SOURCE: "Graham Greene and the Hounds of Brighton Rock," in Modern Fiction Studies, Vol. 37, No. 4, Winter, 1991, pp. 689-703.

In the following essay, Malamet discusses elements of detection, pursuit, and evasion in Brighton Rock. Contrary to critical interpretations that emphasis the conflict between Ida and Pinkie, Malamet contends that "the metaphysical hunt is the more fundamental tension for Pinkie, and it is centered around his connection to the past, and his relationship with Rose Wilson and the invisible hand of God."

The narrative of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock gains force through the presentation of two conflicting impulses continually at war with one another. The text describes not only the literal pursuit of Hale, and then the hunt for Pinkie, but also abounds with the metaphoric terminology of detection, containment, and capture, from Rose's yearning to seal Pinkie's words on a recording to the snapshot of an unaware Spicer that...