Graham
Greene on the Human Factor:
My ambition after the war
was to write a novel of espionage free from the conventional violence, which
has not, in spite of James Bond, been a feature of the British Secret Service. I
wanted to present the Service unromantically as a way of life, men going daily
to their office to earn their pensions, the background much like that of any
other profession — whether the bank clerk or the business director — an undangerous routine, and within each character the more
important private life. When I had spent a few years in the
Service during the war, first in West Africa and then in
…I began The Human Factor
more than ten years before it was published and abandoned it in despair after
two or three years' work…I abandoned it mainly because of the Philby affair. My double agent Maurice Castle bore no
resemblance in character or motive to Philby, none of
the characters has the least likeness to anyone I have know, but I disliked the
idea of the novel being taken as a roman a clef. I know very well from
experience that it is only possible for me to base a very minor and transient
character on a real person. A real person stands in the way of imagination.
Perhaps a trick of speech, a physical trait may be used, but I can write no
more than a few pages before realizing that I simply don't know enough about
the character to use him, even if he is an old friend. With the imaginary
character I am sure — I know that Doctor Percival in The Human Factor
admires the painting of Ben Nicholson, I know that
Colonel Daintry will open a tin of sardines when he
returns from the funeral of his colleague.
…I sent a copy of the book
to
from Ways of Escape, pp.255-258