Graham Greene made an immense contribution to the twentieth century in the form of work which included novels, short stories, essays, plays, biographical works, children’s writing and travel books. He was a prolific writer, as you can see from the list of published books in the front of the novel. He was also well respected by his peers and critics alike and his work endures today.

The Quiet American is a text that strikes a chord with Australian readers in its setting in Vietnam, at a time that was not long before Australia became involved in yet another of the armed struggles that were predominant in South East Asia for much of the twentieth century. Many students may have older relatives who were personally involved in the latter stages of this conflict.

The text is also of interest to students of history and politics due to the references to the dying stages of French colonialism in the region and the emergence of the United States into a role that has been described by some as being neo-colonialist.

This text by Graham Greene has made regular appearances on the list for study in English and it has proved in the past to be very successful. This year it is among the most popular texts chosen by schools.

The novel was first published in 1955 and in some ways it can be seen as being prophetic in foretelling the potential dangers for the United States and their allies in getting involved in the Vietnamese conflict which started as a war of independence and then became a civil war.

Despite the early warning signs that this was not a wise move, history shows that the Americans went ahead and it was only after massive loss of life and widespread destruction, that would take decades to recover from, that they were eventually forced to try to withdraw into a ‘peace with honour’ and the Vietnamese were then able to create their own political system in a reunified country.

How many of history’s lessons have been learned is a moot point at present, given the current situation in Iraq that many commentators have likened to what happened in Vietnam a few decades earlier?

Greene himself commented on his own writing in his autobiographical work, Ways Of Escape, and he had noted about The Quiet American: “Perhaps there is more direct rapportage in The Quiet American than in any other novel I have written … I was in the dive bomber (the pilot had broken an order of General De Lattre by taking me) which attacked the Viet Minh post and I was on the patrol of the Foreign Legion paras outside Phat Diem.

I still retain the sharp image of the dead child couched in the ditch beside his dead mother. The very neatness of their bullet wounds made their death more disturbing than the indiscriminate massacre in the canals around.” Comments such as these lend an air of veracity and authority to the writing.

Many students might be tempted to make use of the recent film version of the text. This is a very useful accessory to the study of the text and can assist visualising the people and places seen in the text.

It is interesting to note that some of the settings are in fact in Saigon, such as the bomb explosion outside the Opera House, at the Continental Hotel and some of the street scenes, while the river scenes and Fowler’s flat are shot in Hoi An in south central Vietnam. This is because of the more traditional scenery to be seen – modern day buildings that line the river these days would not have the same historical feel.

Students need to be very cautious in the way that the film is used. While the film is an excellent text in its own right, there are significant differences in the film compared to the novel and students must be very aware that any work done in the coursework or in the exam has to be based on the print version, not the film.

The summary notes for The Quiet American cover the following key aspects from the text in detail:

• Genre
• Structure
• Historical Issues
• Style
• Background Notes
• Summary
• Character Profiles
• Themes and Issues
• Sample Examination Questions
• Final Examination Tips
  
  

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