I picked up a copy of The Confidential Agent at some point. I had read one of Graham Greene’s novels at one point, and more or less liked it, although I cannot now remember anything about it or even which one it was. Still, it seemed like a good enough book. And the subtitle is An Entertainment, and you know, entertainment, me, that’s pretty good.
It’s quite a good book, although it’s heavily atmospheric and the atmosphere is dispiriting, so I can’t say that I really enjoyed myself that much. It’s a story about fellow who comes to Britain as a confidential agent of his government. The government is losing a civil war; it’s Spain (and 1939) but the book never specifies the country. Our hero, D., is given the task of contracting with English coal mining companies for coal. The Fascists have also sent an agent, L. The collapsing government is portrayed as being riddled with traitors and utterly incompetent; D. has no particular expertise or talent as an agent, and he is entirely thwarted in his aim. The mine owners contract with L., instead, but break the contract when D. inadvertently makes the deal notorious. In the end, neither side gets the British coal. Not only is that bad for D. and his side in the war, but it’s bad for the miners; Mr. Greene takes us to the pit town and shows us the brief hope of the locals that someone, anyone, will buy their coal, just so we can’t be at all happy with the ending.
Oh, and there’s a love story.
Anyway, one of the interesting things about the book is that D. is not a spy. Neither side is interested in spying on England; nobody in England has any secrets that will help either side in Spain (or the unnamed home country). Both sides have sent confidential agents to engage in confidential business, as the British government had not taken sides, and for British coal to supply either side would create an international incident if it were known. For all that there are crosses and double-crosses, disguises and secrets and mistrust and shooting, what D. wants is to take business away from his rival, and L. just wants to take the business away from him. Mr. Greene is making an interesting point about modern war, probably not original but powerfully made. Follow the money. Follow the energy. The supplies of coal and oil and gas and electricity are vastly more important than the supplies of bravery and integrity and strength and resolve, and that makes for pretty shabby war stories.
Tolerabimus quod tolerare debemus,
-Vardibidian.