Status
Available
Call number
Library's review
Indeholder "Introduktion", "Den 10. mand", "To filmsynopser".
"Introduktion" handler om historiens historie, som forfatteren selv havde svedt helt ud, indtil en filmatisering på et tidspunkt kom på tale.
"Den 10. mand" handler om ???
"To filmsynopser" handler om ???
Frankrig, 1945
En gruppe fanger på
"Introduktion" handler om historiens historie, som forfatteren selv havde svedt helt ud, indtil en filmatisering på et tidspunkt kom på tale.
"Den 10. mand" handler om ???
"To filmsynopser" handler om ???
Frankrig, 1945
En gruppe fanger på
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30 får besked om at vælge tre, der skal dø. Jean-Louis Chavel er en af de tre der taber lodtrækningen. Show Less
Genres
Publication
[Kbh.] : Gyldendal, 1985.
Description
Ingram An utterly gripping story of a wealthy French lawyer being held prisoner by the Germans during World War II. The lawyer is chosen by the soldiers to die, but instead he makes a cowardly trade for his life--one that he will have to pay for even as a free man.
Media reviews
''The Tenth Man'' is melodrama, which is O.K. But Greene attempts to invest it with philosophical meaning, and, really, it does not work. The village priest, who is introduced with that nice worldliness with which Greene likes to treat Roman Catholicism on those odd days when he is not obsessed
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with it, enters the scene. '' 'Can I have your blessing, father?' 'Of course.' He rubber-stamped the air like a notary and was gone.'' Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member JohnGrant1
In 1944 Greene was desperate for money and unsure of his future as a writer, so when MGM commissioned a novella from him to use as the basis for a movie he was only too happy to oblige: it put food on the family table and walls around them for a couple of years. The movie was never made and he more
The trouble is that, despite the glowing review quotes on the cover, this is really only something for Greene completists; it's the first of his fictions I've read that hasn't gripped me. During the war a bunch of imprisoned Resistance fighters are given the option by their Nazi captors of choosing by lot who among their number will go before the firing squad the next day. One of the unlucky ones cheats, so that another man dies in his place. After the war is over, the cheat is a hunted man; yet with bureaucracy in shambles, identity is something relatively easy to fake. So who among our cast of characters is the guilty man; and, more interestingly, does his crime matter any longer now that years have passed? It's a premise that just about sustained my interest for 30,000 words . . . but only just about. Paradoxically, had it been longer -- had Greene been writing it as a full-length novel rather than as a movie outline -- perhaps it would have worked better, in that he'd have had the space to deploy typical Greene prose mastery. This, though, reads more like a detailed synopsis than a completed work.
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or less forgot the project until in the early 1980s MGM decided to auction the manuscript to publishers for what proved a healthy chunk of money -- of which none went to Greene. Reading his long-forgotten text, he was both pleased and chagrined to find that he thought it was a ripping yarn of which he could be proud; hence his willingness to write an introduction setting the text in context. (Or maybe this was a way devised by publishers Anthony Blond and the Bodley Head to give Greene some financial reward for the publication of this work.)The trouble is that, despite the glowing review quotes on the cover, this is really only something for Greene completists; it's the first of his fictions I've read that hasn't gripped me. During the war a bunch of imprisoned Resistance fighters are given the option by their Nazi captors of choosing by lot who among their number will go before the firing squad the next day. One of the unlucky ones cheats, so that another man dies in his place. After the war is over, the cheat is a hunted man; yet with bureaucracy in shambles, identity is something relatively easy to fake. So who among our cast of characters is the guilty man; and, more interestingly, does his crime matter any longer now that years have passed? It's a premise that just about sustained my interest for 30,000 words . . . but only just about. Paradoxically, had it been longer -- had Greene been writing it as a full-length novel rather than as a movie outline -- perhaps it would have worked better, in that he'd have had the space to deploy typical Greene prose mastery. This, though, reads more like a detailed synopsis than a completed work.
