Alas, Poor Maling
"Alas, Poor Maling" is a short story by Graham Greene. It was first published in 1940.
Plot summary
The story is told in first person by an unnamed narrator who has a friend named Maling. Maling is afflicted with an unusual medical affliction which his doctors label "borborygmi" and his friends label "tummy rumbles". Maling's case of this disease is unusual in that his stomach rumblings echo sounds they have recently "heard". An example is given where Maling's stomach repeats the opening of a Brahms Concerto. The narrator then tells the story of how Maling's unusual stomach condition caused the bankruptcy of the company he worked for.
During an important meeting in which Maling's company negotiated a merger, Maling's stomach imitates the air raid siren that was sounded in London during the Blitz. The officers of the company retreat to a bomb shelter because Maling is ashamed to admit that his stomach is responsible. As no all-clear is sounded, the officers remain in the shelter for twelve hours, ruining the attempted merger and leading the company to bankruptcy.
Written in the midst of the Blitz, "Alas, Poor Maling" is intended to raise the morale of a demoralized London. The story also calls into question the practicality of social etiquette, for if Maling had admitted to his stomach condition, the problem could have been avoided.
Television adaptation
"Alas, Poor Maling" was one of several Greene stories to be adapted for the 1975-76 British television drama series Shades of Greene, starring John Bird as Maling.[1] Greene adapted the screenplay himself.[2]
References
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- The Man Within (1929)
- The Name of Action (1930)
- Rumour at Nightfall (1932)
- Stamboul Train (1932)
- It's a Battlefield (1934)
- England Made Me (1935)
- The Bear Fell Free (1935)
- A Gun for Sale (1936)
- Brighton Rock (1938)
- The Confidential Agent (1939)
- The Power and the Glory (1940)
- The Ministry of Fear (1943)
- The Heart of the Matter (1948)
- The Third Man (novella; 1949)
- The End of the Affair (1951)
- The Quiet American (1955)
- Loser Takes All (1955)
- Our Man in Havana (1958)
- A Burnt-Out Case (1960)
- The Comedians (1966)
- Travels with My Aunt (1969)
- The Honorary Consul (1973)
- The Human Factor (1978)
- Doctor Fischer of Geneva (1980)
- Monsignor Quixote (1982)
- The Tenth Man (1985)
- The Captain and the Enemy (1988)
- No Man's Land (2005)
- Journey Without Maps (1936)
- The Lawless Roads (1939)
- In Search of a Character (1961)
- Getting to Know the General: The Story of an Involvement (1984)
- A Sort of Life (1971)
- Ways of Escape (1980)
- Getting to Know the General: The Story of an Involvement (1984)
- A World of My Own: A Dream Diary (1992)
- The Living Room (1953)
- The Potting Shed (1957)
- The Complaisant Lover (1959)
- Carving a Statue (1964)
- The Return of A. J. Raffles (1975)
- The Great Jowett (1981)
- Yes and No (1983)
- For Whom the Bell Chimes (1983)
- Twenty-One Stories (1954)
- A Sense of Reality (1963)
- May We Borrow Your Husband? (1967)
- The Last Word and Other Stories (1990)
- "The End of the Party" (1929)
- "Proof Positive" (1930)
- "The Basement Room" (1936)
- "Across the Bridge" (1938)
- "Alas, Poor Maling" (1940)
- "The Blue Film" (1954)
- "The Destructors" (1954)
- "A Shocking Accident"
- "The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen"
- "The Last Word"
- Orient Express (1934)
- The Future's in the Air (1937)
- The New Britain (1940)
- 21 Days (1940)
- This Gun for Hire (1942)
- Went the Day Well? (1942)
- Ministry of Fear (1944)
- Brighton Rock (1947)
- The Fallen Idol (1948)
- The Third Man (1949)
- The Heart of the Matter (1953)
- The End of the Affair (1955)
- Loser Takes All (1956)
- Saint Joan (1957)
- The Quiet American (1958)
- Our Man in Havana (1959)
- The Comedians (1967)
- Travels with My Aunt (1972)
- The Human Factor (1979)
- The Honorary Consul (1983)
- Monsignor Quixote (1985)
- The End of the Affair (1999)
- The Quiet American (2002)
- Brighton Rock (2010)
- Brighton Rock (play)
- Shades of Greene