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No Man's Land
No Man's Land is a profoundly chilling tale of espionage, superstition, and betrayal, and bears all the hallmarks of Greene's most famous works. Arriving in the Harz Mountains, within striking distance of the Iron Curtain, “civilian” Brown appears to be enjoying a small vacation. Yet one night, he crosses into the Russian zone, claiming to be drawn to a site of Catholic pilgrimage. His cover is not quite convincing enough, however, and he finds himself arrested and interrogated. Refusing to confess the real reason behind his visit, he gains an unexpected ally, and the two of them embark upon a hazardous plan to complete his mission and return to the West. The result is a remarkable, psychologically charged exploration of fear and crossed frontiers. Author and playwright Graham Greene is best known for his works Brighton Rock, The Power and the Glory, and The Heart of the Matter.
160 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2004
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About the author
Graham Greene
800 books6,114 followersHenry Graham Greene was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century.
Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a reputation early in his lifetime as a major writer, both of serious Catholic novels, and of thrillers (or "entertainments" as he termed them). He was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times. Through 67 years of writing, which included over 25 novels, he explored the conflicting moral and political issues of the modern world. The Power and the Glory won the 1941 Hawthornden Prize and The Heart of the Matter won the 1948 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Best of the James Tait Black. Greene was awarded the 1968 Shakespeare Prize and the 1981 Jerusalem Prize. Several of his stories have been filmed, some more than once, and he collaborated with filmmaker Carol Reed on The Fallen Idol (1948) and The Third Man (1949).
He converted to Catholicism in 1926 after meeting his future wife, Vivienne Dayrell-Browning. Later in life he took to calling himself a "Catholic agnostic". He died in 1991, aged 86, of leukemia, and was buried in Corseaux cemetery in Switzerland. William Golding called Greene "the ultimate chronicler of twentieth-century man's consciousness and anxiety".
Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a reputation early in his lifetime as a major writer, both of serious Catholic novels, and of thrillers (or "entertainments" as he termed them). He was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times. Through 67 years of writing, which included over 25 novels, he explored the conflicting moral and political issues of the modern world. The Power and the Glory won the 1941 Hawthornden Prize and The Heart of the Matter won the 1948 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Best of the James Tait Black. Greene was awarded the 1968 Shakespeare Prize and the 1981 Jerusalem Prize. Several of his stories have been filmed, some more than once, and he collaborated with filmmaker Carol Reed on The Fallen Idol (1948) and The Third Man (1949).
He converted to Catholicism in 1926 after meeting his future wife, Vivienne Dayrell-Browning. Later in life he took to calling himself a "Catholic agnostic". He died in 1991, aged 86, of leukemia, and was buried in Corseaux cemetery in Switzerland. William Golding called Greene "the ultimate chronicler of twentieth-century man's consciousness and anxiety".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
May 10, 2015
This is the last book published in the Graham Greene series. No Man's Land was published posthumously and actually contains two novellas: No Man's Land and The Stranger's Hand.
The Stranger's Hand was made into a movie in 1953 with Trevor Howard and Alida Valli.
No Man's Land is by far the more interesting of the two stories and tells of a British agent in Germany who ventures across the border into the Russian-controlled sector to meet with an informant.
Even though I feel that No Man's Land is the better story of the two, this is probably only because the setting somewhat appealed to me - and, after all, it is a spy story.
Neither of the stories are Greene at his best and both have major flaws. The main flaw in No Man's Land, however, made me laugh: Basically, the flaw is Greene writing an insta-love story:
" 'You won't be satisfied till I say it, will you? Alright, I have said it. I have spoken two words to you today. This morning. And now I have said that to you. You have got your triumph. Now for God's sake let me alone."
'But why? I don't understand.'
'It can happen to a woman, can't it, just as much as to a man? You stood there like a fool while we knelt.' "
The Stranger's Hand was made into a movie in 1953 with Trevor Howard and Alida Valli.
No Man's Land is by far the more interesting of the two stories and tells of a British agent in Germany who ventures across the border into the Russian-controlled sector to meet with an informant.
Even though I feel that No Man's Land is the better story of the two, this is probably only because the setting somewhat appealed to me - and, after all, it is a spy story.
