In 1950s Saigon, cynical British journalist Thomas Fowler watches an idealistic young American aid worker's theory-driven meddling in Vietnam's war curdle into disaster, entangled with both of them loving the same Vietnamese woman.
Books mentioned in The Quiet American (6)
The Physiology of Marriage by Honoré de Balzac: “Tucked away behind the anthology there was a paper-backed book called The Physiology of Marriage.”
The Triumph of Life by Percy Bysshe Shelley: “I found his light reading on another shelf: a portable Thomas Wolfe and a mysterious anthology called The Triumph of Life and a selection of American poetry.”
Pensées by Blaise Pascal: “His eyes were on a page of Les Pensées as though he were still absorbed in those sad arguments.”
La Garçonne by Victor Margueritte: “He unlocked a glass-fronted bookcase and showed me his library—there were expensive illustrated editions of Aphrodite and Nona, there was La Garçonne, and even several Paul de Kocks.”
Aphrodite by Pierre Louÿs: “there were expensive illustrated editions of Aphrodite and Nona, there was La Garçonne, and even several Paul de Kocks.”
Windsor Castle by William Harrison Ainsworth: “"Monsieur Pyle?" she inquired, looking up from the scrutiny of Windsor Castle, and her formality was comic and reassuring at that moment.”