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LibraryThing member Smiler69
I absolutely loved this little book of just under 120 pages. Originally written for MGM in 1944 and then forgotten, the manuscript was found again in 1983 and published in it's present form. The story takes place in France during and immediately following WWII. In the opening chapter, a German
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officer informs a group of thirty prisoners that they must choose three men among their ranks to be executed the following morning. The men decide to draw for it, and when Jean-Louis Chavel, a rich and unpopular lawyer finds he's picked a piece of paper marking him for execution, he offers to give away all his possessions, including his family's country house, to the person who'll accept to take his place. The bulk of the story centres around Chavel once he is released, penniless, unable to find work and irresistibly drawn to the home of his ancestors, now occupied by the dead man's remaining family. This story was both fascinating and profound, touching on issues of identity, morality, courage and redemption. It was my introduction to Graham Greene, an author who's work I'll be sure to seek out. Show Less
LibraryThing member Schmerguls
This book, written in 1942 but not published till 1983, is slight but masterful work of fiction, telling of a French guy who induces another hostage to agree to take his place to be shot by transferring all his property to the replacement's mother and sister. After the war he goes to his erstwhile
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home and meets the sister and mother, not disclosing his actual identity. Anyone who appreciates Greene's talents will be caught up by the deft way the situation is handled. Show Less
LibraryThing member madepercy
This novella by Graham Greene was written in 1944 (first conceived in 1938) as a screen play that was somehow discarded and lost in the MGM archives. Greene was unable to make a living from writing books and took a contract with MGM to write screenplays, and before the main story, the book includes
Reading other's unfinished work is a great learning experience, and it is useful to see how the plot and structure of creative writing emerges from different authors. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon is a book I wish I had read while writing my PhD - the thought process is clear, but the details are still being threshed out. Seeing how Fitzgerald did this has left a powerful impression on me.
In the first part of Greene's book, he tells the story of what he was doing before and after the war, and how the story came about. He then introduces two film sketches that remained unfinished. It is interesting that in just a few pages, the outline of a movie appears. Greene added the film sketches because he had largely forgotten about The Tenth Man, thinking it was only (p. 10):...two pages of outline but [it was] a complete short novel of thirty thousand words.He then went through his own archives and found two other sketches - although less complete - that he had also forgotten about. (Wouldn't it be lovely to have written so much one had forgotten some of it?)
The main text, The Tenth Man, reads as a complete novella - there is certainly nothing undeveloped there. But the introduction sets out how the novella began as a few sentences outlining an idea. The two film sketches, which are incomplete, provide a bridge to Greene's process from a few sentences to a complete story.
As for the story, the cover blurb says it all: a rich man in a German prison draws lots to see who will die. (The Germans are going to execute 1 in 10 prisoners, and the prisoners have to decide who it will be.) The rich man loses, but offers all of his wealth to stay alive. Another prisoner, thinking of his family, takes up the rich man's offer.
I recall from reading Hemingway's letters and various articles how he developed a story out of a simple idea. For example, The Sun Also Rises is a story to answer the question, What would happen if your penis was shot off during the war? Greene's story follows a similar process: What would it be like to pay somebody else to die for you, if you gave up everything to live?
The story isn't so much Faustian, for the poor prisoner insists that the rich man sticks to the deal (after the rich man has an attack of conscience), and there is much more to the story after that.
In many ways, it addresses questions of life and death, and whether we control our fate or whether it matters or not. Or indeed, if we think we can thwart destiny, think again. Maybe the moral of the story is amor fati?
I've been reading and thinking a lot about death lately, especially the idea that all fear can be reduced to a fear of death, and, because we all die, there is nothing to be afraid of - it is a given. Perhaps it is not a topic Australians discuss in any philosophical sense, unlike what I have read by the Stoics, Albert Camus or what is explored in Mexico's Festival of the Dead.
I think this aversion to thinking about death is philosophically limiting. But rather than Camus, which might be a little confronting for the uninitiated, Graham Greene deals with the topic in a way that makes it hard not to reflect on one's values, the purpose of life, and, I suppose, that death accompanies life.
It is certainly macabre, but there is much to learn from this novella. The story was made into a TV movie starring Sir Anthony Hopkins in 1988.
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a couple of screen sketches. In 1983, the story was found and MGM sold the rights to a publisher, hence this book.Reading other's unfinished work is a great learning experience, and it is useful to see how the plot and structure of creative writing emerges from different authors. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon is a book I wish I had read while writing my PhD - the thought process is clear, but the details are still being threshed out. Seeing how Fitzgerald did this has left a powerful impression on me.
In the first part of Greene's book, he tells the story of what he was doing before and after the war, and how the story came about. He then introduces two film sketches that remained unfinished. It is interesting that in just a few pages, the outline of a movie appears. Greene added the film sketches because he had largely forgotten about The Tenth Man, thinking it was only (p. 10):...two pages of outline but [it was] a complete short novel of thirty thousand words.He then went through his own archives and found two other sketches - although less complete - that he had also forgotten about. (Wouldn't it be lovely to have written so much one had forgotten some of it?)
