I would like to turn your
attention to the last portion of the story. The very crux of the spy plot
itself (having to create a news headline in order to communicate a signal) is
made possible only through a bygone era in which communications (from spy to
spy headquarters) could require the type of absurd ingenuity so as to enable
such a gut-wrenching event. For me, the question is whether and if a similarly
affecting plot could be carried out in modern times. Or have the blanketing
forces of space satellites and predator drones, limitless collateral damage,
ample but unfocused guilt and a mature (read motionless blob on couch) understanding
of the hypocrisy of it all, among other factors (a lifetime of bad film plots)
made such genuine feelings, basically or quite nearly impossible? But wait? I
was moved? In spite of all. Well perhaps this is
because through the lens of history I was able to look back with greater
simplicity and pared down focus.
But I wonder how
much of the power of a JLB plot can indeed be credited to the uniqueness of
an earlier spy time with different, more artisanal spy methods. Would I, if I existed back then
and read about such developments in the late edition, be as transfixed as I am
now? Of course I suspect not. But I also suspect if the stars all aligned
properly, I could still manage to end up half way between not excited at all
(current news) and completely drooling (reading Borges). This would suggest
there is indeed a real change which has occurred over time, and that all this
nostalgia is in fact completely justified.
On the other hand, surely the precise quality of the
writing in general, the initial establishment of atmosphere via delightful
obfuscation (of what the heck the story is about), the seductive (and
subverted) first person narrative, with its therefore exquisite denouement,
followed immediately with a counterintuitive yet consistent tone of
detachment, all have something
to do with it.
I suppose I would be quite curious to see what JLB could
do if he were doing it now, with the crap of today, would he be able to
generate the same effect? Some grand conspiracy involving
forty thousand dollars and three employees of a noted soft drink maker?
A top executive is caught shopping in the wrong place! Wow. The Queen of
England is a robot? And the head of