The Comedians (novel)

1966 novel by Graham Greene

The Comedians

First edition cover

Author| Graham Greene
Language| English
Publisher| Bodley Head

Publication date

| 1966
Publication place| United Kingdom
Media type| Print (hardback and paperback)
OCLC| 365953
Preceded by| A Burnt-Out Case
Followed by| Travels with My Aunt

The Comedians (1966) is a novel by Graham Greene. Set in Haiti under the rule of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his secret police, the Tontons Macoutes, the novel explores political repression and terrorism through the figure of an English hotel owner, Brown.

The story begins as three men, Brown, Smith, an "innocent" American; and Major H. O. Jones, a confidence man; meet on a ship bound for Haiti. Brown, Smith, and Jones, their names suggesting a curious facelessness, are the "comedians" of Greene's title. Complications include Brown's friendship with a rebel leader, hotel guests who are politically active, and an affair with Martha Pineda, the wife of a South American ambassador. The fictional Hotel Trianon, the setting for much of the novel, was inspired by the Hotel Oloffson in central Port-au-Prince.[1]

The novel was adapted as a feature film of the same name, released in 1967 and starring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Alec Guinness, Peter Ustinov, James Earl Jones, Cicely Tyson, Paul Ford and Lillian Gish.

## Plot summary

[edit]

The main characters travel to Haiti on the Medea, a Dutch ship serving the capital Port-au-Prince and the Dominican Republic. The narrator is Mr. Brown, returning from an unsuccessful trip to the United States to sell his hotel, which is located in the capital. Other figures are Mr. Smith, a US presidential candidate who ran on the vegetarian ticket in the 1948 United States presidential election; he and Mrs. Smith plan to build and operate a vegetarian centre in Haiti. "Major" Jones, an Anglo-Indian businessman, is personable and has many war stories that are not quite believable.

Brown returns to his hotel, where he finds that government minister Philipot has committed suicide in his pool. He had apparently become a target of the government. Brown has to dispose of the body to avoid being implicated. Meanwhile, Jones is arrested as soon as he sets foot on Haitian soil. Brown convinces Mr. Smith to use his 'political weight' to help Jones get out of prison. Jones makes connections in the Haitian government.

The body of Secretary Philipot is found and his family tries to hold a funeral. The president's death squad, the Tontons Macoutes, ambush the procession and steal the body. Philipot's nephew decides to join the rebel forces. First he is required to take part in a traditional voodoo initiation ceremony.

Brown reunites with his lover, Martha Pineda, wife of the Uruguayan ambassador. She is unwilling to leave her husband and child. Realizing they can't pursue their dream in Haiti, Mr. and Mrs. Smith leave for the nearby Dominican Republic.

Jones has been declared an enemy of the state, and Brown tries to get him out of the country. Believing Jones threatens his relationship with Martha, Brown persuades him to join the rebels in the north. Jones' lack of military sense is soon revealed and he is killed in action, while the rebellion fails. Duvalier consolidates his power and Brown, unable to return to his hotel, goes to Santo Domingo. There he works as a mortician.

## Characters

[edit]

* Mr. Brown, the protagonist and narrator. Owns a hotel in Haiti.
* Major Jones, arrives on the Medea with Brown and the Smiths.
* Mr. and Mrs. Smith, arrive on the Medea; hope to establish a vegetarian centre in Haiti.
* Martha Pineda, Brown's lover and the wife of the Uruguayan ambassador.

## Critical reception

[edit]

The New York Times noted that Greene writes about dark places, and this novel explores Haiti under Duvalier and his paramilitary, known as the Tontons Macoutes. Greene explores "despair at evil triumphant, sustained by dollar-aid from the U.S.A."[2] He expresses "despair at the death of the good Communist doctor and the would-be-good confidence trickster, Major Jones."[2] The reviewer recognised Greene's studies of persons who were failures, as "grey" was uppermost in his literary world. He notes,

> "Nevertheless he [Jones] is the novel's hero. He can die- he can succeed in that- and he dies heroically, covering the retreat of the rest, since his flat feet would only delay the whole party if he were to try to escape with his men."[2]

He also says that Greene writes with "much liveliness and skill, and with such a will and ability to please and carry us along" that we want to visit his lands.[2]

In The New York Review of Books, Sybille Bedford described this tenth novel by Greene as "a work of strength and freshness, and in its core there lies the steel coil of compulsion."[3] She describes the novel as a "very good story, as we have come to expect." In describing the characters, she notes that Brown goes to Haiti as "the only place on earth where he might be said to have a stake, a love affair, and a piece of property."[3]

