The Comedians

Rating:
Summary: Vintage Graham Greene
Review: For those of us who have spent a lifetime reading the works of Graham Greene (which we can do because he spent an even longer lifetime producing brilliant work), of this we are certain: Graham Greene is the greatest writer in the English language maybe of the entire Twentieth Century. His body of work is staggering, and "The Comedians" is right up there with the best of them. Expertly weaving the dread and menace of Haiti under Papa Doc with the intimate, personal lives of a classic collection of displaced European and American characters, Greene does what he always does: he makes the personal political, and vice versa. "The Comedians" is sublime.

Rating:
Summary: Three white men in insane, poor, unlucky Haiti
Review: Graham Greene's "The Comedians" is not as well-known as "Our man in Havana" or "The quiet American", but it happened to be my first Greene novel. And I am very impressed, and happy to have started reading Greene. The Comedian is a mature, disconcerting, memorable novel.

The novel is set in Haiti, in the early years of the dictator Duvalier, known as Papa Doc (late 1950s or early 1960s). Papa Doc, come to power through elections but tightening his grip through terror, has unleashed his reign of violence, through his militia-like "Tontons Mocoute", named so after voodoo-myth bogeymen. A land that was poor and moderately corrupt but in many ways happy, is gradually sunk into its own unique brand of hell.

Greene treats us to his description of Haiti through the eyes of several White people, and the lead narrator Brown's black local friends. There is hopelessness and gloom hanging over every character, an apt reflection of the tragedy of Haiti herself.

The narrator is Mr. Brown, a former small-time con artist who happened to inherit a hotel in Port-au-Prince, and thinks of Haiti now as his home and future. We learn of his story as he tries to leave, fails psychologically, returns, is caught up in a destructive affair with the wife of a Latin American diplomat, and keeps getting involved in the violence and madness of Haiti, even though he tries to stay detached. The name of the novel comes from his fatalistic philosophy of life --- that we are all just actors in the perverse comedy of life. Brown's memories and actions form much of the book, and his portrait is excellently done.

In the end Brown has to flee Haiti, as his friends die and Papa Doc's power gets more secure with American support. Ahh, Washington support for murderous dictators. My country, too, has seen some of that, as has the majority of Third World nations. Bulwarks against dangerous socialist ideas, these dictators supposedly were, just like Papa Doc, and hence deserving of friendship.

The Smiths are progressive idealists from the American Midwest, saintly people quite out of touch with reality. The caricature is a bit overdone, but yes, people from the American Midwest can be like that :-) They come to Haiti with high hopes of establishing a "vegetarian" cultural center that would improve the quality of local life. Unable to deal with the corruption, they leave. In some ways their attempts and experiences are almost as tragic as the story of Haitians themselves.

Jones is a con-man who can make people laugh but cannot pull off his deceptions. In a perverse twist that makes him heroic, Jones dies fighting with the Haitian insurgents.

The Haitian characters are more impressive than the White ones, and this is a testament to the genius of Greenes's writing, his empathy for all humans shining through the subdued/ironic tone of his novels. Some of these characters are --

(1) Joseph, the bartender at Brown's hotel, who is crippled after being tortured by the Tontons Mocoute, who subscribes to the ignorant voodoo ideas of his people, who joins the uprising after being possessed by the voodoo warrior spirit. In the end he dies fighting.

(2) The doctor with socialistic leanings, enormously learned, first tolerated and finally killed by Papa Doc.

(3) Philippot the former minister who commits suicide in Brown's swimming pool, and his nephew, the poet who seeks solace and courage in his people's voodoo, and then leads a hopeless uprising.

(4) A Tonton Mocoute Captain, a character shown too closely, murderous and frightening.

Graham Greene doesn't try to shock with dramatized writing. The writing is simple and understated. Reality in the Third World just happens to be scarier and more shocking than any atmosphere conjured up by fancy writing.

A most impressive and memorable part of the book, for me, was the description of the voodoo ceremony. It's such a vivid, personal account, that I couldn't help feeling that the author must have witnessed something similar, first-hand.

The drums beat. The initiates have their arms burnt. The "ogoun" (ceremony-leader) rejects the sweet spirit of lovers, and calls for the spirit who watches over warriors. And he comes, taking possession over Joseph the cripple, who swings a machette running and pours alcohol down the throat of young Phillipot.

