I don't have a copy of "Brighton Rock", but I read a library
copy a few months ago, and I don't think it was one of the
books Greene called "entertainments".
Stephen
On Nov 5, 2007 1:54 PM, Nathan Cain <
IndieCrime@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> I going to have to say that I'm confused about
Brighton Rock being labeled
> an "entertainment" since it dealt with some pretty
weighty themes. I'm
> really not sure what Greene meant by his use of that
term, because it
> implies that the works he considered serious were
not meant to be
> entertaining. Maybe it was the Catholic in him,
trying to separate the
> earthly from the spiritual, or something like that.
Perhaps there was a
> conviction that fun things shouldn't be serious and
serious things can't
> possibly be fun.
>
>
>
> On 11/5/07,
scatalogic@aol.com <
scatalogic@aol.com> wrote:
> >
> > "I find a special intensity in his writing,
regardless of
> > topic. Greene may be much undervalued, still,
by the literary
> > establishment."
> >
> > Greene's interesting in terms of this
discussion isn't he, in that he did
> > split his works into the 'entertainments' and
serious literature and the
> > entertainments tend to be the works that come
under Rara Avis's large and
> > flexible
> > umbrella. I used to be quite annoyed with
Greene for doing this (a
> > particularly stupid and pointless rage I'll
freely admit - I think I was
> > annoyed he
> > didn't consider Brighton Rock serious when I
did!) and I've just been
> > having a
> > quick flick through the Norman Sherry biography
(though I only have the
> > first
> > volume, to 1939, here) to see if I can find
anything on this division,
> > which
> > I can't, beyond a brief snippet that Brighton
Rock was intended as a
> > thriller
> > and "an entertainment" - I'd be grateful if
anyone does know.
> >
> > I think Greene is magnificent and love his
'entertainments' probably more
> > than his 'serious' works, particularly Brighton
Rock, Our Man in Havana
> > and A
> > Gun For Sale, I think you'll love Ministry of
Fear: an entertainment, too
> > (what a magnificent title) and it is certainly
noir - although Graham
> > Greene
> > makes me think of a particularly English
greyness. I've never seen the
> > Fritz Lang
> > film, but scan the TV schedules for a
showing.
> >
> > Is he undervalued? I hope not and in my brief
searchings I've just found
> > Stamboul Train has been voted as the best novel
of 1932 by a panel at the
> > Cheltenham Literary Festival (Britain's
biggest) given the odd task of
> > awarding
> > Booker prizes for pre-Booker years or something
similar.
> >
> > I've always thought of Chandler being similar
in sensibility to Greene and
> >
> > vice versa, but just found this quote from Big
Uncle Raymond:
> > "Am reading The Heart of the Matter, a chapter
at a time. It has
> > everything
> > in it that makes literature -- except verve,
wit, gusto, music, and
> > magic...
> > There is more life in the worst chapter Dickens
or Thackeray ever wrote,
> > and
> > they wrote some pretty awful
chapters."
> >
> > Cheers all, Colin.
> >
> > Join my Church:
www.myspace.com/thereverendspadgedooley
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been
removed]
> >
> >
> >
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
removed]
>
>
>
>
>
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