Chapter 16 postscript

Graham Greene is one of the best and most prolific writers of the twentieth century.He was born in Berkhamsted, Hartfordshire, England, in October 1904, and died in Vevey, Switzerland, in April 1991.As a child, he didn't like sports and often skipped school to read some adventure stories.Those stories had a profound impact on him and helped shape his writing style.Later, at Balliol College, Oxford, he studied modern history and served as editor of The Oxford Outlook, gaining experience and honing his writing skills.In 1925, he graduated from university and worked as an assistant editor for The Times of London for four years.His fourth novel, a spy novel, Stambul Train, established him a reputation.In 1935, he traveled to Liberia in West Africa, which resulted in Journey Without Maps.Returning from Liberia, he was assigned as a film critic for the weekly magazine "The Spectator".In 1938, he visited Mexico to report on the religious persecution there (he joined the Roman Catholic Church in 1926 under the persuasion of his wife), and first wrote "The Road to Lawlessness" (The Road to Lawlessness). Law less Roads), and in 1940 he wrote his best novel, The Power and the Glory.Next, he published "Brighton Hard Candy" (Bright on Rock).

In 1940 he became literary editor of the weekly Spectator.The following year he took on a job with the British Foreign Office, spending three years in Sierra Leone, West Africa, an experience that would lead to his novel The Heart of the Matter, set in West Africa . His frenzied round-the-world travels continued until his physical strength became too great to do so.He then found out some "hot spots" in the world: Vietnam during the Vietnam War, Kenya during the Mau Mau riots, Stalinist Poland, Castro's Cuba and Duvalier's Haiti, etc., to visit , interviews, and travel to satisfy your desire for adventure.The results of these journeys are "Travel s with My Aunt", "The Honorary Consul" (The Honorary Consul), (The Quiet American). Despicable and ugly.

Greene is often referred to as a "Catholic writer" and sometimes as a "political writer".Green himself said: "I may be a political writer when I write about politics, but that doesn't apply to all my work." In addition to writing many novels, Green also wrote several collections of short stories, four travel notes, six plays, and three volumes of autobiography - "A Sort of Life", "Ways of Escape" (Ways of Life). of Escape and A Worl of My Own—two biographies and four volumes of fairy tales—published posthumously. In addition, he wrote hundreds of essays, film reviews, and book reviews, many of which were later collected in Reflections.Green is a Medal of Merit recipient and an Honorary Knight.After his death, many people paid tribute to him, including Kingsley Amis, Evelyn Waugh, George Orwell and the Nobel Prize winner William Golding.Amis said, "The world will miss him forever. To this day, he remains the greatest living novelist." Evelyn Waugh said, "Mr. Green was a gifted storyteller." Man... His mastery of technique was never more evident than when he narrated a scene--restlessness and pollution-corrosion, that poorly built town that was beautiful for a moment at sunset, where all were equal Whorehouses, greedy people...second-rate public school snobbery, laws that everyone can circumvent, an ever-present, disturbing underworld of gossip, spying, bribery, violence and betrayal...similar to the movie It was visible. It was a camera look, looking from the hotel balcony to the street below, picking out the policeman, following him back to the police station, moving around the room, looking from the handcuffs hanging on the wall. To the scattered rosary beads in the drawer, record all the profound details. This is the modern method of storytelling..." George Orwell said: "(Green) also seems to have been handed down since Baudelaire One of the most famous thoughts: that there is something quite luxurious in a terrible situation. Hell is a kind of exclusive nightclub, only Catholics can go in and out." William Golding said: "Graham Green is a self-made One kind... people will read him and remember him as the ultimate recorder of the consciousness and aspirations of people in the twentieth century."

is an outstanding political novel written by Greene between 1952 and 1955, the product of four visits to Vietnam as a reporter.According to some critics, when reading Green's novels, the main problem faced by the reader is how to approach the work in terms of its historical background and beyond.The problem, as far as it is concerned, is extremely clear and visible.Like many of his other novels, it is the result of Green's personal involvement in many of the events recounted in it.For this work, as for many of his others, it is difficult for critics to distinguish the author himself from the novel's protagonist Thomas Fowler, because Fowler, like Green himself, was in the early 1950s. And Mid, also a British journalist who was in Vietnam observing that war - the First Vietnam War.

