A month or so ago, I
came across a piece in one of the national UK newspapers, The Daily Telegraph, detailing the ‘twenty greatest spy novels of
all time’.
The books dated from
Rudyard Kipling’s KIM from 1901 and Eskine Childers’ RIDDLE OF THE SANDS (1903)
up to SLOW HORSES by Mick Herron, published in 2010.
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| Monument to Yulian Semyonov in Yalta |
In between are the
likes of Joseph Conrad, Eric Ambler, Ian Fleming, Graham Green, John Le Carré,
Robert Ludlum and Len Deighton, among others. There’s the odd more unusual
choice, such as Russian author Yulian Semyonov’s SEVENTEEN MOMENTS OF SPRING
from 1969, apparently written at the urging of the chief of the KGB as a
propaganda exercise that became greater than the sum of its parts. Fascinating
to see the Cold War from the other side of the curtain.
But, only one female
author’s work makes the cut – Helen MacInnes’ ASSIGNMENT IN BRITTANY from 1942.
Interesting that in the short paragraph describing each entry on this list,
more lineage is given to Ms MacInnes’ husband, (an Oxford classicist and MI6
agent) than to Ms MacInnes’ own background.
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| Helen MacInnes and her 1968 novel, THE SALZBURG CONNECTION |
Is it truly the case
that women don’t, won’t, or can’t write in this genre? Or that the quality of
what they do is not up to the standard of the men? I do hope not. But, if not, why isn’t their work more highly
regarded?
Some of the first
espionage thrillers I remember reading were those by Evelyn Anthony. She
started writing mainly historical novels in 1949, but later switched to spy
thrillers, including those featuring the female head of British Intelligence,
Davina Graham.
More latterly, Gayle
Lynds has enjoyed enormous success in the espionage genre, after her first
novel, MASQUERADE, was apparently accepted then rejected by the female
president of a New York publishing house as it “couldn’t possibly have been
written by a woman”.
Libby Fischer Hellmann
writes in the crime thriller field, but has branched out in more recent years
with standalones such as THE INCIDENTAL SPY, set during the early years of the
Manhattan Project.
And when the Robert Ludlum estate were looking for a writer to continue his work, the job went to Jamie Freveletti.
I don’t claim to be
enormously widely read in this genre, but surely that can’t be it? Can it?
Any
suggestions welcome!
And another point I
noted from the ‘twenty greatest’ list – only one book featured a female
protagonist. Peter O’Donnell’s Modesty Blaise is the only woman given centre
stage, with others relegated to the usual love interest/damsel in
distress/femme fatale role. Indeed, in John Buchan’s original novel, THE
THIRTY-NINE STEPS, the character of Pamela/Victoria/Miss Fisher (depending on
which of the movie adaptations you’ve watched) is missing altogether.
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| Peter O'Donnell's MODESTY BLAISE. I can only hope the novels are better than the dire 1966 movie of the same name ... |
Reading the jacket
copy synopsis for many books being published today, I would have said there
were far more female protags about – I do wonder why they all seem to have to
be beautiful, however. Do all male protags have to be mind-bendingly handsome?
OK, I’ve had my rant.
Time for you to have your say.
This week’s Word of
the Week is goya, an Urdu word meaning
‘as if’ and often used to describe the suspension of disbelief or
transportation that comes through good storytelling.
Posts
I thought goya was just a Brooklyn-raised fellow talking about his bro: "Jeff's ma gota goya, ya knoy?" But, I sit corrected. I gladly experience goya each and every day reading MIE...
ReplyDeleteIt has many meanings, EvKa. I just picked the one I liked best :))
DeleteThe Modesty Blaise books and, indeed, the cartoon strip that originated them, are well worth a read. Dated, of course, but the characters are fabulous and there's plot twists galore.
ReplyDeleteI really must give them a try. Mitchy. I'm afraid I made the mistake of watching the movie and it was so bad it put me off!
