A Burnt-Out Case

Published 1960

A European man goes to the Congo to try to get as far away from his old life as he can. The last stop of the boat is a leper colony, so he gets off there. The colony is run by hard scrabble Belgian priests with the English Doctor Colin. It’s the doctor who first recognizes the man for what he is: a burnt-out case. That’s what they call someone who has been cured of leprosy, but only after having lost fingers or toes. The man’s limbs are intact, but his spirit has been reduced by self-induced cauterization that has left him exhausted and uncertain.

But if you’ve seen the man’s picture in a magazine, he doesn’t look like a burnt-out case. The man’s face matches that of the great Querry, one of the greatest architect’s of his generation. His churches have been an inspiration for the faithful throughout Europe and North America.

When on an errand for the priests, Querry’s river swollen with rains blocks his truck and he finds himself spending the night with a M. Rycker. Rycker had studied to be a priest, but dropped out of seminary and took a job as a palm-oil factory manager. On his last leave to Europe, Rycker married a young Belgian lady just out of school, Marie. After Querry manages to leave, Marie shows an old newspaper article to her husband with a picture of the famous architect. To have someone of the stature and significance of Querry show up in his obscure part of the world is a privilege that Rycker cannot not take advantage of.

Rycker is a very frustrated man. Although he married Marie to avoid burning from unlawful lust, he would have rather married the church. He is desperate to talk to Querry about his deep love of God. The self-possessed and famous Querry, known for his torrid love affairs, inspired a different desire in Marie.

Although Querry did not wish to engage with his old vocation, his growing friendship with the doctor draws him out and he begins to design the new hospital that the leper colony needs. Querry engages himself fully in the creation of a building not meant to inspire or to signify, but to help and to be: a building whose entire purpose will be its functionality.

But Querry cannot be left alone. Rycker wants him. A washed-up, overweight journalist trying to find a good story in Africa wants him. The former believes Querry to be a saint, the latter believes that that would make a good story. The needs of these two, along with Marie, spin faster and faster in a spiral around Querry. A whirlwind that tries to make Querry a saint and then makes him a sinner, all while Querry tries to continue down a path of his own.

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Even if we are not of the world, being in the world is enough to compromise us. This book hinges around a fairy tale that Querry tells Marie about why he abandoned his profession. Telling the tale exorcises the cafard that had plagued him since he came from Europe. He begins to understand his life. But nobody else understands and everyone wishes to use Querry (even Dr. Colin wants him to make useful tools and buildings). This book is similar to many Graham Greene books, in which farce and tragedy change places in rapid succession with the result that the reader isn’t sure which one was on stage at the end of the book.

I read this book last year for the first time and it was also one of Greene’s books that sparked a desire in me to read all of his works.

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Tomorrow I’ll publish a brief review of In Search of a Character: Two African Journals. The first journal in this collection describes Greene’s experiences in the Congo while he was researching this book.