The story of voodoo is, of course, integral to any history of Haiti. Papa Doc used voodoo superstitions to consolidate his own power, but just as importantly, the resistance used voodoo ideas for inspiration. Later, Papa's son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier was also a U.S.-backed dictator, but unlike his father showed clear preferences for mulatto & Catholic culture at the expense of black and Africanist culture. Voodoo at that point became more exclusively an inspiration for the people rather than the rulers.

An excellent novel, understated but emotionally exhausting, disturbing in its quiet description of brutal injustices.

Rating:
Summary: Three white men in insane, poor, unlucky Haiti
Review: Graham Greene's "The Comedians" is not as well-known as "Our man in Havana" or "The quiet American", but it happened to be my first Greene novel. And I am very impressed, and happy to have started reading Greene. The Comedian is a mature, disconcerting, memorable novel.

The novel is set in Haiti, in the early years of the dictator Duvalier, known as Papa Doc (late 1950s or early 1960s). Papa Doc, come to power through elections but tightening his grip through terror, has unleashed his reign of violence, through his militia-like "Tontons Mocoute", named so after voodoo-myth bogeymen. A land that was poor and moderately corrupt but in many ways happy, is gradually sunk into its own unique brand of hell.

Greene treats us to his description of Haiti through the eyes of several White people, and the lead narrator Brown's black local friends. There is hopelessness and gloom hanging over every character, an apt reflection of the tragedy of Haiti herself.

The narrator is Mr. Brown, a former small-time con artist who happened to inherit a hotel in Port-au-Prince, and thinks of Haiti now as his home and future. We learn of his story as he tries to leave, fails psychologically, returns, is caught up in a destructive affair with the wife of a Latin American diplomat, and keeps getting involved in the violence and madness of Haiti, even though he tries to stay detached. The name of the novel comes from his fatalistic philosophy of life --- that we are all just actors in the perverse comedy of life. Brown's memories and actions form much of the book, and his portrait is excellently done.

In the end Brown has to flee Haiti, as his friends die and Papa Doc's power gets more secure with American support. Ahh, Washington support for murderous dictators. My country, too, has seen some of that, as has the majority of Third World nations. Bulwarks against dangerous socialist ideas, these dictators supposedly were, just like Papa Doc, and hence deserving of friendship.

The Smiths are progressive idealists from the American Midwest, saintly people quite out of touch with reality. The caricature is a bit overdone, but yes, people from the American Midwest can be like that :-) They come to Haiti with high hopes of establishing a "vegetarian" cultural center that would improve the quality of local life. Unable to deal with the corruption, they leave. In some ways their attempts and experiences are almost as tragic as the story of Haitians themselves.

Jones is a con-man who can make people laugh but cannot pull off his deceptions. In a perverse twist that makes him heroic, Jones dies fighting with the Haitian insurgents.

The Haitian characters are more impressive than the White ones, and this is a testament to the genius of Greenes's writing, his empathy for all humans shining through the subdued/ironic tone of his novels. Some of these characters are --

(1) Joseph, the bartender at Brown's hotel, who is crippled after being tortured by the Tontons Mocoute, who subscribes to the ignorant voodoo ideas of his people, who joins the uprising after being possessed by the voodoo warrior spirit. In the end he dies fighting.

(2) The doctor with socialistic leanings, enormously learned, first tolerated and finally killed by Papa Doc.

(3) Philippot the former minister who commits suicide in Brown's swimming pool, and his nephew, the poet who seeks solace and courage in his people's voodoo, and then leads a hopeless uprising.

(4) A Tonton Mocoute Captain, a character shown too closely, murderous and frightening.

Graham Greene doesn't try to shock with dramatized writing. The writing is simple and understated. Reality in the Third World just happens to be scarier and more shocking than any atmosphere conjured up by fancy writing.

A most impressive and memorable part of the book, for me, was the description of the voodoo ceremony. It's such a vivid, personal account, that I couldn't help feeling that the author must have witnessed something similar, first-hand.

The drums beat. The initiates have their arms burnt. The "ogoun" (ceremony-leader) rejects the sweet spirit of lovers, and calls for the spirit who watches over warriors. And he comes, taking possession over Joseph the cripple, who swings a machette running and pours alcohol down the throat of young Phillipot.

The story of voodoo is, of course, integral to any history of Haiti. Papa Doc used voodoo superstitions to consolidate his own power, but just as importantly, the resistance used voodoo ideas for inspiration. Later, Papa's son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier was also a U.S.-backed dictator, but unlike his father showed clear preferences for mulatto & Catholic culture at the expense of black and Africanist culture. Voodoo at that point became more exclusively an inspiration for the people rather than the rulers.

