CLASSICS OF DETECTIVE FICTION
Week 1: John Buchan’s The Thirty-Nine Steps
Week 3: Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana Week 4: Ian Fleming’s Goldfinger Week 5: John Le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Week 6: Joseph Finder, Charles McCarry, “End of the String” and “Neighbors” OVERVIEW OF EPITAPH
Overview Dark Frontier (1936) parodies British thriller Epitaph for a Spy (1938) resets country-house mystery on French Riveria with a spy plot Viewpoint 1st person point of view = fear, ineptitude and selfishness Form Character study -> social types/deceit Spying as a game -> games within games Country-house mystery -> discover who did it within a certain time CONTEXT: WWII SPIES
Allied spies: Soviet spies: Virginia Hall Cambridge 5 Agent Garbo Philby Burgess Maclean Cairncross Blunt MORALITY/ETHICS OF SPYING
Business is never be purely neutral Pharmacist who develops film, tells police A job is not just a job -> morality and ethics are involved Vadassy deciding whether to save himself at expense of Schmiler/Heinberger P. 160 – It was my liberty or someone elses ERIC AMBLER
June 1909, Born in London 1920s, Engineering student; advertising copywriter 1930s, Moves to Paris; marries Louise Crombie 1936, Publishes The Dark Frontier 1938, Publishes Epitaph for a Spy 1939 Publishes, A Coffin for Dimitrios ERIC AMBLER
1940, Publishes Journey into Fear
1941-44, Royal Artillery; assistant director army films; earns Lt. Colonel rank
1950s, Works in British/U.S. films; moves to Hollywood
1958, Marries screenwriter/ producer Joan Harrison ERIC AMBLER
1959, Publishes Passage of Arms
1960s, Works for TV/film 1969, Moves to Switzerland
1972, Publishes The Levanter
1981, Publishes Care of Time
1985, Returns to England
1998, Dies CRITICS/READERS
Peers: Praised for realism—psychological, social, political Spy thriller from melodrama to realism Dirtiness, not glamour, of ordinary spying Villains and heroes banal, shabby Story material from travelling, talking to refugees First to capture British subject’s cynicism with the Empire’s society and politics CRITICS/READERS
Questions: Still relevant post-Cold War? Bad guys undercut by humour, ridiculous habits Popular fiction said more about reality than high literature Depicts how business, government and crime work closely together ‘Depicts death of Victorian ideals; new world of big business, profit and violence replaces it PLOT – KEY EVENTS
Assignment: Suspicious photos of military installments; Vadassy threatened to find out who the spy is Quest pursuit/obstacles: Hotel guests could all be the spy but who? Inept spycraft by Vadassy – losing the camera Accused of being a thief – distrusted by other guests Not realizing it is Roux Falsely accusing Schimler/Heinberger – putting him at risk with the Vogels PLOT – KEY EVENTS
Resolution: Roux leaves hotel with Vadassy arrest as spy Roux’s attempt to turn Vadassy into a real spy Attempted capture, his death His paymaster uncovered No great heroism – fear, failure and starting back at zero Being forced by state to do things we don’t want to do
Conclusion : Returning to “normal” but alienated, lack of trust GROUP ACTIVITY
Key secondary characters Vogels – jolly Germans Herr Heinberger/Schimler- secret Communist spy Skeltons – young American cousins M. Duclos – French factory owner Clarendon-Hartleys
Questions: Who do I pretend to be? Who am I really? Why am I lying? What will happen to me if I don’t lie? JEOPARDY - SF ELEMENTS
Hero: Where is Joseph Vadassy from? Average man-in-middle, unheroic, fearful; misreads clues/own self (Vadassy)
Villain: What physical oddity does Roux have? Overly sensual/brutal behaviour Shrewd observer, intelligent interrogator “Realist” (materialistic) world view SPY FICTION ELEMENTS
Helpers: What relationship do the Skelton’s pretend to have? Mean well (“genuine”) – Skeltons, Kӧche Self-interested – Duclos, Vogels, Clarendon-Hartleys Victims – Schimler, Vadassy
Chief: What does Beghin do in the heat? Banal but dangerous Shrewd, calculating. Official power vs. the stateless citizen SPY FICTION ELEMENTS
Technology/spycraft: What 3 nationalities does Heinberger use? Speak foreign languages; disguises; blackmail Specialness of a camera - role of tech allows for theft of intelligence
Abroad: What major French Riveria city is the hotel close to? England/America “safe” but Europe readying for war Vacation spot of Riveria is no escape from politics Settings as key to glamour – being away from home ISSUES & THEMES
Realism vs. fantasy: Unheroic hero Vadassy’s wild imagination
Respectable vs. criminal: Everyone appears “proper” BUT impropriety is widespread -> self-interest as motive ISSUES & THEMES
Providence vs. Chance vs. Choice: What is meant to happen – the will of the universe or human choice? Camera taken by mistake – does the mix up favour the spy? Spy’s jump to freedom fails Hero’s citizenship problem resolved by cooperating (spying accusation saves) ISSUES & THEMES
Average citizen: What does loyalty/legal behaviour: depend on - a certain amount of pleasure? What is freedom? The safety to move, talk, meet moderate pleasures? What is lost freedom? Searched/seized property (identity cards), restricted movement, social alienation ISSUES & THEMES
Spy/criminal: Self-guarantees freedom, self-defines pleasure Freedom of action via violence Pleasure not “ordinary” but excessive, desiring more than others FILM
Ambler successful screenwriter: Noir characters plus anti-hero Exotic atmosphere Frequent devices = re-construct identity and/or dead coming alive → influences Greene’s “The Third Man,” Welles’ “Citizen Kane” FILM CONT.
Hitchcock’s uncertain heroes/spies – who to trust? -> Notorious – hunting Nazis;
The lady vanishes (spies)
Suspicion who is the hero? Saboteur – man on run, wrongly accused
Foreign Correspondant – looking for villain – but under your nose – the girlfriend’s father Ambler’s wife Joan Harrison, worked as screenwriter for Hitchcock and then as as producer before marrying Ambler; Ambler’s books influenced AH FILM CONT.
“Topkapi” (1964) – based on Ambler’s Light of Day
Hiring Arthur Simpson – shmoh
Thriller-comedy, how the rejected of British society become criminals or quasi-criminals
Dassin leaves US before 1950 b/c of Hollywood blacklist, moves to France, directs and known for noir films