Neither of the stories are Greene at his best and both have major flaws. The main flaw in No Man's Land, however, made me laugh: Basically, the flaw is Greene writing an insta-love story:
" 'You won't be satisfied till I say it, will you? Alright, I have said it. I have spoken two words to you today. This morning. And now I have said that to you. You have got your triumph. Now for God's sake let me alone."
'But why? I don't understand.'
'It can happen to a woman, can't it, just as much as to a man? You stood there like a fool while we knelt.' "
May 8, 2019
Two stories with rather summary plotting but lots of atmosphere. The first involves a spy who is using a Catholic pilgrimage site within the Russian-controlled zone of post-war Germany to access the plans of an uranium plant. The second is set in Venice and revolves around an eight-year old boy who is visiting the city to meet his father whom he hasn't seen in several years. The father, who is a British policeman stationed in Trieste, is kidnapped by Yugoslavs, but strangely enough, this story has a happy ending as father and son are reunited. What I enjoyed most was the description of the forlorn little boy looking for allies among the hotel staff and even strangers to find his dad while the local police chief is keener on containing the scandal than on investigating the disappearance. The boy is presented as precocious and self-contained but not implausibly so and Greene's tenderness for vulnerable people show through. Not bad for unfinished projects but a long way short of Greene's masterpieces.
January 22, 2019
3.5
Two short stories/film outlines.
The first had writing that I admired very much. Loved the dialogue, desc, and intrigue, but didn’t care too much for the characters so I was p indifferent.
But the second just about broke my heart. The ending is taken from the film itself, rather than Greene writing it. I’ll admit I was kind of upset about that, but at least there was closure.
Two short stories/film outlines.
The first had writing that I admired very much. Loved the dialogue, desc, and intrigue, but didn’t care too much for the characters so I was p indifferent.
But the second just about broke my heart. The ending is taken from the film itself, rather than Greene writing it. I’ll admit I was kind of upset about that, but at least there was closure.
September 30, 2019
Not GG's best. Short stories are tough in the spy genre, these felt a little too unrushed and far fetched.
January 15, 2011
This edition contains two short treatments of film ideas. The first, No Man's Land, is a treatment for a film that was never made. The story takes place during the early Cold War period on the East/West German border. A bit of intrigue mixed with a bit of a love story. Very readableand very G.Greene. The second story, The Strangers Hand, takes place around the same period. A small boy is sent by his mother, after his parent's divorce, to a hotel in Venice to await the return of his father. The father is involved in international intrigue and doesn't show up. The story focuses on the small boy, having no papers and knowing no one, as he tries to pass the time while wondering if he will ever see his father or anyone else he knows again. Greene didn't finish the story, but his notes are used to complete the final chapter (it appears a film has been made of this one, but I have never seen it). Both stories are well worth reading, especially if you are a fan of Greene's better known works.
December 26, 2014
Greene is one of my favourites, but I wasn't aware of this book til I came across it in the library. Not sure it would be that appealing if you're not already a fan, but these two film treatments, which read like novellas, are minor works which still remind you why his work is so compelling. Gracefully written, emotionally intelligent and intense, there are some stellar moments in each. I'd also forgotten how credibly he writes from a child's perspective, which not even all children's authors can do.
June 29, 2018
Greene was such a prolific author that some of his writings remained undiscovered and unappreciated for a long period of time, and such is the case here. It is quite possible that these two short stories/treatments will remind the reader of some of Greene's more familiar work, and it is perhaps inevitable that this should be the case. "No Man's Land," for example, will remind many readers of "The Third Man" and the treatment here will also remind the reader of the troubled and complex personal life of the writer as well, which in the case of Greene (and so many other writers, myself included) was deeply influential on what was written as well as the approach taken to the plot. Likewise, "The Stranger's Hand" bears a close relationship to Greene's works like "The Captain And The Devil" and "The Fallen Idol," where a naive young boy deals with the problem of a missing father figure. It is perhaps unkind to speculate the concerns of family and trust that fill the writings of Graham Greene, but he definitely had some concerns he turned to over and over again and the consistency of these concerns definitely prompts pondering and musing on the part of the reader.
