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loudly warns him of the threat. Wormold continues to dinner where he manages to refuse the meal that is offered and eats another one. Across the table sits a fellow vacuum cleaner salesman he had met earlier, Carter, who offers him whisky. Suspicious, Wormold knocks over the glass, which is then drunk by the headwaiter's dachshund, which soon dies. In retaliation for the failure, Carter kills Dr. Hasselbacher at the club bar.
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Captain Segura, a military strongman in love with Milly and intending to marry her, has a list of all of the spies in Havana, which
Wormold would like to send to London to partially redeem his employment. He tells Segura that he is going to his house to discuss Segura's plans about Milly. Once there,
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contact, intends to poison
Wormold at a trade association luncheon, where he is the speaker. It would seem that his information has worried local operatives who now seek to remove him. London is pleased by this, as that validates his work. Wormold goes to the function and sees Dr. Hasselbacher, who
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camera. To avenge the murder of Dr. Hasselbacher, Wormold convinces Carter to accompany him on a drive and, at a local brothel and after some hesitation, shoots him with Segura's pistol. He misses Carter and is about to leave. Carter shoots back, but
Wormold shoots and kills him. Wormold sends the
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On arriving, Beatrice tells
Wormold she has orders to take over his contacts. Her first request is to contact the pilot Raúl. Under pressure, Wormold develops an elaborate plan for his fictitious agent "Raúl". However, to his surprise, a real person with the same name is killed in an apparent car
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Alas, the book did me little good with the new rulers in Havana. In poking fun at the
British Secret Service, I had minimized the terror of Batista's rule. I had not wanted too black a background for a light-hearted comedy, but those who suffered during the years of dictatorship could hardly be
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At one point, he decides to make his reports "exciting" by sending to London sketches of what he describes as a secret military installation in the mountains, actually vacuum cleaner parts scaled to a large size. In London, nobody except
Hawthorne, the only one to know that Wormold sells vacuum
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accident. From then on, Wormold's manufactured universe overlaps with reality, with threats made to his "contacts". Together, Beatrice, who still believes the contacts to be real, and
Wormold try to save the real people who share names with his fictional agents.
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cleaners, doubts this report. However, Hawthorne keeps quiet for fear of losing his job. In the light of the new developments, London sends
Wormold a secretary, Beatrice Severn, and a radio assistant codenamed "C" with much spy paraphernalia.
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his reports using information found in newspapers and invents a fictitious network of agents. Some of the names in his network are those of real people (most of whom he has never met), but some are made up. Wormold tells only his friend and
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Wormold confesses everything to
Beatrice, who surprisingly admires his doings. Captain Segura then gets Wormold deported from Cuba by reporting him to London. Wormold and Beatrice are summoned to headquarters, where Beatrice is posted to
209:, by pretending to control a ring of agents all over England. In fact, he invented armed forces movements and operations from maps, guides and standard military references. Garbo was the main inspiration for Wormold, the protagonist of
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of Scotch and bourbon as the game pieces, where each piece taken has to be drunk at once. Eventually, Segura, who is a much better player, ends up drunk and falls asleep. Wormold takes his gun and photographs the list using a
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in 1938. The film was never made, and Greene soon realised that Havana, which he had visited several times in the early 1950s, would be a much better setting, with the absurdities of the
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and
Wormold's situation is considered. To avoid embarrassment and silence him from speaking to the press, MI6 offers Wormold a teaching post at headquarters and recommends him for the
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307:. Afterwards, Beatrice comes to Wormold's hotel, and they decide to marry. Milly is surprisingly accepting of their decision, and she is to go to a Swiss
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Remembering the German agents in Portugal, Greene wrote the first version of the story in 1946, as an outline for a film script, with the story set in
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expected to appreciate that my real subject was the absurdity of the British agent and not the justice of a revolution.
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veteran, Dr. Hasselbacher, about his spy work, hiding the truth from Milly.
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Getting to Know the General: The Story of an Involvement
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Getting to Know the General: The Story of an Involvement
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This article is about the novel. For derived works, see
438:"BBC – BBC Four Documentaries – Arena: Graham Greene"
135:(1958) is a novel set in Cuba by the British author
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390:"A Muse on the tides of history: Elisabeth Dennys"
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492:, ed.), London: Frank Cass, 1991, pp. 117–135.
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505:(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1980), 257.
486:Spy Fiction, Spy Films and Real Intelligence
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468:Graham Greene And Cuba: Our Man in Havana?
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411:"The (Mis)Guided Dream of Graham Greene"
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224:being more appropriate for a comedy.
