Blogue d'un québécois expatrié en Angleterre. Comme toute forme d'autobiographie est constituée d'une large part de fiction, j'ai décidé de nommer le blogue Vraie Fiction.
Saturday, 26 January 2019
The Compleat Angler in a spy novel
I am currently reading Call for the Dead, the first novel (or rather novella) written by John Le Carré. Like for last year, I thought this was the right time for some spy thriller. So far so very good, I am really getting into Le Carré's prose, he writes genre novels like it is "proper" literature and it works. But anyway, there is a quote in the novel that really struck me. The protagonist George Smiley receives a letter from civil servant Sam Fennan, who has (apparently) just committed suicide. The letter is short, but it says: "It is essential that I lunch with you at The Compleat Angler at Marlow." I found this very funny, as I have been to the Compleat Angler a couple of times, including one time when I had lunch there. So small English town has another claim to literary fame apart from this one. I have to say, the hotel is perfect for a meeting of secret agents in a spy thriller.
Were you meeting YOUR spymaster there, Guillaume?
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