After viewing the half-dozen episodes on ITV, I feel I need to reread The Ipcress File to find out if ‘based on the novel by Len Deighton’ is accurate or the TV version just has the same title and a few characters with the same names.
After all, TV does have a reputation for playing fast & loose with real life. Why not also with fiction?
Next on the reading list.
Tuesday 12 April 2022
Further exploration needed
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The Ipcress File is compelling reading, but I think Len Deighton's most enthralling book by far was Murder in Berlin. Deighton took it upon himself to counter both Ian Fleming and David Cornwell aka John Le Carré with what I call "raw espionage". It is rumoured that on the few occasions they met, near nuclear arguments ensued. They had a lot in common as spy fiction writers although paradoxically while on occasion Deighton arguably produced the most realistic stuff he had no direct experience of military intelligence. In that vein it is a shame more espionage thrillers aren't fact based. Courtesy of being factual extra dimensions are added. First, you can read about what’s in the novel in press cuttings and history books. Second, if even just marginally autobiographical, the author has the opportunity to convey his/her genuine hopes and fears as experienced in real life. An example of such a "real" thriller is Beyond Enkription, the first novel or memoir in The Burlington Files series. It's worth mentioning in this context because, coincidentally, some critics have likened its protagonist to a "posh Harry Palmer" and the first novel in the series is indisputably noir, maybe even Deightonesque. It's worth checking out this enigmatic and elusive thriller. Not being a remake it may have eluded you!
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