Episode Details

Graham Greene’s novel The Quiet American is set in Vietnam in the 1950s – the French are trying to hold on to colonial power and are supporting the south in its struggle against a communist insurgency in the north. America is not yet involved militarily but is taking an interest. The novel tells the story of an American agent called Pyle who is supplying advice and explosives to a shadowy group who he believes can provide a “Third Way” for the country. Pyle meets a British journalist, Fowler, and it is through Fowler’s eyes that the story unfolds. His voice is to a large extent Greene’s voice – jaded, cynical and weary, but he retains the capacity for love and hope. He has a beautiful Vietnamese girlfriend called Phoung, who the idealistic Pyle falls in love with. How does this triangle play out? Who is Pyle really and what is he trying to achieve? Why doesn’t Fowler want to go home? And how does Greene’s Catholicism play out in the entangled lives of these three characters? Join Charlie and Rupert as they discuss this most subtle and nuanced of novels by one of the masters of 20th century British fiction.