The two stories themselves are pretty straightforward in their treatment. "No Man's Land" is, at its heart, a tete-a-tete between three characters with complex motives and behavior. A man enters into the Soviet zone of Germany and finds that his failure to observe the norms of Catholic devotions prompt his betrayal by a beautiful woman who finds herself in a relationship with a canny Soviet intelligence agent who proceeds to torture the English man until the Englishman gains his trust and then escapes with the girl to England, where they marry and where she will be unfaithful to him and prompt his jealousy and frustration as so many other lovers of hers have known before. In stark contrast, "The Stranger's Hand" is a story that deals with a young boy traveling to his father, who is a police agent of some kind in Trieste who finds trouble in Venice. The young boy has no photos of his father, and only some vague memories, but with the help of some colorful local characters finds himself involved in the drama of Cold War politics and of help to his father, at least in the completed version of the treatment that was continued by others.
There are several layers of concern that these particular neglected stories bring to mind for the reader. On the surface level, both of them are interesting stories that have compelling and somewhat paradoxical plots and that have concerns that appear over and over again in Greene's body of literature concerning matters of trust and family and knowledge. The characters wrestle with faith and with their own lack of trust in government and matters of religion and power. The novels also deal with autobiographical issues within Greene's life, including his dubious loyalty to the cause of the West against Soviet-led Communism and the author's own lack of fidelity and honor in his own romantic relationships. Those who lack honor in their own behavior are quick to mistrust others and view them as dishonorable as well. Likewise, the stories the a typically cynical approach to the politics of the mid-20th century. While these stories, in other words, that take up together a bit more than 100 pages, are broadly similar to quite a few writings in Greene's literature, it is still worthwhile that they should be found and appreciated on their own considerable merits nonetheless.
The two stories themselves are pretty straightforward in their treatment. "No Man's Land" is, at its heart, a tete-a-tete between three characters with complex motives and behavior. A man enters into the Soviet zone of Germany and finds that his failure to observe the norms of Catholic devotions prompt his betrayal by a beautiful woman who finds herself in a relationship with a canny Soviet intelligence agent who proceeds to torture the English man until the Englishman gains his trust and then escapes with the girl to England, where they marry and where she will be unfaithful to him and prompt his jealousy and frustration as so many other lovers of hers have known before. In stark contrast, "The Stranger's Hand" is a story that deals with a young boy traveling to his father, who is a police agent of some kind in Trieste who finds trouble in Venice. The young boy has no photos of his father, and only some vague memories, but with the help of some colorful local characters finds himself involved in the drama of Cold War politics and of help to his father, at least in the completed version of the treatment that was continued by others.
There are several layers of concern that these particular neglected stories bring to mind for the reader. On the surface level, both of them are interesting stories that have compelling and somewhat paradoxical plots and that have concerns that appear over and over again in Greene's body of literature concerning matters of trust and family and knowledge. The characters wrestle with faith and with their own lack of trust in government and matters of religion and power. The novels also deal with autobiographical issues within Greene's life, including his dubious loyalty to the cause of the West against Soviet-led Communism and the author's own lack of fidelity and honor in his own romantic relationships. Those who lack honor in their own behavior are quick to mistrust others and view them as dishonorable as well. Likewise, the stories the a typically cynical approach to the politics of the mid-20th century. While these stories, in other words, that take up together a bit more than 100 pages, are broadly similar to quite a few writings in Greene's literature, it is still worthwhile that they should be found and appreciated on their own considerable merits nonetheless.
September 4, 2025
Greene sent this brief, 15,000 word film treatment for a possible production after the success of The Third Man. That did not happen and the text was lost, only to be found recently. Accompanying it, in this slim book with an introduction by David Lodge, is a short story, The Stranger’s Hand, which was made into a film starring Trevor Howard in 1953 but the major role is for an 8 year old boy. I wonder who that was.
Only a film treatment, but Greene clearly couldn’t help himself as it is beautifully written, with photographic descriptions in the style which he labelled his ‘entertainments’. The English spy in the Berlin post war Soviet zone mountain forest borderland, carries a Turgenev novel in his pocket and just as well, he is familiar enough with the rest of Turgenev’s works to survive an interrogator’s knowledgeable questioning. There is uranium nearby to be mined in Czechoslovakia and a British spy is missing, leaving a cryptic message in a religious souvenir shop for the nearby shrine where intriguingly, pilgrims still visit from both sides of the border. The story is about loneliness, trust, love and betrayal, written in Greene’s erudite, laconic way.
