The Tenth Man by Graham Greene

The Tenth Man by Graham Greene is little more than a novella. Greene hardly remembered the manuscript (which was rediscovered in the early 1980s) and had thought it little more than a couple of pages long. He was somewhat surprised by discovering it was actually 'a complete short novel of thirty thousand words'. It had been written as a scenario for a film when he was under contract to MGM in the 1940s and had subsequently been forgotten by everyone including its author.

Despite being intended as a suggested film, the writing of it is as professional and polished as anything else by Greene; he said he prefered it to his much better known short work The Third Man which was of course filmed. It begins with an appalling proposition and follows the equally appalling emotional aftershocks through to their conclusion.

Towards the end of the war a wealthy lawyer called Chavel and an poor man Janvier are incarcerated by the Nazis in occupied France. The French resistance have killed a military governor and a German sergeant. As punishment the Germans intended to decimate the prisoners: to literally kill one in ten. To make it worse the prisoners themselves must decide who among them is to die. After much arguing they draw straws. Chavel is one of those selected to die and he can't bear it:

I'll give you everything I've got,' Chavel said, his voice breaking with despair, 'money, land, everything ...

And so Janvier steps forward and offers to take his place. Chavel signs all his worldly good over to Janvier and gets to keep his life. Janvier makes a will leaving all his worldly goods, once Chavel's, to his sister and mother.

The second section of the book opens after the war. Chavel, alive but poor, is drawn back to his family home. He can't keep away. There are many vagrants looking for work after the war. Why shouldn't he seek work with Janvier's family. Under an assumed name he finds himself in the midst of the misery he has helped cause, with bereaved mother and sister who would rather have remained poor and have Janvier return to them. Chavel finds himself becoming attached not just to the house but also to the sister but she hates the very name Chavel. She is eaten up with anger for the man who bought his life at the expense of her brother.

The remainder is played out with several unexpected twists and with all the looking at the heart of the matter than you might expect from Greene. It would have made for a very interesting film had it been made in the 1940s as its concerns are very fixed in that time.

I love Greene's novels. Their emotional introspection are like no others, and they make wonderful films of psychological depth. My favourite is probably The Fallen Idol (Ralph Richardson), a wonderful thriller about a boy who thinks he observes a murder*. It is sad that The Tenth Man did not capture someone's attention at MGM. It is presented in this edition with an explanatory introduction by Greene as well as two other brief outlines of films he wrote for MGM: Jim Braddon and the War Criminal and Nobody to Blame. Altogether this is a fascinating tome.

*Originally a short story under another title The Third Man and the Fallen Idol it is now in an edition by Vintage.

Comments

[Carola Huttmann]

Thanks for this, Catherine. I'm also a huge fan of Grahm Greene's work. You've just reminded me to go and seek out a copy of this book. I've been meaning to ever since Vintage brought it out a year ago :)

[Lucy]

Perhaps its the fact that I'm drawn towards anything to do with history/France but this sounds a great offering from Graeme Greene. I have just added it to my wishlist..

Brighton Rock left me a little cold, and since its somewhat of a classic I was a bit disappointed as it did nothing for me so hopefully I can rekindle a bit of love with this!

xx

[Juxtabook]

Carola - I didn't link to the Vintage version as I was not sure that it had all the extras that this hardback one does. Do let us know if it does and I'll add the link as it's cheaper.

Lucy - it is a simple book, no side plots, or anything complicated, written as it was as a film outline. But it is vintage Greene nonetheless.

[Teresa]

I consider myself a fan of Graham Greene, but when I think about it, I've only read two of his many books. They were good ones--Power and the Glory and The Heart of the Matter--but as prolific as he is and as much as I enjoyed those two, I ought to make an effort to try more!

[Carola Huttmann]

Catherine ~ It didn't occur to me to think about the 'extras' the hardback might include which the newer Vintage edition doesn't. I should have, of course. I happened to be in the library yesterday afternoon and found they had a copy of the edition you reviewed here. I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it over the next few days. I'm not sure now whether I'll end up buying my own copy of the novel, but will let you know if I do invest in the Vintage edition.

[Juxtabook]

Teresa - Power and the Glory is one I have not read - I must do so.

Carola - either way I hope you enjoy it!