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465:Peter Hulme, University of Essex:
18:Our Man in Havana (disambiguation)
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518:Savidge Reads (24 October 2010):
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1118:The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen
925:A World of My Own: A Dream Diary
503:Ways of Escape: An Autobiography
1043:The Last Word and Other Stories
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150:The novel was adapted into a
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976:The Return of A. J. Raffles
305:Order of the British Empire
246:Secret Intelligence Service
23:1958 novel by Graham Greene
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1421:Novels adapted into operas
528:The Stasi (29 July 2009):
522:– Review by Simon Savidge.
472:. Retrieved 31 August 2011
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1000:For Whom the Bell Chimes
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1151:The Future's in the Air
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356:between 1963 and 1966.
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378:: 29. 24 October 1958.
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337:In his autobiography,
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735:The End of the Affair
596:and their adaptations
537:31 March 2012 at the
388:Christopher Hawtree.
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154:in 1959, directed by
152:film of the same name
1401:Novels set in Havana
1295:The Honorary Consul
1279:Travels with My Aunt
1062:The End of the Party
858:Journey Without Maps
783:Travels with My Aunt
707:The Ministry of Fear
558:Retrieved 2011-08-31
554:4 March 2016 at the
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524:Retrieved 2011-08-31
343:, Greene commented:
145:Cuban Missile Crisis
1391:1958 British novels
1111:A Shocking Accident
791:The Honorary Consul
635:Rumour at Nightfall
352:Greene returned to
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1426:British spy novels
1319:The Quiet American
1255:The Quiet American
1183:Went the Day Well?
1027:A Sense of Reality
1019:Twenty-One Stories
743:The Quiet American
667:The Bear Fell Free
651:It's a Battlefield
627:The Name of Action
375:The New York Times
168:Malcolm Williamson
29:Our Man in Havana
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1303:Monsignor Quixote
1263:Our Man in Havana
1175:This Gun for Hire
1090:Alas, Poor Maling
1083:Across the Bridge
1076:The Basement Room
1011:Story collections
866:The Lawless Roads
815:Monsignor Quixote
759:Our Man in Havana
547:Our Man in Havana
409:(November 1999).
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287:miniature bottles
242:Fulgencio Batista
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103:Print (hardcover)
92:Publication place
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799:The Human Factor
767:A Burnt-Out Case
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549:– a review.
470:An analysis
259:World War I
240:during the
1385:Categories
1247:Saint Joan
992:Yes and No
360:References
254:fabricates
186:Background
156:Carol Reed
592:Works by
86:Heinemann
82:Publisher
74:Published
1372:Category
1106:" (1954)
1099:" (1954)
1092:" (1940)
1085:" (1938)
1078:" (1936)
1071:" (1930)
1064:" (1929)
552:Archived
535:Archived
442:BBC News
334:regime.
292:microdot
283:draughts
222:Cold War
172:libretto
164:an opera
56:Language
1167:21 Days
730:; 1949)
728:novella
332:Batista
301:Jakarta
218:Estonia
59:English
1370:
1348:(play)
1330:(2010)
1322:(2002)
1314:(1999)
1306:(1985)
1298:(1983)
1290:(1979)
1282:(1972)
1274:(1967)
1266:(1959)
1258:(1958)
1250:(1957)
1242:(1956)
1234:(1955)
1226:(1953)
1218:(1949)
1210:(1948)
1202:(1947)
1194:(1944)
1186:(1942)
1178:(1942)
1170:(1940)
1162:(1940)
1154:(1937)
1146:(1934)
1046:(1990)
1038:(1967)
1030:(1963)
1022:(1954)
1003:(1983)
995:(1983)
987:(1981)
979:(1975)
971:(1964)
963:(1959)
955:(1957)
947:(1953)
928:(1992)
920:(1984)
912:(1980)
904:(1971)
885:(1984)
877:(1961)
869:(1939)
861:(1936)
842:(2005)
834:(1988)
826:(1985)
818:(1982)
810:(1980)
802:(1978)
794:(1973)
786:(1969)
778:(1966)
770:(1960)
762:(1958)
754:(1955)
746:(1955)
738:(1951)
718:(1948)
710:(1943)
702:(1940)
694:(1939)
686:(1938)
678:(1936)
670:(1935)
662:(1935)
654:(1934)
646:(1932)
638:(1932)
630:(1930)
622:(1929)
611:Novels
448:2 June
422:2 June
354:Havana
285:using
274:Soviet
238:Havana
203:Lisbon
123:
46:Author
1338:Other
1135:Films
936:Plays
199:Garbo
170:to a
108:Pages
68:Novel
64:Genre
450:2010
424:2010
228:Plot
488:, (
174:by
166:by
141:MI6
111:273
1387::
458:^
440:.
413:.
392:.
213:.
1127:"
1123:"
1120:"
1116:"
1113:"
1109:"
1102:"
1095:"
1088:"
1081:"
1074:"
1067:"
1060:"
726:(
585:e
578:t
571:v
532:.
452:.
426:.
20:.
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