How Brighton Rock differs from Greene's other "catholic" novels

Yes the end of Brighton Rock (Graham Greene, 1938) is melodramatic (a suicide pact, which one of the characters - no spoilers here - fails to keep) and yes the idea of a 40-something, fun-loving woman (Ida) could take it on herself to investigate a mob killing and could unravel the whole matter is beyond ridiculous, but all quibbles aside this is a pretty great novel - an entertaining plot (it was no surprise to me to read in Coetze's smart intro to the Penguin 2004 Graham centennial edition that GG had originally embarked on BR as a screenplay), some really fine writing - esp the descriptions of the tawdry, tacky South Coast of England seaside resorts - and strong and unusual characters engaged in a great conflict of good v. evil (from the theological point of view, which GG keeps to the forefront throughout) or right v wrong (as Coetze notes, that's the world view of Ida - whereas the two main characters, embroiled in evil, are self-defined devout Roman Catholics, Ida follows "false idols," such as the ouija board). I particularly admire how GG handled the matter of the vile and blasphemous voice recording that the gang leader, Pinkie, prepared for his wife, Rose - I noted this recording in yesterday's post and was surprised to read how GG brought the recording into play toward the end of BR. I suppose the stakes are not as high in this novel as in some of GG's other novels of faith, notably The Power and the Glory and The End of the Affair (I will have to re-read these works): those are novels of great empathy, in which readers can and do identify with the plight of the protagonists and suffer with them; in BR, as in say a traditional gangster crime novel of movie, we don't identify w/ the protagonists, just watch them from a distance with interest and at times revulsion. We can see why GG may have divided his fiction works, by his own account, into "novels" and "entertainments"; BR shows how the lines can blur, however - it's not necessarily and either/or classification. 


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