A Burnt-Out Case (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "THE cabin-passenger wrote in his diary a parody of Descartes: 'I feel discomfort, therefore I am alive,' then sat pen in hand with no more..." (more)
Key Phrases: Father Thomas, Doctor Colin, Deo Gratias (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Novel by Graham Greene, published in 1961, that examines the possibility of redemption. The story opens as Querry, a European who has lost the ability to connect with emotion or spirituality, arrives at a leprosarium in the Belgian Congo. His spiritual aridity is likened to a medical burnt-out case--a leper who is in remission but who has been eaten up by his disease. Querry is invigorated by his contact with the leprosarium and its inhabitants, and he begins to come to life. Parkinson, an opportunistic journalist, discovers that Querry is a distinguished architect with a lurid past and begins to write sensationalized newspaper articles about him. When Querry innocently consoles the wife of the manager of a local factory, he is shot dead by her husband. -- The Merriam-Webster Encylopedia of Literature

Review

"A superb storyteller with a gift for provoking controversy."
—New York Times

“Greene had the sharpest eyes for trouble, the finest nose for human weaknesses, and was pitilessly honest in his observations . . . For experience of a whole century he was the man within.”
—Norman Sherry, Independent --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (April 7, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140185399
• ISBN-13: 978-0140185393
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #365,983 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pendele, November 7, 2000

By	Melissa Johnson "M.Johnson" (Bellingham, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Greene employs themes of faith and unbelief of all kinds in this novel. As with most of Greene's serious works, it's not easily read; if you want to be comfortable, try his "entertainments", and yet I wouldn't even guarantee that those novels wouldn't leave you feeling unease.

Essentially, this is the story of a famous architect who runs away from civilization to a leper colony in Africa. He wants the world to forget him entirely, but the world will not leave him to anonymity. Even in the leper colony his deeds are misinterpreted to be perhaps greater--or at least other--than what they actually were. A doubting priest siezes on Querry's kindness to an injured man as proof of Querry's saintliness; a venal yellow journalist broadcasts Querry's run from the world as the selfless work of another Schweitzer. Just about everything Querry does, whether purposely or inadvertently, is misconstrued by those around him who somehow need to elevate him above themselves as proof that God or good exists. In the end, in true Greene fashion, this situation is ironically reversed; those who at first would believe only in Querry's sainthood come to believe an outright lie about him, much to their disappointment and outrage and Querry's own end.

What did I take away from this? Good literature remains relevant throughout the years; what was true in 1961 is true in 2000 and was true a millenium ago. We build up our saints and heroes (and politicians) often with our own desires, whether they have done anything good or not and tear them down just as arbitrarily. More than that: truth exists, goodness exists, but we in our human weakness (and often unwittingly) find ways to distort that truth and goodness to our own purposes.

Gloopygirls assessment? I liked the book. I'm not about to canonize Green--or gleefully tear him down. I'm not qualified either way--but I know what I like...

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Guy is Good, August 20, 2004

By	oddsfish (Winters, TX) - See all my reviews

I've been a fan of Greene's for a while now, and so far, I haven't read a bad book. This may be one of his better ones, and that's saying a lot. He is, perhaps, the best and most consistent novelist of the twentieth century.

This is the story of Querry, a famous architect, who realizes he has lost (or never) had the ability to love. He feels nothing but indifference. That is when he embarks into the African jungle looking for escape (or redemption). He lives at a leproserie run by priests, becomes friends with Dr. Colin, and becomes something of a burnt-out case.

Greene is just a superb writer. He has so many sentences and passages, that had he written just that one, someone would have remembered him. His characters are complex and honest depictions. Lastly, his themes of love, faith, redemption, pain, and truth are the great ones. A lot of authors are scared to tackle them or knowingly cannot tackle them. Greene can and does.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Maker's Heavy Hand, March 30, 2005

By	G. Bestick (Dobbs Ferry, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Graham Greene wrote novels of ideas. In the best of his books, such as The Power and the Glory and The Quiet American, the ideas evolve out of the acts of characters reacting to believable situations. When the ideas and the actions aren't so seamlessly fused, the books, while still worth reading, feel more schematic. This, unfortunately, is the case with A Burnt-Out Case.

Querry is an architect who has become world-renowned for designing churches and other religious structures. We first see him on a boat churning its way up a muddy river in the middle of Africa. Its last stop is a leper colony run by priests and nuns, and here Querry disembarks. He's trying to flee to a place where he can be alone with his own disease, which is an inability to feel normal human emotion. But even in the bush, he can't outrun his fame. The priests and colonists he encounters keep ascribing holy motives to him, despite all his protests than he's beyond love of god, career, or other humans.

In another Greene novel, The Heart of the Matter, Scobie is a Catholic policeman in colonial Africa troubled by issues of faith. In his review of the book, George Orwell complained about the incompatible parts of Scobie's character. If Scobie was as devoted a Catholic as Greene made him out to be, he wouldn't have committed such big sins against his faith. If he was truly a career police officer, he wouldn't have been such an unworldly Catholic. Querry's character is similarly dichotomous. If he's as burnt-out as he claims to be, he wouldn't get so involved with the leprosarium, its doctor, (Colin), and Marie Rycker the young wife of a colonist who deeply admires Querry. If he's as compassionate as he appears to be, he can't be as emotionally dead as Greene wants us to believe he is.

The ending of the book plays out the consequences of Querry's kindness to Rycker's wife. It feels forced; a character as complex as Querry deserves a more complex dénouement.

Greene was one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. The craft and penetrating intellect he brought to everything he wrote make this book worth reading. Its portrayal of the priests is diverting, especially their attempts to use Querry for their own political purposes. And Colin, the atheistic doctor who befriends Querry, is a character we care about. But we see too clearly the heavy hand of the puppet master, which makes A Burnt-Out Case a second tier novel from a top-tier novelist.