The main text, The Tenth Man, reads as a complete novella - there is certainly nothing undeveloped there. But the introduction sets out how the novella began as a few sentences outlining an idea. The two film sketches, which are incomplete, provide a bridge to Greene's process from a few sentences to a complete story.
As for the story, the cover blurb says it all: a rich man in a German prison draws lots to see who will die. (The Germans are going to execute 1 in 10 prisoners, and the prisoners have to decide who it will be.) The rich man loses, but offers all of his wealth to stay alive. Another prisoner, thinking of his family, takes up the rich man's offer.
I recall from reading Hemingway's letters and various articles how he developed a story out of a simple idea. For example, The Sun Also Rises is a story to answer the question, What would happen if your penis was shot off during the war? Greene's story follows a similar process: What would it be like to pay somebody else to die for you, if you gave up everything to live?
The story isn't so much Faustian, for the poor prisoner insists that the rich man sticks to the deal (after the rich man has an attack of conscience), and there is much more to the story after that.
In many ways, it addresses questions of life and death, and whether we control our fate or whether it matters or not. Or indeed, if we think we can thwart destiny, think again. Maybe the moral of the story is amor fati?
I've been reading and thinking a lot about death lately, especially the idea that all fear can be reduced to a fear of death, and, because we all die, there is nothing to be afraid of - it is a given. Perhaps it is not a topic Australians discuss in any philosophical sense, unlike what I have read by the Stoics, Albert Camus or what is explored in Mexico's Festival of the Dead.
I think this aversion to thinking about death is philosophically limiting. But rather than Camus, which might be a little confronting for the uninitiated, Graham Greene deals with the topic in a way that makes it hard not to reflect on one's values, the purpose of life, and, I suppose, that death accompanies life.
It is certainly macabre, but there is much to learn from this novella. The story was made into a TV movie starring Sir Anthony Hopkins in 1988.
Show Less
LibraryThing member john257hopper
An interesting novella (at 112 pages, I suppose almost a novel) about some French prisoners under Nazi occupation. Some Germans are murdered in the town and the occupiers condemn one in every ten of the prisoners to be shot. The prisoners themselves have to draw lots. One of the unlucky three out
Also in this book are two other short treatments for potential film scripts. One, Jim Braddon and the War Criminal, sounds exciting and concerns an ordinary man who happens to look like a Nazi war criminal, loses his memory in an aeroplane crash, and then falls in with real war criminals and is caught and tried. The other, Nobody to Blame, is a rather farcical spy story.
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of 30 prisoners, a wealthy lawyer, panics and offers his house and wordly goods to anyone who will take his place. A young lad takes his place and makes a will leaving his new found wealth to his sister and mother. The bulk of the story deals with the lawyer's guilt and his return to his old house under an alias, plus a further complication of identities. An overlooked gem that was a lost idea for a film written during the war, overlooked until 1983.Also in this book are two other short treatments for potential film scripts. One, Jim Braddon and the War Criminal, sounds exciting and concerns an ordinary man who happens to look like a Nazi war criminal, loses his memory in an aeroplane crash, and then falls in with real war criminals and is caught and tried. The other, Nobody to Blame, is a rather farcical spy story.
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LibraryThing member grheault
A rich man slated to die, offers his house and fortune to a poor man who agrees to take his place before a Nazi firing squad. The poor man's widow moves into the house, bitterly awaiting the return of the former owner.
This edition also contained a ten page synopsis/sketch of what became Our Man in
This edition also contained a ten page synopsis/sketch of what became Our Man in
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Havana -- interesting insight into how the skeleton is written, then clothed. Show Less
LibraryThing member AHS-Wolfy
Louis Chavel was a rich lawyer who finds himself incarcerated with 29 other men in a Nazi run prison in Paris. When the group of prisoners are informed they must choose 3 of their number to be executed in an act of reprisal they decide the only way is to draw lots. Chaval is one of the unlucky ones
When the war is all but over, Chaval, now going by the name of Jean-Louis Charlot, finds life as a poor man not much to his liking and so finds himself drawn to his old house in the country and manages to insinuate himself into the lives of the mother and daughter of the man who took his place. He takes on the role of servant but soon realises that he's fallen in love with the daughter who has confessed that she would kill the man he used to be if he was to show his face. So what happens when someone claiming to be Chavel actually turns up?
Originally written in 1944 while under contract to MGM, this short novel lay forgotten in the archives until it was discovered in 1983. Returned to the author for revision the book was finally able to see the light of day. I, for one, am certainly glad it did and this edition comes with an introduction by the author himself as well as two outlines for films, the second of which was later adapted into Our Man in Havana.
