I don't own a copy either, but I'm certain I remember the
title page carrying the label "an entertainment." Greene's
wikipedia entry says he considered his thrillers as
entertainments, and Brighton Rock certaintly falls into that
category.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Greene#Novels_and_other_works
An entry on biblio.com (which is almost exactly the same as
the wikipedia entry) explicitly references Brighton Rock as
an entertainment:
"His fiction was originally divided into two genres:
thrillers or mystery/suspense books, such as Brighton
Rock<
http://www.biblio.com/search.php?tid=&auid=&stage=1&author=greene&title=rock>,
that he himself cast as "entertainments" but which often
included a notable philosophical edge, and literary works
such as The Power and the Glory<
http://www.biblio.com/search.php?tid=&auid=&stage=1&author=greene&title=power>,
on which his reputation was thought to be based."
On 11/5/07, Stephen Burridge <
stephen.burridge@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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<IndieCrime%40gmail.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%40aol.com>
<
>
scatalogic@aol.com <scatalogic%40aol.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]
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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