The short story that follows is set in Cold War Venice, where earlier on a London airport tarmac, a boy is fussed over by his aunt as he is about to be sent off, unaccompanied on a plane to meet his father who is travelling from Trieste to meet him. On arrival, there is no father and Greene explores the nuances of the boy’s feelings as various adults care for him: loneliness, trust, innocence, and hidden dangers. And especially, intrusion.
‘A child’s privacy is never quite secure: nobody even hesitates to intrude.’
“Even at 8 years old, one knew that all endings were not happy.’
‘He’s always adept at detecting false comfort.’
A brief, but most satisfying read.
Only a film treatment, but Greene clearly couldn’t help himself as it is beautifully written, with photographic descriptions in the style which he labelled his ‘entertainments’. The English spy in the Berlin post war Soviet zone mountain forest borderland, carries a Turgenev novel in his pocket and just as well, he is familiar enough with the rest of Turgenev’s works to survive an interrogator’s knowledgeable questioning. There is uranium nearby to be mined in Czechoslovakia and a British spy is missing, leaving a cryptic message in a religious souvenir shop for the nearby shrine where intriguingly, pilgrims still visit from both sides of the border. The story is about loneliness, trust, love and betrayal, written in Greene’s erudite, laconic way.
The short story that follows is set in Cold War Venice, where earlier on a London airport tarmac, a boy is fussed over by his aunt as he is about to be sent off, unaccompanied on a plane to meet his father who is travelling from Trieste to meet him. On arrival, there is no father and Greene explores the nuances of the boy’s feelings as various adults care for him: loneliness, trust, innocence, and hidden dangers. And especially, intrusion.
‘A child’s privacy is never quite secure: nobody even hesitates to intrude.’
“Even at 8 years old, one knew that all endings were not happy.’
‘He’s always adept at detecting false comfort.’
A brief, but most satisfying read.
August 24, 2017
This book contains two very short stories (No Man's Land at fifty five pages and The Stranger's Hand at fifty pages.) Unfortunately The Stranger's Hand was unfinished. Both had been written to be made into movies and the last five pages tacked on to Greene's unfinished work was written in summary form describing the action in the completed movie; with one of the characters even changed from a male to a female just for those last five and a half pages. The tack on is in no way sympathetic and if I'd known that a thriller was going to have the last chapter missing from it then I wouldn't have bothered reading it; even more so when out of the two stories, the unfinished one had been the more engaging of the two. It was also the only one of the two stories to be made into a movie.
Of the two short stories, No Man's Land was typical Greene in that Catholicism was more than a passing mention and there was a moral dilemma involved (albeit in this case a flimsy moral dilemma.) I wasn't impressed by it. There was an abrupt and confusing change of heads and the characters were empty. I didn't feel any suspense or intrigue which should be expected with this genre. The Stranger's Hand had been the better of the two stories because Greene was able to write from a child's perspective brilliantly and the child was a wonderfully rounded character. This writing skill is quite rare to come across and not easy to achieve. I was intrigued and invested but this then contributed more to my later disappointment.
Unfortunately these short stories aren't Greene at his best which is probably why they weren't published in his lifetime. I can't recommend them other than to those who have read all of Greene's other work. It's also worth noting that the Foreword contains spoilers.
Of the two short stories, No Man's Land was typical Greene in that Catholicism was more than a passing mention and there was a moral dilemma involved (albeit in this case a flimsy moral dilemma.) I wasn't impressed by it. There was an abrupt and confusing change of heads and the characters were empty. I didn't feel any suspense or intrigue which should be expected with this genre. The Stranger's Hand had been the better of the two stories because Greene was able to write from a child's perspective brilliantly and the child was a wonderfully rounded character. This writing skill is quite rare to come across and not easy to achieve. I was intrigued and invested but this then contributed more to my later disappointment.
Unfortunately these short stories aren't Greene at his best which is probably why they weren't published in his lifetime. I can't recommend them other than to those who have read all of Greene's other work. It's also worth noting that the Foreword contains spoilers.
October 20, 2021
Four stars as draft film treatments. As a book of two novellas, three stars. "No Man's Land" is set in post-war East Germany and has many similarities with "The Third Man". It's grimmer though and not well developed. The second story in the book "The Stranger's Hand" is more interesting. Set in Venice, the main character is a young English boy in the city to meet his father. Because of the war, they haven't seen each other for three years. However, his father gets kidnapped and the boy is left alone in a hotel. Like in "The Fallen Idol", Greene is very good at showing a child's inner world in turmoil when confronted by an unfiltered version of the adult one. Sadly, Greene never finished the treatment. The ending here, supplied by another writer, is from the movie based on the story. "The Stranger's Hand" originated when Greene, using a pseudonym, cheekily entered a version of it in a newspaper competition. The aim was to write a story in the vein of Graham Greene. He got the second place prize!
So "The Stranger's Hand" is a film treatment with great potential that Greene probably just forgot about. Another, more well-known, one was "The Tenth Man", written in about 1950, somebody found the manuscript and sent it to Greene in the 80s. He re-edited it and published it as a 35,000 novella. For me "The Tenth Man" is a five-star work. Greene's throwaways in the 40s and 50s had ideas and atmospheres other authors can only dream of.
So "The Stranger's Hand" is a film treatment with great potential that Greene probably just forgot about. Another, more well-known, one was "The Tenth Man", written in about 1950, somebody found the manuscript and sent it to Greene in the 80s. He re-edited it and published it as a 35,000 novella. For me "The Tenth Man" is a five-star work. Greene's throwaways in the 40s and 50s had ideas and atmospheres other authors can only dream of.
November 3, 2020
Perhaps within the context of Greene's other works these aren't the best but, honestly, I found both stories pretty entertaining. No Man's Land, written between The Heart of the Matter and The End of the Affair, doesn't contain that gorgeous emotional ache of either, but it's a nifty enough spy story that makes a rather suitable movie for the mind, particularly the end sequence.
The second piece, The Stranger's Hand, features the extent of Greene's movie "treatment" and then offers a summary of the actual film that completed the story. Again, it's an entertaining setup of a child waiting to receive his long-delayed father, and the explanation of what happened to the father.
So while I wouldn't suggest this book is in the top 3 of Greene's work, in some ways, I fhink it's a really pleasant introduction to folks who for some reason haven't indulged in his other stuff and want a feel for it.
The second piece, The Stranger's Hand, features the extent of Greene's movie "treatment" and then offers a summary of the actual film that completed the story. Again, it's an entertaining setup of a child waiting to receive his long-delayed father, and the explanation of what happened to the father.
So while I wouldn't suggest this book is in the top 3 of Greene's work, in some ways, I fhink it's a really pleasant introduction to folks who for some reason haven't indulged in his other stuff and want a feel for it.
September 4, 2017
Graham Greene is one of my favorite authors, and this was more a novelty than a serious literary effort. No Man's Land includes two film treatments that Greene prepared after the commercial success of the film version of The Third Man, his only major success in Hollywood. As the author of the foreword observed, the first story appears to be a cross between The Third Man and a trial run for The End of the Affair, which he wrote after he abandoned this project. The second story was incomplete and was more interesting and a bigger departure from the other works of Greene's that I've read. If you're a serious Greene fan, check it out.
February 23, 2023
You wouldn't know from the description provided on this site that "No Man's Land" actually contains two stories, "No Man's Land" and "The Stranger's Hand." Each is a "treatment" for a proposed film. However, as is pointed out in the book's Forward, Greene's film treatments are, for all intents and purposes, fully fleshed out fictional stories that stand on their own. The first story, "No Man's Land," is a cold war thriller and is quite good. The second story, "The Stranger's Hand," is also a cold war thriller and, in my opinion, is the better of the two stories. However, it does have one major flaw. Apparently, Greene lost interest in the treatment and never finished it; so, what we are left with is 48 pages of Greene's work, which is superb, followed by a five-page "continuation" by a screenwriter named Guy Elmes. Unlike Greene's part of the story, Elmes's section is clearly not meant to be read as traditional fiction, but is rather a summary of the rest of the story's plot. (Elmes had Greene's blessing with respect to finishing the story.) "The Stranger's Hand" is the story of a young boy who travels to Venice to re-unite with his father, a police official, whom he hasn't seen for three years. I won't say any more about the plot, but the depiction of the boy is both masterful and very moving.
December 13, 2019
Two wonderful cold war novellas from Graham Greene that were meant to be film treatments, the second of which The Hand of Kindness is unfinished, but was turned into a film in 1953. Both are quick, short reads with that are sure to delight any fan of this great British author.
March 17, 2017
Even though non-fiction is my regular reading matter, I intend to gradually work my way through the Greene catalogue. To date I've completed 'The Third Man' and 'The Quiet American' and found I adore the man's writing.
Here are two short, very short, compositions. Too short I feel to attach the description of novellas. These texts were written between 'The Heart of the Matter' and 'The End of the Affair', when Greene was at the height of his powers, so writes David Lodge on the rear cover.
'No Man's Land' has a very black and white filmic quality, similar to 'The Third Man' set around Berlin when the Cold War was just warming up. Actually I preferred the second offering here, 'The Stranger's Hand' which again has an East West spy undercurrent, which sadly Greene did not complete.
The writing quality allows me to give these two rediscovered gems three stars.
Here are two short, very short, compositions. Too short I feel to attach the description of novellas. These texts were written between 'The Heart of the Matter' and 'The End of the Affair', when Greene was at the height of his powers, so writes David Lodge on the rear cover.
'No Man's Land' has a very black and white filmic quality, similar to 'The Third Man' set around Berlin when the Cold War was just warming up. Actually I preferred the second offering here, 'The Stranger's Hand' which again has an East West spy undercurrent, which sadly Greene did not complete.
The writing quality allows me to give these two rediscovered gems three stars.
August 29, 2018
(1993) Two spy stories. VG.
Want to read
September 26, 2022Includes The Stranger's Hand (1954).
December 21, 2022
This is two novellas, essentially, written with film in mind. I can see how they would translate to screen and be entertaining but I was disappointed in the readings
December 31, 2024
Muy flojo para ser Grenne
December 2, 2020
There are actually two short works included in this book. The first, No Man’s Land, was written by Greene as a treatment for a film (never made) to follow up the success of The Third Man. And the second is an unfinished story, The Stranger’s Hand, written around the same time.
Both are, like The Third Man, cold war stories, written against the backdrop of divided Europe, with borders drawn around and dropped over people by powers they had no part in making. There is a feeling of layers — the people of the cities and territory, their occupiers and police forces, and the embedded culture of agents, spies, and smugglers.
In No Man’s Land, Catholics regularly undertake a pilgrimage to a cave near the town of Ilsenhof in the predominantly Protestant Harz region of Northern Germany, with Ilsenhof itself falling within the Russian Zone of occupation. The Russians are interested in recently discovered uranium deposits. Americans and British are interested in the Russians’ interest in the uranium deposits. Boundaries are everywhere, crossings are watched and violated, and no one is exactly who they say they are.
The context is perfect for a story about trust, or as Greene says, “the crime of trust.”
The story in No Man’s Land is told to the narrator, Redburn, by “Richard Brown.” Redburn spots Brown immediately as not who he appears to be and gradually gets in a position of trust for Brown to tell him his story. Brown recounts what he has done and what has happened to him.
Brown’s mission was to retrieve a small bit of microfilm hidden away inside the Russian zone. Redburn isn’t the only one who has realized that Brown isn’t who he says he is. Brown got himself captured, and that could have been that.
But the two factors in the story — the jumble of loyalties within an occupation zone and the currents of trust and distrust — work in Brown’s favor. We know, of course, that Brown is safe, since he’s telling the story.
The interplay of trust and loyalty involves at its core Brown, his captor, Starhov, and Starhov’s mistress Clara. These are all people, in personal relationships and on their own sides of a Cold War, with uranium at stake. It’s almost a chess game, but the pieces are playing themselves.
This is one of Greene’s great strengths, I think, throughout his writings. He places relatively ordinary people in the midst of historical circumstances and tensions, and lets their completely ordinary emotions and personalities play through it. There’s no super-dramatic heroism, no super-dramatic failures, just the playing out of human lives through circumstances bigger than they are.
The Stranger’s Hand shares atmosphere with No Man’s Land. We are in Venice now, also in the tense, struggling post-war world. And in the middle of it, there is a young boy, Roger Court, deposited by his aunt and waiting at a hotel for his long-absent father to meet him and take custody of him.
Roger is effectively an orphan, with separated parents awaiting a father he doesn’t really know. And his father doesn’t show up at the hotel.
His father, Major Court, has made the mistake of recognizing a man who has been taken into custody as an agent. Naturally, he catches the man’s fate like a contagion and falls into custody himself.
Roger is “helped” by local officials, who are less interested in finding his father than in protecting themselves. Roger is in no position to figure out who to trust — the sympathetic Commissioner, the doctor he meets who greets him with “an air of gentle kindliness,” or Roberto, a waiter with connections and street-sense.
The story wasn’t finished by Greene. Like No Man’s Land, it is a film treatment, but unlike it, The Stranger’s Hand was actually filmed and released as a movie, with an ending written by Guy Elmes. A summary of the ending is appended to Greene’s story, giving it a film-worthy conclusion (even if you may find it a little too film-worthy).
Kind of obviously, these are not among Greene’s best stories. There’s no lost, undiscovered The Power and the Glory or The Quiet American here. I wanted to read them because I’ve read all of Greene’s other novels and stories, and I wanted to get complete.
But they are good Greene stories, entertaining, and with that quality he has of playing human nature and human tensions out within larger historical tensions and significance.
Both are, like The Third Man, cold war stories, written against the backdrop of divided Europe, with borders drawn around and dropped over people by powers they had no part in making. There is a feeling of layers — the people of the cities and territory, their occupiers and police forces, and the embedded culture of agents, spies, and smugglers.
In No Man’s Land, Catholics regularly undertake a pilgrimage to a cave near the town of Ilsenhof in the predominantly Protestant Harz region of Northern Germany, with Ilsenhof itself falling within the Russian Zone of occupation. The Russians are interested in recently discovered uranium deposits. Americans and British are interested in the Russians’ interest in the uranium deposits. Boundaries are everywhere, crossings are watched and violated, and no one is exactly who they say they are.
The context is perfect for a story about trust, or as Greene says, “the crime of trust.”
The story in No Man’s Land is told to the narrator, Redburn, by “Richard Brown.” Redburn spots Brown immediately as not who he appears to be and gradually gets in a position of trust for Brown to tell him his story. Brown recounts what he has done and what has happened to him.
Brown’s mission was to retrieve a small bit of microfilm hidden away inside the Russian zone. Redburn isn’t the only one who has realized that Brown isn’t who he says he is. Brown got himself captured, and that could have been that.
But the two factors in the story — the jumble of loyalties within an occupation zone and the currents of trust and distrust — work in Brown’s favor. We know, of course, that Brown is safe, since he’s telling the story.
The interplay of trust and loyalty involves at its core Brown, his captor, Starhov, and Starhov’s mistress Clara. These are all people, in personal relationships and on their own sides of a Cold War, with uranium at stake. It’s almost a chess game, but the pieces are playing themselves.
This is one of Greene’s great strengths, I think, throughout his writings. He places relatively ordinary people in the midst of historical circumstances and tensions, and lets their completely ordinary emotions and personalities play through it. There’s no super-dramatic heroism, no super-dramatic failures, just the playing out of human lives through circumstances bigger than they are.
The Stranger’s Hand shares atmosphere with No Man’s Land. We are in Venice now, also in the tense, struggling post-war world. And in the middle of it, there is a young boy, Roger Court, deposited by his aunt and waiting at a hotel for his long-absent father to meet him and take custody of him.
Roger is effectively an orphan, with separated parents awaiting a father he doesn’t really know. And his father doesn’t show up at the hotel.
His father, Major Court, has made the mistake of recognizing a man who has been taken into custody as an agent. Naturally, he catches the man’s fate like a contagion and falls into custody himself.
