Fiction & other works · 1930 · novel

The Name of Action

by Graham Greene

The Name of Action is Graham Greene's second novel, published in 1930. The book was badly received by critics, and suffered poor sales. Greene later repudiated the book (along with his third novel Rumour at Nightfall) and it has remained out of print ever since. The title of the book is derived from the famous "To be, or not to be" speech from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Disillusioned by Britain, wealthy youth Oliver Chant is sent abroad to Trier (Germany) by UK Communist leader Kurtz. Kurtz had been exiled to Britain by Trier's new dictator Demassener and promised Oliver Chant that he'd be part of a dramatic rebellion. Chant arrives in Trier with orders to meet up with the underground party run by a Jewish poet, Joseph Kapper and comrades Torner (an artist) and Lintz (a shoe maker). It becomes apparent that the small faction are not interested in bloodshed, but spreading dissent against the Dictator only by literature and posters. By a strange turn of events the dictator's wife, Anne-Marie Demassener, enters the party's quarters seeking help from a minor car accident. She claims that her husband is more than aware of what these men do and...

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