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but begs for his life and says he will give all his fortune if one of the others would take his place. His offer is accepted and so Chaval assigns his property and fortune over to the soon to be dead man's surviving relatives.When the war is all but over, Chaval, now going by the name of Jean-Louis Charlot, finds life as a poor man not much to his liking and so finds himself drawn to his old house in the country and manages to insinuate himself into the lives of the mother and daughter of the man who took his place. He takes on the role of servant but soon realises that he's fallen in love with the daughter who has confessed that she would kill the man he used to be if he was to show his face. So what happens when someone claiming to be Chavel actually turns up?
Originally written in 1944 while under contract to MGM, this short novel lay forgotten in the archives until it was discovered in 1983. Returned to the author for revision the book was finally able to see the light of day. I, for one, am certainly glad it did and this edition comes with an introduction by the author himself as well as two outlines for films, the second of which was later adapted into Our Man in Havana.
Show Less
LibraryThing member browner56
Imagine that you are a prisoner of war who has just lost a bizarre lottery that has condemned you to face a firing squad in the morning. What would you pay to have one of your fellow prisoners take your place? Now, imagine to your surprise that someone has accepted the offer to die instead of you
In The Tenth Man, Graham Greene tells the story of Jean-Louis Chavel, a French lawyer and property owner who is imprisoned by the Germans at the beginning of the Second World War. Greene excelled at the delving into the minds of his characters as a way of developing complex and intriguing storylines and this taut volume is no different in that regard. In an introductory essay, the author tells us that this tale was originally developed as a film treatment, but then forgotten for almost 40 years before being published as a stand-alone novella. The story certainly reads like the script of a fast-paced thriller, with the harrowing prison scenes and the events that transpire when Chavel returns to his former home leading to a surprising climax. It is a brief but gripping book and definitely one that any fan of the author will devour.
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at the cost of everything you own in the world. How do you reconcile the tremendous guilt and sense of loss that you would feel? Assuming that you survive the ordeal and are finally released from prison, what would you then do to regain your old way of life?In The Tenth Man, Graham Greene tells the story of Jean-Louis Chavel, a French lawyer and property owner who is imprisoned by the Germans at the beginning of the Second World War. Greene excelled at the delving into the minds of his characters as a way of developing complex and intriguing storylines and this taut volume is no different in that regard. In an introductory essay, the author tells us that this tale was originally developed as a film treatment, but then forgotten for almost 40 years before being published as a stand-alone novella. The story certainly reads like the script of a fast-paced thriller, with the harrowing prison scenes and the events that transpire when Chavel returns to his former home leading to a surprising climax. It is a brief but gripping book and definitely one that any fan of the author will devour.
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LibraryThing member BooksForDinner
Just fantastic. Greene tossed this one off as an idea for a proposed MGM movie in the 40s; it subsequently sat for 40 years until it was rediscovered and published near the end of the author's life. A nice little intro by the author also. Greene is one of my favorite authors and this did nothing to
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change my mind. Show Less
LibraryThing member BrokenTune
"He envied Jules: to have been able to remain ‘correct’: to have saved his self-respect by small doses of rudeness or inattention. But for him— to have remained correct would have meant death."
The Tenth Man is not just a story but a moral experiment: A group of prisoners of war are told that
From this Greene develops a tale of moral conflict, perceptions of heroism and cowardice, of pretense and being true to character, and it all starts, not with the draw, but with one of the chosen offering to buy his life in exchange for all his possessions.
I really enjoyed the premise of the story and - needless to say - Greene's writing. However, the introduction of the love story and ending of the book left me wanting more of a development of the original dilemma - Chavel having to deal with his conscience - rather than focusing the story on the ensuing love triangle and resolving all the issues in a rather convenient manner. Not that Greene does not often chose to resolve his characters' conflicts in the same manner, but in this book in particular, I felt the story itself would have offered a less clean-cut conclusion.
However, this story was written around the same time as the The Third Man, and Greene intended it to work as a screenplay, in which case a more ambiguous ending would not have worked. At least not if he needed to sell the story to a film studio.
Having read Greene's novels there is a distinct difference between early works written for film and later works, many of which were eventually turned into films. The early works, The Tenth Man included, tend to be limited in developing characters and ideas, whereas the later ones thrive on both and allow Greene's writing to develop another dimension.
