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The Human Factor (Everyman's Library)
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Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
Author: Graham Greene
Publisher: Everyman's Library
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price: $12.24
You Save: $ 5.76 ( 32% )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
Author: Graham Greene
Publisher: Everyman's Library
Average Customer Rating:
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The Human Factor (Everyman's Library) Description
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN: 9780679409922
ISBN: 0679409920
Label: Everyman's Library
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 378
Publication Date: 1992-03-10
Publisher: Everyman's Library
Product Release Date: 1992-03-10
Studio: Everyman's Library
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN: 9780679409922
ISBN: 0679409920
Label: Everyman's Library
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 378
Publication Date: 1992-03-10
Publisher: Everyman's Library
Product Release Date: 1992-03-10
Studio: Everyman's Library
Editorial Review of The Human Factor (Everyman's Library)
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
Graham Greene’s passion for moral complexity and his stylistic aplomb were perfectly suited to the cat-and mouse game of the spy novel, a genre he practically invented and to which he periodically returned while fashioning one of the twentieth century’s longest, most triumphant literary careers. Written late in his life, The Human Factor displays his gift for suspense at its most refined level, and his understanding of the physical and spiritual vulnerability of the individual at its deepest.
Graham Greene’s passion for moral complexity and his stylistic aplomb were perfectly suited to the cat-and mouse game of the spy novel, a genre he practically invented and to which he periodically returned while fashioning one of the twentieth century’s longest, most triumphant literary careers. Written late in his life, The Human Factor displays his gift for suspense at its most refined level, and his understanding of the physical and spiritual vulnerability of the individual at its deepest.
Customer Reviews of The Human Factor (Everyman's Library)
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The traitors among us.
Review: Most popular espionage novels, those written by Frederick Forsyth for example, feature intelligence agents with remarkable skills. Men and women who interact with their equally skilled enemy counterparts as if espionage and counter espionage were games of three dimensional chess and all parties involved grandmasters. The Human Factor by Graham Greene is a completely different kind of spy novel.
The smoothly written narrative of this very entertaining Cold War work concerns itself not with the intricacies of "tradecraft" or the details of information nations choose to keep secret from one another. Rather, this is a novel about flawed human beings. People whose motivations and actions are influenced by love, fear, jealousy, greed and, surprisingly often, good old fashioned stupidity. In the Cold War world depicted by Graham Greene in The Human Factor, intelligence agencies on either side of the iron curtain all have their fair share of bumblers and sometimes the bumbling leads to some tragic consequences.
The Human Factor is a well written novel about human fraility that plays out against a backdrop of international espionage. Adding to the book's overall appeal are a generous infusion of understated British wit and the author's obvious respect for the intelligence of the reader.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Late Work, But Not Too Shabby
Review: Graham Greene (1904-1991), who was one of the more illustrious British writers of the 20th century, enjoyed a very long life, and a long, prolific writing career, during which he gave us "The Power and The Glory,""The Third Man," "The End of the Affair,"and "Our Man in Havana," among many other well-known masterworks. The author, in fact, bookended the life, and writing career, of another very-well known British author of spy novels, Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, 007. Furthermore, Greene was still at work -- he published up until almost his death-- when John LeCarre, another well-known British writer of spy stories, whom he heavily influenced, was hitting his late-middle writing years. However, the LeCarre-Greene relationship might best be considered a two-way street, as "The Human Factor,"the Graham Greene book at hand, has a plot that strongly resembles those by LeCarre; and characters that aren't so different from those of the younger man, either. Be that as it may, Greene's books were very well-written, highly literate, much praised by the critics, and enjoyed a wide readership.
When Greene's rather late-career "The Human Factor" was published in 1978, it spent six months on "The New York Times" Best Seller List. This was remarkable only insofar as Greene apparently didn't much care for it, called it "a dead albatross round his neck," and threatened "to leave it in his drawer," as the writers' phrase for holding a book back from publication goes. Nevertheless, he sent a copy of the manuscript to notorious British counterspy/defector Kim Philby in Moscow: they'd been friends since Oxford days. Greene always denied that Maurice Castle, counterspy/protagonist of this novel, was based on Philby; their career arcs, however, echoed each other. (By the way, the real-life mole Philby blew the covers of many British agents secreted in the Communist bloc. John LeCarre, under his real name, David Cornwell, was one of them.)