When it was published in England in 1955 it was generally praised, but when it was published in the United States the following year it received a mixed reception.Some critics believe that this is another manifestation of Green's dislike of the United States.In his autobiography, The Way of Escape, he once wrote about this matter: When the New Yorker finally took notice of my novel, reviewers condemned me for accusing our "best friends" (Americans) of massacres for blaming them for the massive explosion on Saigon's main square body.That explosion was far worse than the lesser bicycle bombs, and it killed many people.But needless to say, what are the facts that the commentator does not know, of course?He has taken a stunning and gruesome photo of a tricycle driver standing upright after his legs were blown off.The photo was reprinted by an American propaganda magazine in Manila with the headline: "Ho Chi Minh's Masterpiece," although General Thai had already claimed, swiftly and triumphantly, that his men had planted the bomb.Who supplied arms to a bandit (chieftain) who was fighting both the Cao Dai army and the Communists?

...perhaps there is more direct reporting in it than in any other novel I have written.That press conference was not the only example of direct reporting.I was still on the dive bomber that hit the Viet Minh camp.The pilot disobeyed an order from General Drutter and took me on that operation.I also participated in a foreign legion paratrooper patrol on the outskirts of Phat Diem.To this day, I still have a vivid image of the child squatting in the ditch next to the dead matriarch. Therefore, Green does not like the United States.What he doesn't like is American liberalism.However, in the novel, he also prominently and convincingly pointed out and criticized the theory that the United States fostered a foreign third force.For example, in the second chapter of the third part of the novel, the protagonist Fowler once said this to Pyle:

We are the people of the old colonial country, Pyle, but we have learned a little from reality, we have learned not to play with fire.The power of the third force—it came from the books, that's all. General Tay was nothing more than a bandit leader with thousands of men under his command: he did not represent national democracy. Elsewhere, Fowler added, "...this is a hopeless debate." For this reason, despite the attacks of American commentators, as historical events unfolded, most notably the Second After the end of the first Vietnam War, critics probably changed their views on this work and the so-called "ominous prophecy" of Greene.The second Vietnam War lasted eleven years from 1964 when the U.S. Congress approved the full involvement of the U.S. military in Vietnam to the hasty retreat in 1975.A small third-world communist state impoverished and inspired by nationalist ideals, handily defeating the world's wealthiest military power.Green's conclusions in the book are surprisingly prescient and precise.In fact, this only shows the keen observation and amazing analysis of the human condition by the journalist novelist Green.

Critics also have various inferences about the characters written in the book.Of course, the consensus is that the protagonist, Thomas Fowler, is largely modeled on the author himself.According to his official biographer, Norman Sherry, the development of the heroine Feng Er seems to have been inspired by a "beautiful beauty" whom the author himself met one night in Saigon.Vigot's agent, who read Pascal, was about a Mr. Morey of the French Security Service, while Granger was based on American journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Larry Allen. .As for Alden Pyle, the consensus among most critics is that he wrote about U.S. Army Colonel Edward Lansdale.

Lansdale went to Saigon quietly and incognito in June 1953, stayed in Saigon for a month, and then returned in 1954 to serve two years on the CIA military mission in Saigon long.Green himself has repeatedly denied this, saying he never met Lansdale.But Lansdale told others that he knew Green had him in mind when he wrote about Pyle, because he also had a dog.Later, Lansdale also said in a letter to a friend that Green, like the French, did not like General Tye, but he (Lansdale) was an American friend of General Tye, and the French were always in front of him. Green's face taunts him about General Tae.From this point of view, Lansdale and Green will meet.But that aside, critics generally agree that Lansdale is a seasoned, mature operative, probably one of the Americans with the best knowledge of Vietnamese politics and realities, and not as naïve as Pyle. ignorance.

It is interesting to say that few of the reviewers of the book seem to have explored the so-called "third force" expert and scholar York Harding.In fact, there are many "candidates" for this character. The most likely one is Robert Penn, the author of a book called "The Red Storm in Asia".This book was published in 1951.In the book, Payne said that when a moderate third force failed to take power or felt unable to exercise power itself, an almost nihilistic opportunism became inevitable in all countries.He demanded that the social power of the United States be stretched out to the rural villages of Asia, and he went on to express his deep regret that France had no real intention to cause a social revolution in South Vietnam.These were all very exciting words for Pyle.

To sum up, after its publication, it has inspired more and more discussions and critical articles in the West, and its meaning has become more and more revealed. It is one of the most outstanding and important political novels written by Greene.It is said that over the years, all students who choose Vietnam War history and political science courses in British and American universities must read it. Here, I think of a point that must be explained to the readers.Some readers may think that since it is a so-called political novel, its story may be dull, serious and not very readable.On the contrary, like most of Green's major works, the characters are so real and the story is so compelling that some critics even think that it is actually a love story about a love triangle. It can also be said that it is a detective story of a murder case written rigorously and movingly.What kind of novel is it? Readers are asked to judge for themselves after reading it.These are what the translator wants to say after translating this book, and I hope that readers will correct me if it is inappropriate. master June 1999