The Quiet American Background Research Paper

The Quiet American Research Task

History of Graham Greene and The Quiet American

Centered on a common theme of politics and twentieth century moral dilemmas, Graham Greene’s work as an English writer, playwright and literary critic is famed for coalescing ‘serious literary acclaim with widespread popularity’. Greene often chooses to emphasise Catholic religious beliefs, as evident in Brighton Rock and The Heart of the Matter. His writing style and personal life were both markedly affected by the bipolar disorder that lived with him since early childhood; as a result, he spent much of his life under the torment of his peers, leading him to years of battling serious levels of depression and several suicide attempts. Despite the worst, Greene eventually graduated from Oxford University before working as a journalist for the Nottingham Journal and The Times; it was during his work with The Times that Greene was inspired to write The Quiet American, a novel drawing upon the life of a young British journalist during the French Indo-Chinese war of the 1950s. In October 1951, Greene was travelling between Saigon and the Ben Tre province, during which time he was accompanied by an American aid worker who ‘lectured him about finding a “third force in Vietnam”’; these series of events eventually culminated in The Quiet American. It was also interesting to note that Greene’s novel was received poorly by the United States, with the press describing the work as an inaccurate portrayal of the American way – this was particularly accentuated by the detonation of a car bomb amidst a crowd of civilians. It may be quite possible, however, that the cynicism was brought about by inherent hatred for the ‘middle-class English snob like Thomas Fowler, whom (the Americans) were all too ready to identify with Greene himself’. The novel’s draconian spin on American foreign policy prevented its film adaptation from being released during the delicate times of the September 11 attacks. Graham Greene later died of leukaemia aged 86.

French occupation of Indo-China

The novel takes place during the late years of France’s occupation of Vietnam during the Indochina war of the 1950s. In an effort to gain independence, Vietnamese nationalists pushed for the first Indochina war to rid the province’s French presence in 1946. It was four years later that the United States worried for the supremacy of democracy, anticipating an imminent outbreak of communism if intervention did not occur. After another four years, at which point the French had now fled the confrontation, the Americans now became physically involved in the Indochinese war; the situation in Vietnam had stalled, with the American intervention doing little for their cause. In spite of the increase in military funding towards the Indochinese operation, the predicament only escalated before culminating in the Vietnam War during the 1960s. The lead up to the Indochinese war involved tumult dating back to the 15th century with Vietnamese efforts for independence. In 1861, French involvement commenced with a forceful occupation of Saigon. The Second World War proceeded with Japan receiving permission from the French to ‘assume effective control of French Indochina’. The Vietminh, a communist national independence coalition, had initially formed to ‘seek independence for Vietnam from the French Empire’; failed attempts to negotiate agreements between the Vietminh and the French propagated throughout Vietnam, resulting in the French party declaring war against the communist coalition – the first Indochinese war, and the period in which we find The Quiet American.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Lunn, Hugh. Vietnam: A Reporter 's War. St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland, 1993.

2. Lawrence, Mark Atwood. Assuming the Burden: Europe and the American Commitment to War in Vietnam. Berkeley: University of California, 2005.

3. Tonnesson, Stein. Vietnam 1946: How the War Began. Berkeley: University of California, 2010.

4. Davidson, Phillip B. Vietnam at War: The History, 1946-1975. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1988.

5. Alpha History 2012, Alpha History Pty Ltd., accessed 24 June 2013, <http://alphahistory.com/vietnam/first-indochina-war/>

6. Australians for Reconciliation in Syria 2012, Wordpress.com, accessed 24 June 2013, <http://australiasforreconcilisationinsyria.wordpress.com/1-third-force/>

7. George Marotous ed., Melbourne High School English Faculty, accessed 24 June 2013, <http://resources.mhs.vic.edu.au/quietamerican/>

8. Amazon 2013, Amazon.com, accessed 24 June 2013, < http://www.amazon.com/Graham-Greene/e/B000APVBKI>

9. John Simkin 2013, Spartacus Educational, accessed 24 June 2013 <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWvietnam.htm>

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[ 1 ]. http://www.amazon.com/Graham-Greene/e/B000APVBKI | 24/6/13 @ 6:22pm
[ 2 ]. http://australiasforreconcilisationinsyria.wordpress.com/1-third-force/ | 24/6/13 @ 6:33pm
[ 3 ]. The Quiet American by Joe Nordgren
[ 4 ]. http://resources.mhs.vic.edu.au/quietamerican/ | 24/6/13 @ 7:44pm
[ 5 ]. Ibid
[ 6 ]. Ibid
[ 7 ]. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWvietnam.htm | 24/6/13 @ 8:12pm

Bibliography: 1. Lunn, Hugh. Vietnam: A Reporter 's War. St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland, 1993. 2. Lawrence, Mark Atwood. Assuming the Burden: Europe and the American Commitment to War in Vietnam. Berkeley: University of California, 2005.  3 4. Davidson, Phillip B. Vietnam at War: The History, 1946-1975. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1988.