## Duvalier's reaction

[edit]

In his Ways of Escape, Greene wrote that the book "touched him [Duvalier] on the raw." Duvalier attacked The Comedians in the press. His Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a brochure entitled, "Graham Greene Demasqué" (Finally Exposed). It described Greene as "A liar, a cretin, a stool-pigeon... unbalanced, sadistic, perverted... a perfect ignoramus... lying to his heart's content... the shame of proud and noble England... a spy... a drug addict... a torturer." ("The last epithet has always a little puzzled me," Greene confessed.)[4]

## Adaptations

[edit]

The novel was filmed in 1967 as The Comedians, with the screenplay by Graham Greene. It was directed and produced by Peter Glenville, and starred Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Alec Guinness, and Peter Ustinov.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "The ghosts of Haiti's Hotel Oloffson". Public Radio International. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
2. ^ a b c d John Bowen, "Review: 'The Comedians'", The New York Times, 23 January 1966. Retrieved 9 September 2014
3. ^ a b Sybille Bedford, "Tragic Comedians", New York Review of Books, 3 March 1966. Retrieved 9 September 2014
4. ^ Graham Greene about The Comedians

## External links

[edit]

* Bernard Diederich: Seeds of Fiction: Graham Greene's Adventures in Haiti and Central America 1954–1983, 2012, Peter Owen, ISBN 978-0-7206-1488-6
* Duncan Campbell on Graham Greene's Haiti in The Guardian
* The Comedians at IMDb

* v
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Graham Greene

Bibliography

Novels|

* The Man Within (1929)
* The Name of Action (1930)
* Rumour at Nightfall (1932)
* Stamboul Train (1932)
* It's a Battlefield (1934)
* England Made Me (1935)
* A Gun for Sale (1936)
* Brighton Rock (1938)
* The Confidential Agent (1939)
* The Power and the Glory (1940)
* The Ministry of Fear (1943)
* The Heart of the Matter (1948)
* The Third Man (novella; 1949)
* The End of the Affair (1951)
* The Quiet American (1955)
* Loser Takes All (1955)
* Our Man in Havana (1958)
* A Burnt-Out Case (1960)
* The Comedians (1966)
* Travels with My Aunt (1969)
* The Honorary Consul (1973)
* The Human Factor (1978)
* Doctor Fischer of Geneva (1980)
* Monsignor Quixote (1982)
* The Tenth Man (1985)
* The Captain and the Enemy (1988)
* No Man's Land (2005)

Non-fiction|

* Journey Without Maps (1936)
* The Lawless Roads (1939)
* The Lost Childhood and Other Essays (1951)
* In Search of a Character (1961)
* A Sort of Life (1971)
* Ways of Escape (1980)
* Getting to Know the General: The Story of an Involvement (1984)

Plays|

* The Living Room (1953)
* The Potting Shed (1957)
* The Complaisant Lover (1959)
* Carving a Statue (1964)
* The Return of A. J. Raffles (1975)
* The Great Jowett (1981)
* Yes and No (1983)
* For Whom the Bell Chimes (1983)

Story collections|

* Twenty-One Stories (1954)
* A Sense of Reality (1963)
* May We Borrow Your Husband? (1967)

Short stories|

* "The End of the Party" (1929)
* "Proof Positive" (1930)
* "Across the Bridge" (1938)
* "Alas, Poor Maling" (1940)
* "The Blue Film" (1954)
* "The Destructors" (1954)
* "A Shocking Accident"
* "The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen"
* "The Last Word"

Screenplays|

* 21 Days (1940)
* Brighton Rock (1948)
* The Fallen Idol (1948)
* The Third Man (1949)
* Loser Takes All (1956)
* Saint Joan (1957)
* Our Man in Havana (1959)
* The Comedians (1967)
* Monsignor Quixote (1985)

Adaptations|

* Orient Express (1934)
* The Green Cockatoo (1937)
* This Gun for Hire (1942)
* Went the Day Well? (1942)
* Ministry of Fear (1944)
* The Fugitive (1947)
* The Heart of the Matter (1953)
* The End of the Affair (1955)
* Across the Bridge (1957)
* The Quiet American (1958)
* Travels with My Aunt (1972)
* The Human Factor (1979)
* The Honorary Consul  (1983)
* The End of the Affair (1999)
* The Quiet American (2002)
* Brighton Rock (2010)

Other|

* Brighton Rock (play)
* Shades of Greene

Category

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Germany

Other|

* IdRef
* Yale LUX

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