Graham Greene, The Confidential Agent

LynnDianne Beene (University of New Mexico)

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 1939

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Like his earlier thriller,

The Stamboul Train

(1932, published in the U. S. as

The Orient Express

), Graham Greene’s

The Confidential Agent: An Entertainment

(1939, 1971) uses rapidly told episodes filled with sharp attention to visual detail, physical activity, a measure of melodrama and of romance, and emphases on politics, crime, murder, betrayal, as well as hunter/hunted motifs. The plot is an implausible sequence of coincidences, and the detached and lonely characters are motivated primarily by violence and revenge for that violence.

The Agent

’s protagonist may redress some injustices and win his love interest, but no one has a future to expect.

The Confidential Agent is told in four unequal sections with titles that outline the novel’s movements: The Hunted, The Hunter, The Last

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4103 words

Citation: Beene, LynnDianne. "The Confidential Agent". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 September 2022 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13304, accessed 16 April 2024.]

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