Necessities And Appetizers: Elements Of Detective Fiction In Graham Greene's Fiction

Graham Greene classifies his fictional writings into two categories, that is, "novels" and "entertainments". Due to this classification, many scholars focus on Greene's "novels", neglecting the significance of his "entertainments" and the popular elements adopted in both "novels" and "entertainments".Based on the previous studies, the present author examines the plot, characterization and suspense in one of Greene's "entertainments", The Third Man, by comparing with Poe's "The Murder in the Rue Morgue", and argues that these elements of detective fiction not only serve as necessities but also convey Greene's serious concerns about the reality. Nevertheless, the elements of detective fiction only serve as appetizers to whet the reader's curiosity in one of his "novels", The Quiet American, because Greene expresses his pondering on the dilemmas of human beings in modern society by devaluating these ingredients. Thus, the serious motif and the popular form are blended properly in both Greene's "novels" and "entertainments".Through these analyses, the present author elucidates that Greene's works are entertaining and thought-provoking. His paradoxical dichotomy is only a tactic to bridge the gap between the highbrow and the lowbrow, which is also the feature of postmodernist fictional writing. In the light of the related theories on detective fiction and postmodernist fictional writings, the present author concludes that Greene's textual strategy coincides with the strategy of postmodernist fictional writing. And in this sense, he can be taken as one of forerunners of postmodernism, and the inserted elements of detective fiction in Greene's works deserve further studies.