"The paper lay on the floor beside him, scrawled over with almost illegible writing. He never knew that his signature read only Jean-Louis Ch … which stood of course as plainly for Charlot as for Chavel. A crowning justice saw to it that he was not troubled. Even a lawyer’s meticulous conscience was allowed to rest in peace."
The Tenth Man is not just a story but a moral experiment: A group of prisoners of war are told that
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as punishment for the killing of occupying forces by the local resistance movement, one in ten prisoners would be executed. It is up to the prisoners to draw lots.From this Greene develops a tale of moral conflict, perceptions of heroism and cowardice, of pretense and being true to character, and it all starts, not with the draw, but with one of the chosen offering to buy his life in exchange for all his possessions.
I really enjoyed the premise of the story and - needless to say - Greene's writing. However, the introduction of the love story and ending of the book left me wanting more of a development of the original dilemma - Chavel having to deal with his conscience - rather than focusing the story on the ensuing love triangle and resolving all the issues in a rather convenient manner. Not that Greene does not often chose to resolve his characters' conflicts in the same manner, but in this book in particular, I felt the story itself would have offered a less clean-cut conclusion.
However, this story was written around the same time as the The Third Man, and Greene intended it to work as a screenplay, in which case a more ambiguous ending would not have worked. At least not if he needed to sell the story to a film studio.
Having read Greene's novels there is a distinct difference between early works written for film and later works, many of which were eventually turned into films. The early works, The Tenth Man included, tend to be limited in developing characters and ideas, whereas the later ones thrive on both and allow Greene's writing to develop another dimension.
"The paper lay on the floor beside him, scrawled over with almost illegible writing. He never knew that his signature read only Jean-Louis Ch … which stood of course as plainly for Charlot as for Chavel. A crowning justice saw to it that he was not troubled. Even a lawyer’s meticulous conscience was allowed to rest in peace."
Show Less
LibraryThing member untraveller
Modern decimation! Finished 14.04.2021.
LibraryThing member mjspear
A Hitchcock thriller as if written by Shakespeare... one man trades his life to make his family rich; the other loses it just the same...
LibraryThing member Sean191
I can't remember how many of Greene's books I've read at this point (I'll have to check my LT info) but I can say this won't be the last. It's another entertaining and brilliantly written piece by Greene which just goes to show you CAN go home again....but maybe that's not a good thing.
Added to
Added to
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that, the very short stories/ideas of stories included in my edition (Jim Braddon and the War Criminal and Nobody to Blame) were very entertaining as well with Nobody to Blame being quite funny. Show Less
LibraryThing member FEBeyer
How did he forget he wrote this?
The manuscript was lost for nearly forty years until someone wrote to Greene about it. He claimed he couldn't remember writing it. The Tenth Man, a treatment to be developed into a film script, was written as part of Greene's contract with MGM in the late 40s. On
As a short novel of around 30,000 words I preferred this to The Third Man. It has a less complicated narrative structure and stronger characters. The Third Man's strength is its setting in the divided post-war Vienna, this one is set in France during WWII and after. Interestingly all the characters are French, no Englishman to be seen, quite unusual for Greene.
The manuscript was lost for nearly forty years until someone wrote to Greene about it. He claimed he couldn't remember writing it. The Tenth Man, a treatment to be developed into a film script, was written as part of Greene's contract with MGM in the late 40s. On
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rediscovery in the 1980s Greene re-edited it and allowed it to be published. It's a pity it never got made into a film by Carol Reed, who directed The Third Man, Our Man in Havana and The Fallen Idol. I haven't seen The Fallen Idol yet but the other two are excellent. A lot of times Greene's work got made in lousy movies. The Ministry of Fear is good and I liked the 21st century version of The Quiet American, but beyond these two and the Carol Reed's flicks there isn't much.As a short novel of around 30,000 words I preferred this to The Third Man. It has a less complicated narrative structure and stronger characters. The Third Man's strength is its setting in the divided post-war Vienna, this one is set in France during WWII and after. Interestingly all the characters are French, no Englishman to be seen, quite unusual for Greene.
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Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1985
Physical description
141 p.; 20.5 cm
ISBN
8700919942 / 9788700919945
Local notes
Omslag: Ikke angivet
Omslaget viser nogle små papirsedler. En af dem er foldet ud og har et kryds på
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Oversat fra engelsk "The Tenth Man" af Ib Lindberg
Omslaget viser nogle små papirsedler. En af dem er foldet ud og har et kryds på
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Oversat fra engelsk "The Tenth Man" af Ib Lindberg
Similar in this library
Pages
141
DDC/MDS
| 823.912 |