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| Greene, Graham: Our man in Havana
Greene, Graham: Our man in Havana
Our Man In
Havana
This witty send-up of an agent’s life was written
by Graham Greene. The main character is Mr. Wormold, a vacuum cleaner salesman
in Havana, who is always short of money. His beautiful daughter Milly attends a
catholic school because
Wormold had to promise to his wife, that he would bring
his daughter up in a religious way when they were divorced. Although he is a
very calm person he doesn’t like to see Milly growing up and meeting men
– especially not Captain Segura, a policeman who is said to torture people
very cruelly. Dr. Hasselbacher, who is a few years older than Wormold, is the
salesman’s best friend. They often go to bars, where they drink little
bottles of whisky which Wormold collects; he already has put up a huge
collection he is very proud of.
I liked Mr. Wormold most because he sees the world in a
witty and critical way. When you start reading this book, it is hard to stop
because it is quite catching.
The story takes place in Cuba in about 1958; as the
title suggests mainly in Havana, where Wormold owns a shop. This is quite
important because many organisations in the USA etc. where interested in things
happening in that country.
The Plot:
Wormold´s daughter has reached an expensive age
– she wants to join the country-club and own a horse. So he accepts the
offer of a mysterious man whose name is Hawthorne: $300-plus a month... and
becomes Agent 59200/5, M.I.6´s man in Havana.
To keep the job, Wormold pretends to recruit sub-agents
and sends fake stories. His employers trust in them and provide more money,
modern equipment, a secretary – Beatrice - and a professional decoder.
When they arrive in Cuba Wormold´s stories start coming disturbingly true,
his imaginary sub-agents become alive and some people show that they would like
to see him dead....
In my opinion the most amusing incident is when Wormold
is invited to a meeting and is warned a few hours before, that someone is going
to poison him in the dining room. In spite of that he decides to go
there.
Wormold tries not to eat anything that is served and
changes the plates. As luck would have it he spills his whisky and the
cook’s dog licks it. It dies a few seconds later and Wormold prefers to
leave because of the cook’s anger.
Letter to a
publisher:
Dear Mr. Herbert
Last week I finished my latest novel – Our Man
In Havana – and I think this book is bound to become a mega-seller.
It describes the story of Mr. Wormold, a vacuum cleaner
salesman, who lives in Havana. His daughter has reached an expensive age –
so he accepts Hawthorne´s offer of $300-plus a month.... and becomes Agent
59200/5, M.I.6´s man in Havana. To keep the job, Wormold pretends to
recruit sub-agents and sends fake stories. Then the stories start coming
disturbingly true....
I’ve already shown this book to several people and
they all were fascinated.
For example William Heinemann from the Financial Times
wrote:
He has a sharp nose for trouble and
injustice. In Our Man In Havana – a witty
send-up of an agent’s life –
it is Cuba before Castro
The cover would be illustrated by Paul Hogarth.
I’ve sent you a copy of the script; it would be nice if you read through
it – you won’t be disappointed.
Graham Greene
A Different final
chapter:
Epilogue in
London:
They had looked at him curiously when he gave his name,
and then they had put him into a lift and taken him, a little to his surprise
down and not up. As they told him, he left the lift when a green light appeared.
Hawthorne came down the corridor and went by without saying a word. He moved
into the lift and the doors closed.
Wormold went down the corridor when he heard a loud cry
of a woman.... Beatrice!
He ran to the door the noise was coming from and opened
it forcefully. There were already some nice people waiting for him and he looked
straight into the barrel of a gun.
“Hullo Wormold; nice to see you...”, a man
with a bald said while turning around in his luxurious leather chair. He wore a
black monocle and looked rather powerful. Immediately a gorilla came into
Wormold´s mind.
“What have you done to Beatrice?”, he asked.
“Don’t think about her, I would never do
anything to such a beautiful lady”
he assured and pointed at a cassette-recorder standing
in front of him.
”She is working in Jakarta
now.”
“What’s that?”
“The end of the world. Farther than Basra.
I’m convinced that this punishment isn’t too hard besides she
hasn’t broken our internal laws. But other people
have...”
He played with a paper knife while staring at him.
“But we don’t need to have such an
uncomfortable conversation; sit down Wormold!”
“I prefer to stand. You have no right to send her
to Jakarta; she has nothing to do with anything.”
“You aren’t supposed to be demanding.
Remember your situation....”
The palms of Wormold´s hands began do sweat. He
regretted having invented the story of the enormous weapons hidden in the
jungle. But who thought that a secret service would believe in plans of vacuum
cleaners....
“Okay, there’s no way out for me; am I going
to be shot?”
“Right, if you want to.”, the gorilla said
and raised a gun. Wormold heard the shot and fell on the floor.
A few minutes later, when he recovered consciousness, he
was surrounded by many people singing “Happy Birthday”. In front of
him stood Milly with a huge birthday cake and said:
“Congratulations to your 40th birthday;
this was a nice trick we played on you, wasn’t it? And there are other
news: Captain Segura and me are going to marry next
week!”
These words where the last things he recognised before
everything went black....
Half a year later an advertisement appeared in the
Havana Times:
Detective Agency
Havana
Owners: Beatrice Wormold &
husband
We are able to solve all your
problems
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