The Man Within

Graham Greene’s first published novel already carries the themes of guilt and moral cowardice that would run through his entire career. Set among the smugglers of early nineteenth-century Sussex, it follows Francis Andrews, a frightened young man who has informed on his own comrades and now flees for his life across the downs. Taking shelter in a lonely cottage with a woman named Elizabeth, he wrestles with the divided self of the title, caught between self-loathing and a longing to be brave. The pursuit that drives the plot is really an interior one, a study of a weak man measuring himself against the person he wishes he could be. It marks the beginning of one of the twentieth century’s major literary voices. Free PDF and EPUB edition available here.