Greene himself had first-hand spy experience. He'd been recruited to Britain's World War II Secret Service, MI5, upon Philby's recommendation, to serve in the African country of Sierra Leone. And he has set this novel in the lonely, dangerous world of the spy. "The Firm," as Greene called the Secret Service, with "C" as its Control, employs near-retirement Castle, after an undistinguished career, in the small, unimportant African bureau. Castle's brash younger colleague, Davis, is itching to get out from behind the desk, and hopes to go to Sierra Leone. Agency administrators become convinced that there's a leak in the small bureau, and Davis pays for it. But the agency fails to recognize the human factor. Castle appears settled, middle-aged, suburban. Still, he's married to a black South African woman he'd smuggled out of that country, stepfather to her black son, and has reasons to hate that juggernaut, particularly when the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States make it secret commitments.
This book was evidently quite personal to Greene. Aside from the Sierra Leone echo, he portrays Castle as living quite happily in suburban Berkhamsted, his own home town. Greene was a graduate of Balliol College, Oxford, England's famous, ancient university. He was one of the better-known Catholic converts of his time; many of his books deal with Catholic themes of guilt and redemption. He wrote a tight thriller, in a lean, realistic style, that boasted almost cinematic visuals. His spycraft was accurate, his plots sufficed. He created characters with internal lives; they faced struggles, and sometimes they despaired, or suffered world-weary cynicism, but often they prevailed. He always treated them with insight and compassion. Critics have pegged "The Human Factor" as one of Greene's late, lesser works. If he interests you, you might want to start with one of his earlier, better-known books, but this one isn't too shabby.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Review: The craftsmanship in THE HUMAN FACTOR is superb, with Greene creating a carefully balanced cast of characters whose decisions and actions regarding marriage, friendship, professional integrity, and basic morality strike rich contrasts with those of Maurice Castle, this novel's protagonist. Further, the novel contains Greene's usual deft irony, particularly in the denouement, where Greene, with just a few quick strokes, is able to show the principled actions of Castle as the equivalent of futile self-sacrifice.
For people with my middlebrow sensibilities, this craftsmanship creates the best of all worlds. That is, THE HUMAN FACTOR is both a fast-moving and intriguing narrative and a dramatization of a complex personal and professional situation. At the finish, this reader then took the time to ponder whether Castle did the right thing or if really he had any choice, given his quiet yet rock-solid integrity.
Nonetheless, Castle is a difficult protagonist to appreciate. This is because he is a dull and repressed man who is seeking a life of routine and tranquility. Oddly, this quality, not his integrity, is at the center of his character, even as the cautious Castle acts on his principles. This, in my opinion, is the single flaw in this novel: Castle seems dull, even in his moments of principled behavior and reckless choice.
Still, this is a fine novel and highly recommended.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Disappointing
Review: For what it is, and when it was written, this is not a bad book at all. However, I think by today's standards it's a bit of a let down. Personally, I was looking for something more like Forsyth, with action and plot twists as well as details about the intelligence world, and was disappointed.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Disappointing
Review: For what it is, and when it was written, this is not a bad book at all. However, I think by today's standards it's a bit of a let down. Personally, I was looking for something more like Forsyth, with action and plot twists as well as details about the intelligence world, and was disappointed.
Review Summary: The traitors among us.
Review: Most popular espionage novels, those written by Frederick Forsyth for example, feature intelligence agents with remarkable skills. Men and women who interact with their equally skilled enemy counterparts as if espionage and counter espionage were games of three dimensional chess and all parties involved grandmasters. The Human Factor by Graham Greene is a completely different kind of spy novel.
The smoothly written narrative of this very entertaining Cold War work concerns itself not with the intricacies of "tradecraft" or the details of information nations choose to keep secret from one another. Rather, this is a novel about flawed human beings. People whose motivations and actions are influenced by love, fear, jealousy, greed and, surprisingly often, good old fashioned stupidity. In the Cold War world depicted by Graham Greene in The Human Factor, intelligence agencies on either side of the iron curtain all have their fair share of bumblers and sometimes the bumbling leads to some tragic consequences.
The Human Factor is a well written novel about human fraility that plays out against a backdrop of international espionage. Adding to the book's overall appeal are a generous infusion of understated British wit and the author's obvious respect for the intelligence of the reader.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Late Work, But Not Too Shabby
Review: Graham Greene (1904-1991), who was one of the more illustrious British writers of the 20th century, enjoyed a very long life, and a long, prolific writing career, during which he gave us "The Power and The Glory,""The Third Man," "The End of the Affair,"and "Our Man in Havana," among many other well-known masterworks. The author, in fact, bookended the life, and writing career, of another very-well known British author of spy novels, Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, 007. Furthermore, Greene was still at work -- he published up until almost his death-- when John LeCarre, another well-known British writer of spy stories, whom he heavily influenced, was hitting his late-middle writing years. However, the LeCarre-Greene relationship might best be considered a two-way street, as "The Human Factor,"the Graham Greene book at hand, has a plot that strongly resembles those by LeCarre; and characters that aren't so different from those of the younger man, either. Be that as it may, Greene's books were very well-written, highly literate, much praised by the critics, and enjoyed a wide readership.
