The Third Man: In Graham Greene’s novella—on which his screenplay was based—the protagonist is a novelist who has multiple personality

The Third Man

Rollo Martins is a novelist who writes Westerns as Buck Dexter, and writes serious novels as Benjamin Dexter. Rollo writes the Westerns. Benjamin writes the serious novels. Martins has never heard of Benjamin or read his work.

“There was always a conflict in Rollo Martins…Rollo looked at every woman that passed, and Martins renounced them for ever” (1, p. 18).

“Rollo wanted to hit out, but Martins was steady, careful. Martins, I began to realize, was dangerous” (1, p. 26).

“Martins at that moment was prepared to agree to anything to get rid of Mr Crabbin and also to secure a week’s free board and lodging; and Rollo…had always been prepared to accept any suggestion — for a drink, for a girl, for a joke, for a new excitement” (1, p. 30).

“Martins…had never read the work of…Benjamin Dexter: he hadn’t even heard of him…[Benjamin] Dexter has been ranked as a stylist with Henry James… ‘Have you ever read a book called The Lone Rider of Santa Fe?’ [Rollo asks Crabbin]. ‘I never imagined you reading Westerns, Mr [Benjamin] Dexter’…and it needed all Martin’s resolution to stop Rollo saying,‘But I write them’“ (1, p. 31).

“He had had time to think: he was calm now, Martins not Rollo was in the ascendant” (1, p. 40).

“Rollo was in control and moved towards the only girl he knew in Vienna… ‘Can I stay a little?’ he asked with a gentleness that was more Martins than Rollo” (1, pp. 60-61).

Gratuitous Multiple Personality

The main character’s multiple personality, so casually and clearly described in the first half of this novella, is not mentioned in the second half. Why? One reason is that it really has nothing to do with either the plot or character development. Its presence in this novella is completely gratuitous. And when multiple personality appears in a literary work for no literary reason, its presence is simply a reflection of the author’s subjective experience. 

I once found the same thing in another novelist’s work—in some ways, it was even more flagrant than in Greene’s novella—but in that case I was able to email the author about it. I asked, “Why does your main character have multiple personality in the first half of your novel, but you don’t mention it in the second half?” The author emailed back that the character did not have multiple personality; it was just ordinary psychology.

Well, to a novelist who had multiple personality, it certainly would seem ordinary.

1. Graham Greene. The Third Man [1950] and The Fallen Idol. New York, Penguin Books, 1976.