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No, I haven't. The point of the comment is that Fleming provided a nicer narrative than Le Carré so it was prefered for political reasons. Fleming, in the art

by narag 4y ago

No, I haven't. The point of the comment is that Fleming provided a nicer narrative than Le Carré so it was prefered for political reasons. Fleming, in the article, pretty much says that he doesn't care much about politics, that he wrote for his own pleasure and the readers'. Saying that spy agencies promoted Fleming's work is unsubstantiated. I've seem weirder, like the CIA supporting abstract expresionists, but anyway it seems more likely that Fleming was successful just because it was entertaining. Le Carré was also very successful, so no need to create a war there.

tptacek 4y ago
This point is unrelated to the one I made. But the preceding commenter didn't make up the fact that le Carré drew flak from the British IC; that's one of the most often-told stories about him. For instance (first thing off the SERP, didn't dig deeper): https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/26/what-spies-really-think-about-john-le-carre/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/26/what-spies-really-think... If you're totally unfamiliar with le Carré's work, it's OK not to have an opinion about him! He's not, like, part of the Canon.
- narag 4y ago
  Not totally unfamilliar, I've probably seen some movie based on his books... I remember hearing about his troubles, maybe when he passed away. BTW, I wouldn't need to read Tarantino's book. I watched the original sources at that time, and we had Bond in the same bag as Wang Yu, Trinidad or Bruce Lee, even if we were teens. So I totally believe that Le Carré had a bad time, but Fleming wasn't really in the same genre to function as an antidote.
  - tptacek 4y ago
    Oh, I agree that they aren't antidotes to each other. But: the moral dilemma in le Carré's work is nowhere nearly as simple as you make it out to be, and it's interesting to hear Tarantino say which movies he stole things from, and why he paid so much attention to them, and which 9 movies those movies drew from. It's a fun read.

by narag 4y ago

tptacek 4y ago

This point is unrelated to the one I made. But the preceding commenter didn't make up the fact that le Carré drew flak from the British IC; that's one of the most often-told stories about him. For instance (first thing off the SERP, didn't dig deeper): https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/26/what-spies-really-think-about-john-le-carre/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/26/what-spies-really-think... If you're totally unfamiliar with le Carré's work, it's OK not to have an opinion about him! He's not, like, part of the Canon.

narag 4y ago
Not totally unfamilliar, I've probably seen some movie based on his books... I remember hearing about his troubles, maybe when he passed away. BTW, I wouldn't need to read Tarantino's book. I watched the original sources at that time, and we had Bond in the same bag as Wang Yu, Trinidad or Bruce Lee, even if we were teens. So I totally believe that Le Carré had a bad time, but Fleming wasn't really in the same genre to function as an antidote.
- tptacek 4y ago
  Oh, I agree that they aren't antidotes to each other. But: the moral dilemma in le Carré's work is nowhere nearly as simple as you make it out to be, and it's interesting to hear Tarantino say which movies he stole things from, and why he paid so much attention to them, and which 9 movies those movies drew from. It's a fun read.