An excellent novel, understated but emotionally exhausting, disturbing in its quiet description of brutal injustices.

Rating:
Summary: Three white men in insane, poor, unlucky Haiti
Review: Graham Greene's "The Comedians" is not as well-known as "Our man in Havana" or "The quiet American", but it happened to be my first Greene novel. And I am very impressed, and happy to have started reading Greene. The Comedian is a mature, disconcerting, memorable novel.

The novel is set in Haiti, in the early years of the dictator Duvalier, known as Papa Doc (late 1950s or early 1960s). Papa Doc, come to power through elections but tightening his grip through terror, has unleashed his reign of violence, through his militia-like "Tontons Mocoute", named so after voodoo-myth bogeymen. A land that was poor and moderately corrupt but in many ways happy, is gradually sunk into its own unique brand of hell.

Greene treats us to his description of Haiti through the eyes of several White people, and the lead narrator Brown's black local friends. There is hopelessness and gloom hanging over every character, an apt reflection of the tragedy of Haiti herself.

The narrator is Mr. Brown, a former small-time con artist who happened to inherit a hotel in Port-au-Prince, and thinks of Haiti now as his home and future. We learn of his story as he tries to leave, fails psychologically, returns, is caught up in a destructive affair with the wife of a Latin American diplomat, and keeps getting involved in the violence and madness of Haiti, even though he tries to stay detached. The name of the novel comes from his fatalistic philosophy of life --- that we are all just actors in the perverse comedy of life. Brown's memories and actions form much of the book, and his portrait is excellently done.

In the end Brown has to flee Haiti, as his friends die and Papa Doc's power gets more secure with American support. Ahh, Washington support for murderous dictators. My country, too, has seen some of that, as has the majority of Third World nations. Bulwarks against dangerous socialist ideas, these dictators supposedly were, just like Papa Doc, and hence deserving of friendship.

The Smiths are progressive idealists from the American Midwest, saintly people quite out of touch with reality. The caricature is a bit overdone, but yes, people from the American Midwest can be like that :-) They come to Haiti with high hopes of establishing a "vegetarian" cultural center that would improve the quality of local life. Unable to deal with the corruption, they leave. In some ways their attempts and experiences are almost as tragic as the story of Haitians themselves.

Jones is a con-man who can make people laugh but cannot pull off his deceptions. In a perverse twist that makes him heroic, Jones dies fighting with the Haitian insurgents.

The Haitian characters are more impressive than the White ones, and this is a testament to the genius of Greenes's writing, his empathy for all humans shining through the subdued/ironic tone of his novels. Some of these characters are --

(1) Joseph, the bartender at Brown's hotel, who is crippled after being tortured by the Tontons Mocoute, who subscribes to the ignorant voodoo ideas of his people, who joins the uprising after being possessed by the voodoo warrior spirit. In the end he dies fighting.

(2) The doctor with socialistic leanings, enormously learned, first tolerated and finally killed by Papa Doc.

(3) Philippot the former minister who commits suicide in Brown's swimming pool, and his nephew, the poet who seeks solace and courage in his people's voodoo, and then leads a hopeless uprising.

(4) A Tonton Mocoute Captain, a character shown too closely, murderous and frightening.

Graham Greene doesn't try to shock with dramatized writing. The writing is simple and understated. Reality in the Third World just happens to be scarier and more shocking than any atmosphere conjured up by fancy writing.

A most impressive and memorable part of the book, for me, was the description of the voodoo ceremony. It's such a vivid, personal account, that I couldn't help feeling that the author must have witnessed something similar, first-hand.

The drums beat. The initiates have their arms burnt. The "ogoun" (ceremony-leader) rejects the sweet spirit of lovers, and calls for the spirit who watches over warriors. And he comes, taking possession over Joseph the cripple, who swings a machette running and pours alcohol down the throat of young Phillipot.

The story of voodoo is, of course, integral to any history of Haiti. Papa Doc used voodoo superstitions to consolidate his own power, but just as importantly, the resistance used voodoo ideas for inspiration. Later, Papa's son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier was also a U.S.-backed dictator, but unlike his father showed clear preferences for mulatto & Catholic culture at the expense of black and Africanist culture. Voodoo at that point became more exclusively an inspiration for the people rather than the rulers.

An excellent novel, understated but emotionally exhausting, disturbing in its quiet description of brutal injustices.

