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The Quiet American (Penguin Classics)
by Graham Greene

The Quiet American (Penguin Classics) Cover

Powells.com Staff Pick

This fabulous novel by one of the 20th century's greatest writers explores issues of guilt, complicity, and redemption in the context of the very early years of America's intervention in Vietnam.
Recommended by Chris Faatz, Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

"After dinner I sat and waited for Pyle in my room over the rue Catinat; he said, 'I'll be with you latest by ten,' and when midnight struck I couldn't stay quiet any longer and went down into the street..."

"I never knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused," Graham Greene's narrator Fowler remarks of Alden Pyle, the eponymous "Quiet American" of what is perhaps the most controversial novel of his career. Pyle is the brash young idealist sent out by Washington on a mysterious mission to Saigon, where the French Army struggles against the Vietminh guerrillas.

As young Pyle's well-intentioned policies blunder into bloodshed, Fowler, a seasoned and cynical British reporter, finds it impossible to stand safely aside as an observer. But Fowler's motives for intervening are suspect, both to the police and himself, for Pyle has stolen Fowler's beautiful Vietnamese mistress.

Originally published in 1956 and twice adapted to film, The Quiet American remains a terrifiying and prescient portrait of innocence at large. This Graham Greene Centennial Edition includes a new introductory essay by Robert Stone.

Review:

"There has been no novel of any political scope about Vietnam since Graham Greene wrote The Quiet American." Harper's

Review:

"No serious writer of [the twentieth] century has more thoroughly invaded and shaped the public imagination than Graham Greene." Time

Review:

"Written with Greene's great technical skill and imagination." The New York Times

Review:

"A continuously intriguing piece of storytelling....Greene has brought into vivid relief...the fearful price of innocence — and has shown that behind innocence there lurk unconscious arrogance and a self-righteous streak of moral blindness." The Atlantic

Review:

"The best novel written about the war in Indo-China." Chicago Sun-Times

Review:

"A superb accomplishment....[Greene combines] the psychological novel with the novel of violence and suspense, a rare accomplishment for any writer." Saturday Review Syndicate

Review:

"Unless I am very much mistaken, The Quiet American is as near a masterpiece as anything else I have ever read in the last twenty years." Daily Express (London)

Review:

"Greene at his best. The hand of the master is clearly revealed in the structure of the novel, which rises to a magnificent climax." New Leader

Synopsis:

Into the intrigue and violence of Indo-China comes Pyle, a young idealistic American sent to promote democracy. As his native optimism starts to cause bloodshed, his friend Fowler, a cynical foreign correspondent, cannot stand aside and just watch.

About the Author

Graham Greene (1904–1991) was a prolific novelist, short story writer, travel writer, and children's book writer. Many of his novels and short stories have been successfully adapted to the movie screen, including The Third Man (directed by Carol Reed), The End of The Affair, and The Quiet American.

Robert Stone is the author of seven novels, including Dog Soldiers (1974), Damascus Gate (1998), and Bay of Souls (2003). He has also written short stories, essays, and screenplays, and published a short story collection, Bear and His Daughter, in 1997. Dog Soldiers won a National Book Award in 1975. Stone was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1937 and was raised in New York City. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1955–1958. He was for nine years at Yale as the Rosenkranz Writer in Residence.

Table of Contents

Introduction by Robert Stone vii
Suggestions for Further Reading xix
The Quiet American 1

Product Details

ISBN:
9780143039020
Introduction by:
Stone, Robert
Publisher:
Penguin Books
Introduction:
Stone, Robert
Author:
Stone, Robert
Author:
Greene, Graham
Subject:
Classics
Subject:
Americans
Subject:
Indochinese war, 1946-1954
Subject:
General Fiction
Copyright:
Edition Number:
Centennial ed.
Series:
Penguin Classics Deluxe Editio
Publication Date:
September 2004
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
180
Dimensions:
8.40x5.50x.56 in. .51 lbs.