The Ministry of Fear: An Entertainment (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

 

 

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British author Graham Greene divided his early novels into two distinct groups: 'serious' novels, like "The End of the Affair," "Brighton Rock," and "The Power and the Glory"; and 'entertainments,' his term for his espionage and suspense thrillers. This second group includes "A Gun for Sale" (U.S. title: "This Gun for Hire"), "Stamboul Train," "The Confidential Agent"...and "The Ministry of Fear." Looking back on Greene's long career, this distinction seems very artificial and almost silly; it perhaps made market sense back then, but Greene's entertainments are every bit as serious-minded as his non-genre work. These books are in no way lightweight time-wasters. They are as concerned with character, drama, and the human condition as any of his other books. In fact, I honestly prefer his entertainments; through the mode of the thriller, they actually stab deeper into the reader's mind.

"The Ministry of Fear," published in 1943 when World War II was raging in London's skies, is perhaps Greene's finest entertainment and my personal favorite of his novels. Greene produces here a quintessential noir novel using a premise we often associate with Alfred Hitchcock's films: an innocent man accidentally stumbles upon a secret that turns him into a man marked for death and hunted by the law. However, Greene's main character, Arthur Rowe, is hardly innocent. He is a solitary, lonely individual who harbors a deep guilt over a crime he committed in the past. When he speaks the wrong phrase to a fortune-teller at a fair, he suddenly finds himself the target of a shadowy group of spies in London -- the Ministry of the title. Soon he's fleeing through blitz London, framed for murder, desperate and near-suicidal, but harboring an anger toward the people who have tried to kill him.

Suddenly, Greene pulls a massive plot switch on the reader. The novel makes an abrupt shift that alters the whole nature of the plot. Rowe's story becomes that of possible redemption and the washing away of past sins..but at the expense of feeling whole and complete. To say much more would ruin the surprises of the novel and the internal odyssey of the main character. It's one of the most fascinating moral and character-driven thrillers ever written. And the backdrop of war-torn London, facing daily rains of bombs, is astonishing. It's almost a fantasy world, albeit a horrific one.

Greene's language can sometimes feel too exact and literary for some readers' tastes -- he certainly writes nothing like today's typical churner of bestsellers -- and his peculiar 1940s British terms may cause some head-scratching for American readers. However, Greene had a magical way of expressing ideas that anyone can relate to. He writes in flashes of truth that can make the reader shiver with realization. Only the greatest authors can do this, and Greene does it over and over again in "The Ministry of Fear."

If you've only read Greene's non-genre novels, I urge you to delve into "The Ministry of Fear." It will make you wonder why Greene even bothered to divide up his books. For any lover of thrillers, espionage stories, or World War II, this book will fill all your needs and give you much more in the bargain.

to one another. To live is to remember and to remember is to live. To die is to forget and to forget is to die." Samuel Butler

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that it has taken me close to three score years to pick up and read a book by Graham Greene. On the other hand, I now have quite a few books I can now add to my to be read pile.

I purchased this book after reading Alan Furst's Introduction. I very much like Furst's work (See Dark Voyage: A Novel) and, after reading that Furst was influenced by Eric Ambler I worked my way thought Ambler's works with a great deal of pleasure (See A Coffin for Dimitrios). In the Introduction to Ministry of Fear, Furst mentions that Greene was another key influence. So I was sold, and, more importantly, I was not disappointed.

As in Ambler and Furst's books The Ministry of Fear gives us an ordinary man thrust into an extraordinary situation. Arthur Rowe is an ordinary man, albeit one with a troubled past. He is described by Greene as a tall stooping lean man with a narrow face and whose clothes were good "but gave the impression of being uncared for; you would have said a bachelor if it had not been for an indefinable married look." Set in the early days of WWII, the blitz has just begun and Rowe finds himself in a charity fete. Rowe finds himself paying a few pence to have his fortune told and through a strange quirk of fate utters a phrase that puts him right in the middle of an espionage ring.

The story takes off from there. The cast of characters introduced by Greene should be familiar to anyone who has read Ambler, Buchan, or Furst: the stolid police detectives, the sinister and inscrutable foreign spies and assorted hangers on; and the lovely lady who may be friend or foe. But what Green does here that I find so intriguing is to turn a rather generic story line into a brilliant examination of something entirely different: how memory and forgetfulness either free us or enslave us.

The heart of the book for me was not the story line itself. [Note: possible spoiler follows.] About half way through the book we find that Arthur Rowe had been hurt during the blitz and was suffering from amnesia. As the story continues we see not only the plot develop but witness the transformation of Arthur Rowe. As noted earlier, he had been haunted by an earlier tragedy and, to my mind; this tragedy had totally enslaved Rowe. He was a prisoner of his own guilt and his thoughts and actions were constricted by that guilt. Now that the balance between memory and forgetfulness had shifted so to had Rowe's thoughts and actions. Given a new name he truly became a new person and as his memory starts to return Greene presents us with Rowe force to make a conscious decision as to whether his memory will continue to enslave him. Rowe's decision and the actions that follow take us through the book's satisfying conclusion.

"I have done that", says my memory. "I cannot have done that" -- says my pride, and remains adamant. At last -- memory yields." So said Friedrich Nietzsche and Graham Greene has taken that theme and run with it with great skill and with great delight to the reader.

[Cross-posted on LibraryThing]

If I had to describe this novel in one word, it would be atmospheric. Greene sets up WWII London beautifully. There is an air of menace throughout the whole book and the descriptions of night bombings are very vivid, particularly the one in the subway tunnel. I will admit that there were times I had no idea what was going on but Greene's writing is just incredible, you can just get lost in the language even when the story is a little over your head.

Some interesting questions are raised in the novel: what is the difference between love and pity? If you kill out of love, does it still make you a murderer? Is murder really an evil thing? When is it not?

As much as you will want to keep turning the pages to find out what happens, this book is one that needs to be savoured. Read it when you have some time to think about it as you go.

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4.0 out of 5 stars A cry for help
The sense of dread and agony pervading this novel makes 'Crime and Punishment' seem like an upbeat self-help guide. Read more

Published on April 12 2004 by Henry Platte

5.0 out of 5 stars Rowe's Struggle Is Ours
Arthur Lowe's (uh, Rowe's) struggle to quiet his life from the awful memory of his merciful killing of his dying wife because he cannot stand to see her suffer is really a low... Read more

Published on Nov 7 2001 by Mario E. Morales

4.0 out of 5 stars Not the Third Man - merely the wrong one
Greene at his most paranoid turns the war novel into something a great deal more sinister. Forget Da's Army and the spirit of the blitz and see ww2 turn into one man's own private... Read more

Published on April 24 2000

4.0 out of 5 stars The weight of the cake
Set in England during WWII, The Ministry of Fear is the story of Arthur Rowe surviving but not truly living in the shadow of what was once his life. Read more

Published on Jan 27 2000 by sean mcdevitt

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