Duel Duet: Selected Stories

Twenty-two short stories by Graham Greene, arranged in pairs to be read as either a duel or a duet.

A Penguin Classic

Few twentieth-century writers are as celebrated for their craft as Graham Greene, whose acclaimed political thrillers and morally complex characters influenced generations of authors and filmmakers. Greene’s explorations of human nature—its harmonies and contradictions—ranged from tales of secret agents, murder, and war to dramas about love and fear, morality and faith. This balance of vigour and virtuosity is also present in Greene’s prodigious body of short stories. In this new collection, Pulitzer Prize winner (and Graham Greene devotee) Yiyun Li arranges a selection of twenty-two classic Graham Greene short stories into pairs, to be read together either as a duel or a duet, offering a new perspective on a writer we thought we knew and the lasting power of his short fiction.

Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.