DeleteOh, Zoe, now you got me started. I see red. Ignoring the work of women is so pervasive, most people don't even notice how left out we are. For years, I counted the reviews of crime fiction in the NY Times Book Review. Most columns had NONE by a woman. Every once in a while one would show up. Still today, there are more books by men than women, and it has nothing to do with their worth as fiction, as far as I can see. This is not sour grapes. I have never expected to have my books reviewed there. Nerdy historical mysteries almost never get in. What I also know is that a review in that column is worth about 2000 copies sold. At least that is what my then agent told me several years ago. And the author of that column is a woman. Sorry. I will go away now.
ReplyDeleteNever go away, Annamaria! I hadn't known about the NYT Book Review thing. That's very interesting ... but in a highly frustrating way. Back when I worked in the motoring field I remember being made one of the Head Judges for a European Finals competition. It was very much a case of being a novelty token woman judge (I think I was the only one at the time). They were somewhat taken aback to find I'd helped write the rule book and actually knew what I was doing ...
DeleteDon't get me started on sexism in publishing. It is so frustrating, so infuriating, and the problem is, it's the sort of structural problem where your own individual efforts have little effect.
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa. It certainly took me by surprise when I started writing. I'd foolishly assumed that it would be something of a level playing field. I used to think that, if I was starting again, I'd write under a pseudonym that was hard to put a gender on, like Alex, or Chris, or even go for initials, but that feels like giving in. I think to hell with it. I write the books I write and hope I can convert as many readers as I can.
DeleteDon't forget Stella Rimington, who was a spy (sort of) in real life:
ReplyDeletehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_Rimington
Yes, Rachel Amphlett (another fine thriller writer, although more political thrillers than espionage) already mentioned Stella Rimington on the responses to this blog on Facebook. I feel very remiss for leaving her out!
DeleteI'm in the same boat as Annamaria and Lisa here - I'm gender-blind when I read a book, in terms of quality - I don't care if the author is male, female, or a lawn chair. If the book is well-written, that's all that matters to me. The problem is, it really DOES seem that lists like this just omit the women - and it frustrates me so badly that that's the case, both because I think women DO write brilliantly and because I suspect the reviewers just pass them by.
ReplyDeleteMe, too, Susan, although I can't recall the last book written by a lawn chair that I really enjoyed ... :-)
DeleteBut the worst thing is when you're recategorised by gender. I once had a reviewer tell me he thought one of my books was the best thrillers 'written by a woman' he'd read all year. Why add that proviso? Was it not good enough to be simply one of the best thrillers he'd read all year? Clearly not ...
I have realised that I've been very remiss not to have included Aly Monroe in my list, who writes classic espionage thrillers featuring British Agent Peter Cotton, the first of which is THE MAZE OF CADIZ. My humble apologies, Aly!
ReplyDeleteI am amazed at how much bias...make that prejudice...continues against women in so many arenas where they've repeatedly proven themselves at least as proficient as men. Not just in our world of writing, but pick any profession or pursuit historically dominated by men and it still continues in so many ways, often not even subtle. What boggles my mind is that at the most simplistic level, do these men actually look at their daughters and grand daughters and realize they're saying, "I don't want you ever having the same chance at success as a male"?
ReplyDeleteNow I'm gonna goya back to my normal frivolous self.
JM Siger.
(Bows) No problems, Zoe - and thanks for the mention. I get a lot of rather incredulous 'Oh, you're the spy woman!' Historically, in the world of espionage, too, the role played by women was never given much attention. Those girls in the basement to pat on the head (or bum) and call 'dear' were often highly qualified mathematicians or other, doing the hard and valuable slog of complicated decoding etc. What is sad is that these attitudes are sometimes still perpetuated by attitudes that show amazement that a woman might wield a hammer - or write about the world of espionage, or think logically. We are allowed a little rant here, aren't we?
ReplyDelete