A Very Private Gentleman
Encyclopedia
A Very Private Gentleman is a novel
written by British
author Martin Booth
, published in 1990. It is a tragedy
following events in the life of a gunsmith who sells his services to assassins. The style is also partly in the form of classic confessional writing
, as the protagonist seeks to explain the relevance of his choice of profession.
's screenplay for the 2010 film The American
directed by Anton Corbijn. Parallel to the release of the film, the novel was also republished under the same name by Bantam Books
, with cover designs taken from the film.
The film has several smaller changes from the book's plot, for instance that the gunsmith has a job dealer in the film, whereas he finds work on his own (or it finds him) in the book.
The main difference, however, is in the tone of the drama, and in the ending. In the book Edmund is an intelligent and persuasive defender of his work, while the film portrays a feeling of doom in sound/music and also in the main character's face. Thereby is the complete tragedy perhaps the only option, and the protagonist dies in the last scene of the film. The book also ends tragically, but there Edmund at least saves his life. The tragedy lies in that he has to leave the village and Clara.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
written by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
author Martin Booth
Martin Booth
Martin Booth was a prolific British novelist and poet. He also worked as a teacher and screenwriter, and was the founder of the Sceptre Press.-Early life:...
, published in 1990. It is a tragedy
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
following events in the life of a gunsmith who sells his services to assassins. The style is also partly in the form of classic confessional writing
Confessional writing
In literature, confessional writing is a first-person style that is often presented as an ongoing diary or letters, distinguished by revelations of a person's heart and darker motivations....
, as the protagonist seeks to explain the relevance of his choice of profession.
Setting
The time of the story seems to be late 20th century, more or less similar to the year of publication. The story is written in the first-person narrative from the point of view of the main character, who is known as Edmund or Signor Farfalla. He lives in a small hill town in the north of Italy.Plot
The protagonist makes his living custom-making firearms specified for individual assassins' needs. To the townsfolk he puts on the role of a painter of butterflies, which can be found in diverse and rich measures in the hilly and forested areas around the village. The protagonist is reserved and very skilled at keeping his real job a secret. Edmund is a foreigner, and although he does not reveal his origin to anybody (not even the reader), he pretends to be an Englishman. This is not far from the truth, since he admits to having stayed in the English countryside for a very long time at an earlier stage in his career. Although his profession has demanded that he move location from time to time, he has developed a fondness for the Italian village, in particular a young woman, and has decided that he wants to stay. However, a person described as a "shadow-dweller" starts showing up in the mountains spying - or threatening - Signor Farfalla. While finding out who he is, Signor Farfalla must decide whether to face his opponent or escape and leave his home once more.Characters
- Signor Farfalla - a middle-aged man who is possibly from a country where English is spoken as a first language. He is a skilled craftsman, first and foremost with metal and steel, but he is also a painter. He is also well-read and spends much of his time lecturing to the reader about subjects from history, culture, politics, religion and literature. The time of writing of the story has Signor Farfalle sitting at an unknown place shortly after the events of the plot have finished. He is a thorough storyteller, who for instance is very focused on descring the landscape and geography in which his story unfolds. However, he is also a lecturer of sorts, who takes great care to digress from the action of the story, in order to inform the reader on various subjects, as they seem to arise. He includes small essays about politics, religion, history, culture, as well as expositions about his own secret profession and the machinations of his own small and sinister "world". Unlike what one might expect, Edmund is not apologetic towards his profession. On the contrary, he sees the need for people who kill to change the world for the better.
- Father Benedetto - A local Catholic priest in the Italian village. He befriends Signor Farfalla, and they discover a shared interest in wine, food, as well as the joy of debate and discussion.
- Clara - A young Italian student. She meets Signor Farfalla, who is much older than her, as he becomes her regular client in the local bordello. After a while the two start dating on a more serious level.
Adaptation
The most famous use of the novel is as a basis for Rowan JoffeRowan Joffé
Rowan Marc Joffé is a British screenwriter and director. He is the son of director Roland Joffé and actress Jane Lapotaire, and half-brother of actress Nathalie Lunghi....
's screenplay for the 2010 film The American
The American (2010 film)
The American is a 2010 American thriller film directed by Anton Corbijn and starring George Clooney, Thekla Reuten, Violante Placido, Irina Björklund, and Paolo Bonacelli. It is an adaptation of the 1990 novel A Very Private Gentleman by Martin Booth...
directed by Anton Corbijn. Parallel to the release of the film, the novel was also republished under the same name by Bantam Books
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by Random House, the German media corporation subsidiary of Bertelsmann; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine...
, with cover designs taken from the film.
The film has several smaller changes from the book's plot, for instance that the gunsmith has a job dealer in the film, whereas he finds work on his own (or it finds him) in the book.
The main difference, however, is in the tone of the drama, and in the ending. In the book Edmund is an intelligent and persuasive defender of his work, while the film portrays a feeling of doom in sound/music and also in the main character's face. Thereby is the complete tragedy perhaps the only option, and the protagonist dies in the last scene of the film. The book also ends tragically, but there Edmund at least saves his life. The tragedy lies in that he has to leave the village and Clara.