The Quiet American (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Graham Greene
- First Published: 1955
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Tragedy
- Time of Work: Early 1950’s
- Setting: Vietnam
- Principal Characters: Thomas Fowler, Alden Pyle, Phuong, Vigot
- Genres: Long fiction, Existential literature, Political fiction
- Subjects: 1950’s, Journalism or journalists, Murder or homicide, War, Death or dying, Assassination, Mysteries, Terrorism or terrorists, Espionage or spies, Intelligence service, Vietnam or Vietnamese people
- Locales: Saigon, Vietnam
The Story:
Alden Pyle, an American undercover agent, was found murdered in French Saigon. In the early 1950’s, the French still controlled Vietnam as a colony, but they were losing control of the country to the Communist revolutionaries. Pyle had come to investigate conditions and had befriended an English newspaper correspondent, Thomas Fowler. Vigot, the French police chief, ordered Fowler and his former mistress, Phuong, to his office for questioning. Fowler was under suspicion because he was one of the last people to have seen Pyle alive, and Pyle took Phuong away from...
[The entire page is 2124 words long]
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