The Confidential Agent

The Confidential Agent by Graham Greene
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In the Introduction to the book Graham Greene mentions, that he wrote it only for money while his main project at this time was The Power and the Glory.
To increase productivity he wrote the book in rented flat and under influence of Benzedrine.
The effect was obvious, he managed to write 2,000 words a day while his normal output was 500 words. Benzedrine took its toll. Late afternoon he returned home feeling very tired and smallest thing could upset him. He feels that in long term it was a main factor in his marriage breakdown.
But then, a next day came, he took a morning pill, sat in front of the blank page and the words started flowing on the paper.
The final effect? Graham Greene was so disappointed with the book, that his first idea was to publish it under different name.
My judgement is quite opposite, I prefer The Confidential Agent over The Power and the Glory.
The book was written in 1939, aftermath of the Spanish civil war. Graham Greene mentions, that the Munich Agreement of 1937 was also affecting his thoughts.
The book - Mr D. an agent of a revolutionary government of the country in the state of civil war comes to England to buy coal, which is essential to his government survival. From the very start he is plagued with innumerable misfortunes, troubles and oppression. Some imaginary, some real.
He reaches London where he meets his local contact and realizes, that nobody trusts him and that he cannot trust even people nominally representing his government.
Finally he arrives at the meeting with coal mines board of directors, negotiates a feasible deal and then discovers, that somehow his credentials disappeared, have been stolen. The contract is taken over by anti-government opposition.
This is too much, he converts into a hunter thirsty for blood of his oppressors. His hunt turns into a comedy of errors. He resigns and resorts to the last resort - meet coal miners' trade union and appeal to their solidarity with working class of his country.
The result is predictable.
And then, when everything failed, he is miraculously rescued.
I think, that the effects of Benzedrine are obvious - enormous density of actions and counteractions and the miraculous ending. On the other hand I liked the book, main reason was the main character fighting and ready for an ultimate sacrifice for a cause which is alien to him.

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