The Comedians (novel)
First edition cover
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| Author | Graham Greene |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Bodley Head |
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Publication date
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1966 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| OCLC | 365953 |
| Preceded by | A Burnt-Out Case |
| Followed by | Travels with My Aunt |
The Comedians (1966) is a novel by Graham Greene. Set in Haiti under the rule of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his secret police, the Tonton Macoute, the novel explores the political suppression and terrorism through the figure of an English hotel owner, Brown.
The story begins as three men, Brown, Smith, an "innocent" American, and Major H. O. Jones, the confidence man, meet on a ship bound for Haiti. Brown, Smith, and Jones, their names suggesting a curious facelessness, are the “comedians” of Greene’s title. Complications include Brown’s friendship with a rebel leader, politically charged hotel guests, the manipulations of a British arms dealer, and an affair with Martha Pineda, the wife of a South American ambassador. The setting for much of the novel, the Hotel Trianon, was inspired by the Hotel Oloffson in central Port-au-Prince.
The novel was adapted as a feature film of the same name, released in 1967 and starring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Alec Guinness, Peter Ustinov, James Earl Jones, Cicely Tyson, Paul Ford and Lillian Gish.
The main characters travel to Haiti on the Medea, a Dutch ship serving the capital Port-au-Prince and the Dominican Republic. The narrator is Mr. Brown, returning from an unsuccessful trip to the United States to sell his hotel, located in the capital. Other figures are Mr. Smith, (the Presidential Candidate), who ran on the vegetarian ticket in the American election of 1948; he and Mrs. Smith plan to build and operate a vegetarian center in Haiti. "Major" Jones, an Anglo-Indian businessman, is personable and has many war stories that are not quite believable.
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