GREENE, Graham

Complaisant Lover, The

London: Heinemann, 1959. Item #06486

Greene Turns to Comedy
A Civilized Study of Love, Fidelity, and Accommodation

GREENE, Graham. The Complaisant Lover. A Comedy. London Heinemann, [1959].

First edition. Small octavo (7 1/4 x 4 3/4 inches; 184 x 121 mm.). [viii], 77, [1, blank] pp.

Publisher's blue cloth over boards, spine lettered in gilt, original pale blue dust jacket lettered in dark blue and red, spine of jacket very slightly faded. A fine copy in a near fine dust jacket.

A polished and engaging dramatic work by Graham Greene, The Complaisant Lover represents one of his most successful ventures into the theater.

First performed in 1959, the play stands apart from Greene’s darker “entertainments” and Catholic novels, offering instead a sophisticated and quietly subversive comedy of manners.

At its center is a triangular relationship - husband, wife, and lover - handled not with melodrama but with restraint, irony, and emotional intelligence. Greene explores the shifting moral landscape of modern marriage, proposing not betrayal but accommodation, not tragedy but a kind of civilized compromise. The tone is light, even urbane, yet beneath the surface lies Greene’s characteristic concern with loyalty, honesty, and the ambiguities of human attachment.

Written during a period when Greene was increasingly drawn to the stage, the play reflects his admiration for French theatrical traditions - particularly those of Jean Anouilh - while retaining his own unmistakable voice. The result is a work of considerable charm and subtlety, in which wit and moral inquiry are held in delicate balance.

An appealing and well-preserved example of a Greene first edition, capturing a distinct and often underappreciated facet of his literary career.

Price: $200.00