Rating:
Summary: High drama and human comedy in Haiti
Review: Graham Greene's forte lay in writing novels (and "entertainments") of political intrigue. I do not know if this master British novelist visited any or all of the countries about which he wrote. Mr. Greene seemed to have considerable knowledge of both the current and near recent political and societal conditions of the countries that formed the backdrop of his books. For example, in _The Comedians_ Mr. Greene shows an unusual grasp of the extreme poverty and deprivation suffered by Haitian people living under Papa Doc Duvalier's corrupt, dictatorial, and totalitarian regime as well as the extreme human rights violations and abuses of Papa Doc's sadistic secret police, the Tontons Macoute. Several characters in the book note with some irony vis-a-vis American foreign policy, that as bad as Papa Doc seems, he is at least a strong anti-Communist.

Graham Greene does something very unusual with his major caucasian characters: he gives them very common, non-descript surnames. The reader never learns their first names. The narrator of the novel, an Englishman, is merely called "Mr. Brown." He runs a financially deteriorating hotel in Haiti that he inherits from his mother. Like the author, Mr. Brown is a fallen-away Catholic. A British soldier of fortune and con artist who comes to Haiti is simply called Major Jones or just "Mr. Jones." His talents consist mainly in charming women and in telling funny jokes. An American couple, named Mr. and Mrs. Smith, come to Haiti hopefully to set up a vegetarian center. Mr. Smith ran in the 1948 U.S. presidential election on the Vegetarian Line. He is derisively referred to as "the Presidential Candidate" throughout the novel and utilizes this sobriquet as a method of influencing the Duvalier government to approve of his scheme. Graham Greene refers to all of these individuals as "comedians" because they symbolically wear actors' masks to hide their true natures and to invent persona to deceive people. Alternately, Marcel, Mr. Brown's late mother's black lover who avers that he would have died for her "...was no comedian after all. Death is a proof of sincerity."

Greene chooses to present these "comedians" as realistic, flawed human beings. They live on the fringes of life, never participating in the human adventure. But even comedians often have untapped hidden strengths that may be revealed in a crisis. Jones, the Smiths, and Brown eventually prove to be more heroic than they appear on the surface.

_The Comedians_ is one of the very best and one of the most heroic novels in Graham Greene's repertoire, and is most highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: An ambitious, compelling tragicomedy set in Papa Doc's Haiti
Review: Greene's ambitious political novel set in Haiti lacks the extraordinary intensity of earlier works such as The Power and the Glory or Brighton Rock and it has its weak points - at times it seems overschematic and artificial. But it's still a remarkable work - a subtle blending of farce and tragedy,strong and compassionate, beautifully structured and ironic. The background, conveyed with great economy of words, is very vivid. The characters, though rather familiar figures - typical inhabitants of Greeneland - are saved from caricature by Greene's compassionate intelligence. And as a study of commitment and neutrality, the novel is on a par with Greene's The Quiet American.

Rating:
Summary: Life in Papa Doc's Haiti.
Review: I have read Greene's Quiet American and Our Man in Havana. This book is just as good a read as those. Few people have read this as compared to the other two, since the setting is Haiti, the island prison of Papa and Baby Doc. The Duvaliers are gone, but the memory remains in Haiti.
I visited Haiti and Porte au Prince and found the hotel where the setting took place. In fact Graham Greene wrote his story while living in this hotel. It is a great old place owned by a family. Anybody visiting Haiti should stay there. Pictures of this place should be placed in the newer editions of this novel.
For those of you reading this piece of fiction, the Comedians is not funny. It is about people putting a mask on their true feelings, rather than display them in this island dictatorship.
The only true people were the Doctor and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and Papa Doc. They did not have to place a mask on their feelings. They were their true selves. Jones, Browne, the Minister of Social Affairs, Martha, and the Ambassador were the ones playing the Comedians in this deadly place. Their struggle in the setting of Papa Doc's Haiti is the story which you see in the Comedians.
This is a good story which is entertaining. The setting of Papa Doc's Haiti is the real thing, but the rest is fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Life in Papa Doc's Haiti.
Review: I have read Greene's Quiet American and Our Man in Havana. This book is just as good a read as those. Few people have read this as compared to the other two, since the setting is Haiti, the island prison of Papa and Baby Doc. The Duvaliers are gone, but the memory remains in Haiti.
I visited Haiti and Porte au Prince and found the hotel where the setting took place. In fact Graham Greene wrote his story while living in this hotel. It is a great old place owned by a family. Anybody visiting Haiti should stay there. Pictures of this place should be placed in the newer editions of this novel.
For those of you reading this piece of fiction, the Comedians is not funny. It is about people putting a mask on their true feelings, rather than display them in this island dictatorship.
The only true people were the Doctor and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and Papa Doc. They did not have to place a mask on their feelings. They were their true selves. Jones, Browne, the Minister of Social Affairs, Martha, and the Ambassador were the ones playing the Comedians in this deadly place. Their struggle in the setting of Papa Doc's Haiti is the story which you see in the Comedians.
This is a good story which is entertaining. The setting of Papa Doc's Haiti is the real thing, but the rest is fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Terror , malaise and indifference in a land gone mad
Review: If only Graham Greene were still alive and turning out great works like "The Comedians"! Today's shrill jumbled postmodern prose is no match for the steady understated yet vastly effective pen of Graham Greene. "The Comedians" is Greene at his near best.

