looks to you like mere seconds, has taken me 80+ years to do. How true.

As any devoted fan of Greene's oeuvre will tell you, this is a quirky work in light of his other fictions, and is reminiscent in its uniqueness among his works, as The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold: A Conversation Piece (Penguin Modern Classics Fiction) is among Evelyn Waugh's. It also rewards you far in excess of the little time it takes to read. Highly recommended.

This is a short, easy to read novel which could be referred to as a

black comedy, a tongue-in-cheek satire or a searing parable of

human greed. All three descriptions are accurate, but there's more

to Doctor Fischer of Geneva or the Bomb Party than that.

Dr. Fischer is an obscenely wealthy citizen of Switzerland, who

made his fortune by virtue of his patent on a special kind of toothpaste. Fischer's son-in-law Alfred Jones, an Englishman of modest means, narrates the story.

From time to time, Dr. Fischer hosts parties for his own amusement.

Not parties really, just dinners. Only a handful of people (always the same) are invited. The guests are all wealthy in their own right though not nearly as well off as Dr. Fischer. During the course of the evening, Dr. Fischer delights in humiliating his guests and if they satisfactorily tolerate their humiliation, they are rewarded with going away gifts. The gifts are generally items of jewelry or gold plated knick-knacks. Pricey gifts, but not anything the guests couldn't afford to buy for themselves without having to be humiliated.

Throughout the narrative of Doctor Fischer of Geneva, there are numerous allusions to God and religion which serve to lead one to believe author Graham Greene intended this book to have some quite serious theological implications. In fact, in Chapter 9, Dr. Fischer (an atheist) explicitly states that what he does is no different from what God does.

Think about it for a minute. All of us necessarily undergo humiliation at some point in our lives. Through poverty, pain, sickness, death of a loved one, etc. Those who are devout believers tolerate their humiliations while giving God their unquestioning love and loyalty even as they hold out hope to be rewarded with "small presents" now and again.

Though superficially rather light reading, it's perhaps best to think of Doctor Fischer of Geneva as an allegorical novel with serious things to say about religious faith.