When Greene's rather late-career "The Human Factor" was published in 1978, it spent six months on "The New York Times" Best Seller List. This was remarkable only insofar as Greene apparently didn't much care for it, called it "a dead albatross round his neck," and threatened "to leave it in his drawer," as the writers' phrase for holding a book back from publication goes. Nevertheless, he sent a copy of the manuscript to notorious British counterspy/defector Kim Philby in Moscow: they'd been friends since Oxford days. Greene always denied that Maurice Castle, counterspy/protagonist of this novel, was based on Philby; their career arcs, however, echoed each other. (By the way, the real-life mole Philby blew the covers of many British agents secreted in the Communist bloc. John LeCarre, under his real name, David Cornwell, was one of them.)
Greene himself had first-hand spy experience. He'd been recruited to Britain's World War II Secret Service, MI5, upon Philby's recommendation, to serve in the African country of Sierra Leone. And he has set this novel in the lonely, dangerous world of the spy. "The Firm," as Greene called the Secret Service, with "C" as its Control, employs near-retirement Castle, after an undistinguished career, in the small, unimportant African bureau. Castle's brash younger colleague, Davis, is itching to get out from behind the desk, and hopes to go to Sierra Leone. Agency administrators become convinced that there's a leak in the small bureau, and Davis pays for it. But the agency fails to recognize the human factor. Castle appears settled, middle-aged, suburban. Still, he's married to a black South African woman he'd smuggled out of that country, stepfather to her black son, and has reasons to hate that juggernaut, particularly when the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States make it secret commitments.
This book was evidently quite personal to Greene. Aside from the Sierra Leone echo, he portrays Castle as living quite happily in suburban Berkhamsted, his own home town. Greene was a graduate of Balliol College, Oxford, England's famous, ancient university. He was one of the better-known Catholic converts of his time; many of his books deal with Catholic themes of guilt and redemption. He wrote a tight thriller, in a lean, realistic style, that boasted almost cinematic visuals. His spycraft was accurate, his plots sufficed. He created characters with internal lives; they faced struggles, and sometimes they despaired, or suffered world-weary cynicism, but often they prevailed. He always treated them with insight and compassion. Critics have pegged "The Human Factor" as one of Greene's late, lesser works. If he interests you, you might want to start with one of his earlier, better-known books, but this one isn't too shabby.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Review: The craftsmanship in THE HUMAN FACTOR is superb, with Greene creating a carefully balanced cast of characters whose decisions and actions regarding marriage, friendship, professional integrity, and basic morality strike rich contrasts with those of Maurice Castle, this novel's protagonist. Further, the novel contains Greene's usual deft irony, particularly in the denouement, where Greene, with just a few quick strokes, is able to show the principled actions of Castle as the equivalent of futile self-sacrifice.
For people with my middlebrow sensibilities, this craftsmanship creates the best of all worlds. That is, THE HUMAN FACTOR is both a fast-moving and intriguing narrative and a dramatization of a complex personal and professional situation. At the finish, this reader then took the time to ponder whether Castle did the right thing or if really he had any choice, given his quiet yet rock-solid integrity.
Nonetheless, Castle is a difficult protagonist to appreciate. This is because he is a dull and repressed man who is seeking a life of routine and tranquility. Oddly, this quality, not his integrity, is at the center of his character, even as the cautious Castle acts on his principles. This, in my opinion, is the single flaw in this novel: Castle seems dull, even in his moments of principled behavior and reckless choice.
Still, this is a fine novel and highly recommended.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Disappointing
Review: For what it is, and when it was written, this is not a bad book at all. However, I think by today's standards it's a bit of a let down. Personally, I was looking for something more like Forsyth, with action and plot twists as well as details about the intelligence world, and was disappointed.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Disappointing
Review: For what it is, and when it was written, this is not a bad book at all. However, I think by today's standards it's a bit of a let down. Personally, I was looking for something more like Forsyth, with action and plot twists as well as details about the intelligence world, and was disappointed.