Penguin Classics: The Man WIthin

The Man Within is Graham Greene’s first novel, but it shows much of the promise that will be developed later to give us novels like The Quiet American and The Heart of the Matter or The End of the Affair. The hallmark feature of the Penguin series is the insightful introductions, and we have yet another useful one by Jonathan Yardley who puts the novel in context of Greene’s career and biographical details that are mirrored in the novel. There are many aspects of this novel that will be developed later like the tortured hero who uses religion to navigate an indifferent and hostile world. This novel also has a love affair with an idealized woman-something that recurs in his alter novels as well. It is an impressive debut, if not without some faults like sentimentality, but overall interesting in context of Greene’s vast and impressive body of work.