Roger is “helped” by local officials, who are less interested in finding his father than in protecting themselves. Roger is in no position to figure out who to trust — the sympathetic Commissioner, the doctor he meets who greets him with “an air of gentle kindliness,” or Roberto, a waiter with connections and street-sense.
The story wasn’t finished by Greene. Like No Man’s Land, it is a film treatment, but unlike it, The Stranger’s Hand was actually filmed and released as a movie, with an ending written by Guy Elmes. A summary of the ending is appended to Greene’s story, giving it a film-worthy conclusion (even if you may find it a little too film-worthy).
Kind of obviously, these are not among Greene’s best stories. There’s no lost, undiscovered The Power and the Glory or The Quiet American here. I wanted to read them because I’ve read all of Greene’s other novels and stories, and I wanted to get complete.
But they are good Greene stories, entertaining, and with that quality he has of playing human nature and human tensions out within larger historical tensions and significance.
March 5, 2009
I thought I'd already read everything written by Graham Greene, but I recently stumbled across this book at the local library. This is a collection that includes two film treatments written by Greene in the mid-1940s (I belive), but both read like novellas. The first, "No Man's Land," is a typically good Greene take on a morally conflicted man--this one working as a spy, who gets caught in the Russian zone following the end of WW II. As with most of Greene's writing, it's perfectly terse and emotionally observant. The second story is about a young child who becomes stranded in Venice when his father fails to meet him there. Greene abandoned this treatment about two-thirds of the way through, and it was finished by someone else, so it's disappointing. In any event, this collection will be of intereste to Greene fans, but may be of limited interest to others who have many other Greene books to choose from.
June 16, 2015
گراهام گرین یکی از نویسندگانی ست که در زبان فارسی از لحاظ شرایط و مترجم گرفتار بدشانسی شده و آن گونه که شایسته اش بوده، به خواننده ی فارسی زبان معرفی نشده. به عنوان مثا�� دو اثرش "مرد دهم" و "وزارت ترس" با نثر سنگین مترجم صاحب نامی چون پرویز داریوش به فارسی برگردانده شده که از زبان گراهام گرین فاصله ی بسیار دارد. برای شناخت شخصیت و آثار گراهام گرین، "مردی دیگر" اثر "ماری فرانسواز آلن"، توصیفی ست چند بعدی و گویا؛ مصاحبه ای روان شناختی در شناساندن نویسنده ای پیچیده و افسونگر. گویا این کتاب را خانم فرزانه ی طاهری به فارسی برگردانده. این برگردان را ندیده ام اما خواندن توام با دقت کتاب را به علاقمندان توصیه می کنم.
August 6, 2012
Not worth reading.
The cover says “a reliable edition of these two little-known texts” - they are probably unknown because they are not that good. The stories are under developed and the writing (compared to works such as The Power and the Glory) is weak.
Is it a coincidence that this book was published after the author’s death?
The cover says “a reliable edition of these two little-known texts” - they are probably unknown because they are not that good. The stories are under developed and the writing (compared to works such as The Power and the Glory) is weak.
Is it a coincidence that this book was published after the author’s death?
July 13, 2015
As a Graham Greene fan, I was looking forward to this as one of the last of his books I haven't read. However, sometimes when books are "lost" for 40 years, sometimes they aren't meant to be found again. Even the foreword was painful to get through. Blerg.
August 16, 2015
This is a short story. Easy to read in one evening. It is not hard to follow the storyline, has suspense, and great human interest. Even if you are not a fan of spy stories this is enjoyable. If you want to try Graham Greene for the first time, try this one.
February 19, 2015
Wanting to familiarize myself a bit more with Greene, I chose this cold war novella and enjoyed it. I would like to read it again.
August 15, 2010
Enjoyable enough, but artistically a minor entry in Greene's catalog.
October 6, 2011
I was not terribly impressed.
August 31, 2012
The second story could have been one of the most engaging short stories I've ever written; the ending ruined the entire book for me.
September 23, 2013
Beautiful starts, but unfinished. If I had read the book's introduction, not only would I have gotten the usual spoilers, but I would have found out that the stories are unfinished.
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