Graham Greene, Brighton Rock

Christian Hofferbert (Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz); Anja Mueller-Wood (Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz)

Ed. by Peter Childs, Birmingham Newman University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1938

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Set in the sordid underworld of the popular British seaside resort introduced in the title,

Brighton Rock

(1938) traces the decline and fall of the teenage mob leader Pinkie Brown. Pinkie murders Fred Hale, a newspaper journalist with shady connections whom he believes to have been involved in the killing of Pinkie’s predecessor, Kite, by the rival Colleoni gang. While the authorities assume that Hale died of natural causes in a shop on Brighton’s famous Pier, his death (the details of which are never disclosed) arouses the suspicion of one of his casual acquaintances, the plucky Londoner Ida Arnold. The novel’s plot is driven by her relentless quest for the truth and Pinkie’s increasingly desperate attempts to elude his meddlesome antagonist. He fails in this as much as in his…

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2225 words

Citation: Hofferbert, Christian, Anja Mueller-Wood. "Brighton Rock". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 August 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13303, accessed 24 April 2024.]

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