--- William Ahearn <
williamahearn@yahoo.com> wrote:
Even so, I think
> Fleming wrote -- maybe even created -- a genre and
I
> think that Graham Greene whoops his ass every day
in
> terms of talent and vision. That's just my
opinion
> and
> not the laws of the unmutable universe. Soon . .
.
***************************************************** As to
Fleming creating a genre, I think he owed a great deal to Sax
Rohmer and Edgar Wallace, not to mention Raymond Chandler to
whom he acknowledged inspiration. Fleming certainly created
an icon.
We're in complete agreement concerning Greene's writing
chops, but I do think he and Fleming were attempting to do
the same thing. Maybe Greene took himself a little more
seriously as a writer.
***************************************************
You mean
> to
> say that every novel about a spy is espionage
genre?
> Is that what you're saying? That The Spy Who Came
In
> From The Cold and Goldfinger are the same
genre?
*************************************************** I
wouldn't say that BLEAK HOUSE is, strictly speaking, a
detective story, even though Mr. Bucket is the first
detective to play an important role in a novel. So I can
imagine a novel that has a spy in a major role but is not
essentially espionage genre. But THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE
COLD & GOLDFINGER? Absolutely, they're examples of the
same genre. THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD is perhaps more
intelligently conceived than GOLDFINGER in terms of
complexity and plot, while GOLDFINGER may be more enjoyable
for many readers. But the two books do the same thing: they
tell an exciting story about international crime and the
people who try to subvert it. The stories are both romantic.
Neither tries to document historic events or do more than
entertain. The real difference is tone. LeCarre tends to be
downbeat, Fleming upbeat.
Patrick King
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