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fabrisseI've been watching a lot of TV and reading a lot of books. For some reason, most of both have been British.
Among other things, I've been re-reading the Calder and Behrens stories by Michael Gilbert. Nothing expresses the absolute "get things done" of intelligence services better than these stories, and, like LeCarre (although in a much shorter format), the characters are British of a particular generation.
For TV, MI-5 (Spooks in Britain), especially the characters of Harry Pearce and Connie James, show how utterly detached in their actions intelligence operatives need to be.
In many ways, I have more to say, but can't because this milieu is part of my background, thanks to Dad working for Military Intelligence during his Army career (including time as an exchange officer with MI-5 during the late 1960s). Dad's British colleagues were men with interests in painting or experiences in the colonies. All of them had fabulous senses of humor based around puns and allusion. (Frankly, most of Dad's US colleagues whom I met had no ability with word play or understanding of humor, although there were a couple of notable, and hilarious, exceptions.)
This is somewhat disjointed, I know, but for some reason, these utterly ruthless people with clear goals are comforting while I'm healing.
ETA: College Rankings Worldwide. Cambridge beats Oxford and MIT beats Harvard (and Cambridge) for number one!
Among other things, I've been re-reading the Calder and Behrens stories by Michael Gilbert. Nothing expresses the absolute "get things done" of intelligence services better than these stories, and, like LeCarre (although in a much shorter format), the characters are British of a particular generation.
For TV, MI-5 (Spooks in Britain), especially the characters of Harry Pearce and Connie James, show how utterly detached in their actions intelligence operatives need to be.
In many ways, I have more to say, but can't because this milieu is part of my background, thanks to Dad working for Military Intelligence during his Army career (including time as an exchange officer with MI-5 during the late 1960s). Dad's British colleagues were men with interests in painting or experiences in the colonies. All of them had fabulous senses of humor based around puns and allusion. (Frankly, most of Dad's US colleagues whom I met had no ability with word play or understanding of humor, although there were a couple of notable, and hilarious, exceptions.)
This is somewhat disjointed, I know, but for some reason, these utterly ruthless people with clear goals are comforting while I'm healing.
ETA: College Rankings Worldwide. Cambridge beats Oxford and MIT beats Harvard (and Cambridge) for number one!
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Date: 2013-09-11 12:42 am (UTC)I've worked, on occasion, with people who have no sense of humor. It's no fun.