The protagonist, Brown, is a man without a country who has returned from a previous exile to a hotel inherted from his distant mother in Petionville, Haiti during the reign of the monomaniacal dictator Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier. Aboard the moribund freighter to Port-Au-Prince are the Smiths (a couple of painfully earnest American vegetarian liberals who are blind to any possible problems that could exist in Haiti as a way to expiate their upper-class white guilt), and Jones, a shady British expat who tells unlikely anecdotes about his experiences in various wars and overseas diplomatic posts. As they land, their lives slowly become intertwined.

Brown's Haiti is a land in under the spell of a comedic terror. Papa Doc's militia, the Tontons Macoutes, with their sunglasses worn at night, and their rusty guns with no bullets, plunge the land into a nightmare of extortion, kidnapping, murder and chaos. Indeed, when Brown first returns to the hotel, he is confronted with the body of politician who chose to commit suicide in Brown's pool instead of being captured by the Tontons Macoutes.

Brown attempts to remain a neutral observer in the chaos going on around him, but is soon caught up in affairs when they encroach even further on his hotel. His pointless and emotionally destructive affair with the wife of a South American diplomat in Port-Au-Prince only confounds his malaise, and realizes that he, Papa Doc, the Smiths, Jones, the Tontons Macoutes, everyone - are playing the role of the comedians in the tragedy of life.

Whenever I tire of the embarassingly overpraised mush that passes for modern fiction, I always return to Graham Greene's deliberately understated (never smirking) irony and imagery. Instead of the tautologies and abused metaphors that pass for profundity in today's overly florid "serious" novels, Greene's economical, yet satisfying, imagery and wry prose are sorely missed. This isn't Greene's best work, but it's not far from it either.

Rating:
Summary: Terror , malaise and indifference in a land gone mad
Review: If only Graham Greene were still alive and turning out great works like "The Comedians"! Today's shrill jumbled postmodern prose is no match for the steady understated yet vastly effective pen of Graham Greene. "The Comedians" is Greene at his near best.

The protagonist, Brown, is a man without a country who has returned from a previous exile to a hotel inherted from his distant mother in Petionville, Haiti during the reign of the monomaniacal dictator Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier. Aboard the moribund freighter to Port-Au-Prince are the Smiths (a couple of painfully earnest American vegetarian liberals who are blind to any possible problems that could exist in Haiti as a way to expiate their upper-class white guilt), and Jones, a shady British expat who tells unlikely anecdotes about his experiences in various wars and overseas diplomatic posts. As they land, their lives slowly become intertwined.

Brown's Haiti is a land in under the spell of a comedic terror. Papa Doc's militia, the Tontons Macoutes, with their sunglasses worn at night, and their rusty guns with no bullets, plunge the land into a nightmare of extortion, kidnapping, murder and chaos. Indeed, when Brown first returns to the hotel, he is confronted with the body of politician who chose to commit suicide in Brown's pool instead of being captured by the Tontons Macoutes.

Brown attempts to remain a neutral observer in the chaos going on around him, but is soon caught up in affairs when they encroach even further on his hotel. His pointless and emotionally destructive affair with the wife of a South American diplomat in Port-Au-Prince only confounds his malaise, and realizes that he, Papa Doc, the Smiths, Jones, the Tontons Macoutes, everyone - are playing the role of the comedians in the tragedy of life.

Whenever I tire of the embarassingly overpraised mush that passes for modern fiction, I always return to Graham Greene's deliberately understated (never smirking) irony and imagery. Instead of the tautologies and abused metaphors that pass for profundity in today's overly florid "serious" novels, Greene's economical, yet satisfying, imagery and wry prose are sorely missed. This isn't Greene's best work, but it's not far from it either.