J O N K E R S R A R E B O O K S
GREENE’S SECOND NOVEL
48. The Name Of Action GREENE, Graham
Heinemann, 1930. First edition. Original dark blue cloth lettered in gilt in yellow dust- wrapper printed in black and red. A fine copy in a near fine dustwrapper, which just has a shallow chip at the head of the spine and trivial wear to the corners, but is other- wise unusually bright and crisp. [40157] £6,750 The author’s second novel, which derives its title from a snatch of Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, “With this regard their currents turn awry / And lose the name of action.” It was a critical flop, which rather depressed Greene, who would later refer to it in exaggeratedly demeaning terms, “of a badness beyond the power of criticism properly to evoke—the prose flat and stilted” and he repudiated both it and his following novel, Rumour at Nightfall . The first issue (with the original 7/6 price) is now uncommon, without being unobtainably rare, however the dustwrapper’s light colouring and thin stock mean it is very seldom encountered in bright and undamaged condition.
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