A Burnt-Out Case

‘Quarry’, a renowned architect and the protagonist in this story, arrives in the african Congo in a psychologically debilitated state. Working at a leper colony he is initially described as the mental equivalent of a “burnt-out case”, a term that is used to describe a mutilated leper.
So begins this novel by Graham Greene. The jacket illustration is a detail from W. Eugene Smith’s photo of the ‘insane stockade’ at Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s compound in the French Congo. A pair of hands can be seen sticking out from between the slats.
An even better-known image of madness by Smith may be found on the cover of Mayra Montero’s book, The Red of His Shadow, this time from Haiti.

To view an uncropped version of Smith’s ‘insane stockade’ photo, click here.