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.

1 comment: