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CHAPTER 111
MATRlX OF POPULAR FICTION
Popular fiction is a source of amusement. The stories are written
by writers who are aptly described, in the phrase of Harold Robbins, s, 0 "Dream Merchants." The writers offer a site for the readers to indulge
their fantasies. As a leisure-time activity, popular fiction has come to
occupy a wide bcrth among the modern sources of amusement. I t is only
logical to expect popular fiction to reflect the wants and the dreams of
the reading public which pays to buy these stories. The writer who is a
dream nicrchant cannot overlook the need to be able to sell his stories in
a 'market' of popular demand.
I'hese are obvious notions about the provenance and the
proliferation of popular fiction. It leads one to other observations about
this genre. That the stories must be written in order to make 'best
selling' propositions, points to the basic orientations of such narratives.
They cannot be innocent of the expectations of the reader. And in order
to be a bestscllcr they must be able to enshrine and cherish those themes
that will be acceptable to the largest number of readers. Edward
Armstead, the Newspaper baron, in Irving Wallace's The Almighty says,
"just glve pcople what they want, and they'll show up" (26). Invariably,
the stories of popular fiction are conditioned by a utilitarian principle.
1 . A Mirror upto the Middle Class
In the modern industrialized society, the majority community is
the middle-class. Leo Lowenthal says that "the middle class . . . came
I into its own in the course of the industrial revolution" (98). The i 4.
word 'middle class' is not only a description of a social stratum but
is also suggestive of attitudes to life and morality and a world view.
Dr.Berrington, who is a character in Ken Follett's The Third Twin,
unethically and unscrupulously carries out genetic cloning. He
handpicks unsuspecting volunteers for the illegal experiment from the
families of American airmen. His comments on the middle class
suggests that it is upwardly mobile. It is consumerist, though insisting
on a moral code of conduct. Its distinguishing feature is respectability.
Berrington finds the "volunteers, most of them . . . respectable middle
class Americans who believe that the good citizen has a duty to support
scientific enquiry" (103).
Popular fiction can be seen as catering to the amusement of the
middle-class. The story in a reader-oriented and market-determined
context then becomes a site for the vicarious re-living of the dreams of
the middle-class. It can also be seen as being an index of such middle-
class dreams and expectations. Victoria Weston, who is pursued by
Armstead's hit- men in The Almighty:
wanted to cry into her pillow. . . .It was so unfair, so unfair
to have to die. How could you die so soon, when you had
never possessed a man you loved, or carried a growing
child in your belly, or tasted grapes in the lovely Napa
Valley, or cozied up before your own farm house fireplace
on a Vermont Christmas morning, or seen the Taj Mahal in
a summer's moonlight, or watched the dawning of a new
day from the balcony in Venice, or read, or sat in the dark enrapt by
Greta Garbo as Camille one more time? (351)
The reader who pays to buy a story expects a purchase from the
story. He expects to get his 'money's worth.' Popular fiction which
spins out yams about the adventures of individuals, invariably, talks
about their successes in terms of money, wealth, position, power and the
like. In The Third Twin, Dr Jeannie Ferrami studies Dennis Pinker, a
criminal. Her observations stem from some of the stereotypical ideas
about success in life. She feels that "this young man could have become
a scientist, a surgeon, an engineer, a software designer. Instead he's in
here [in prison], vegetating" (199). It is a cross-section of society with
the representative individuals who are men of action, who are achievers.
The list shows individuals who can invent, or remove a tumour,
a cancerous growth, or construct a new structure, or even programme a
new future, respectively. They are representatives of the middle-class
which cherishes individual achievement and the change the individual
can effect in society. It is a world where success is equated with
monetary gains. Peter Drucker holds the view that "the real capitalists
are the middle-class people" (47). The prevalence of such a theme in
popular fiction is indicative of its acceptance. And as a source of
vicarious re-living it is suggestive of the powerful sway of capitalism
and the capitalist ideology. Edward Armstead says in The Almighty,
"Money is ideology" (105).
2. The Individual and the Universal
The titles of popular fiction offer a fair prospect of the themes
that are commonly pursued. When one examines the titles of a writer
like Arthur Haley, it is possible to map out the popular themes. The
Final Diagnosis, Wheels, Moneychangers, Airport, Strong Medicine, The
Evening News are, some of Haley's bestsellers. They are books about
the working of a hospital, the car industry, the working of banks, of the
airport, the pharmaceutical industry and, the newspaper industry,
respectively. I t is common knowledge that Haley uses prodigious inputs
and data on each of these subjects. So much so that his stories are
always clothed in meticulous research into the above-mentioned fields.
Thc ocuvrc of I laley offcrs a prospect of a modcrn urban, induslrializcd,
cupitalistic socicty. Every ficld is a vital aspect of the everyday life of
thc individual. On examining the titles of Haley one gets a macro-level
picture of society. It is a panorama of the everyday business of the
world.
I t is possible to construct a micro-level picture of society as well
by examining the subtitles of a piece of popular fiction, say, The Fourth
Estate by Jeffrey Archer. This novel is about the professional rivalry
between two newspaper barons, Armstrong and Townsend. The
subtitles in this novel offer insights into the orientations of popular
fiction in pcncrc~l. The subtitles arc:
i . Births, Marriages and Deaths
. . 1 1 . To the Victor the spoils
... 111. ,- Where there's a will
iv. Armstrong and Townsend battle for the Globe
v . The Citizen vs the Globe
vi. Double or Quits
When the titles of Arthur Haley and Jeffrey Archer are juxtaposed
one can disccrn the narrative matrix of popular fiction. These areas of
activity like a super-speciality hospital, or a busy airport, or a high
profile bank, are at once, glamorous and familiar. The stories are located
in areas of activity with which the reader can establish a consanguinity.
There is a deliberate familiarization process taking place. This enables
the reader to identify with the individuals who are involved in adventures
in such locales.
It is also possible to infer from the subtitles of Archer the
unwritten laws that operate. There is an accepted moral code which
foregrounds the subtitles. The story traces the adventures of a hero
through birth, marriage and death. There seems to be an insistence on
visible and tangible results in the life of the adventurer that obeys the
laws of natural justice where the Victor takes the spoils.
John Cawelti says that :
tlic truc focus of interest in the adventure story is the
character of the hero and the nature of the obstacles he has
to overcome. This is the simplest and perhaps the oldest
and widest in appeal of all formula types. (Mintz 666)
(Perhaps, what makes such fiction popular is the assertion of the . I '--' ladventurer's will. It lays a heavy premium on individual initiative, I
that the Victor is the one who wills. The goals that the adventurer sets
for himself are symbolized by the titles like "The Almighty" or the race
for the "Globe" which suggest their cosmic proportions.
Lift i s i ln~~i in~i~,cd ns n strugglo whoro tho lono individual co~ilcs
up tigainst sccnii~~gly insurn~ountablc odds: a kind of uncqual contcst
where the "Citizen" is pitted against the "Globe." The man who wills to
take on the "Globe" and keep it, is a man of action; the man on the
double. He has become a Victor because he has chosen not to quit. By
and large these sentiments are expressed in the bestsellers. By
examining the titles of Haley and Archer one gets a clearer perception of
the general thematic and attitudinal orientations of popular fiction.
3. The Sense of Belonging to the Home
The narratives of popular fiction are built around a core idea.
That core idea is a sense of belonging to a place. This place is a fixed
point from where the hero begins his quest. The sense of belonging is
primarily an emotional, or a mental or even sentimental construct. The
hero sets out to give it a local habitation and a name. He realizes this as
the ultimate point of all his adventures and struggles. The place is a real
home or contiguous notions like, the family, the community, the tribe,
the state, the institution, and the country at large. In short, the hero can
be seen as enacting the process of Empire-building.
I'he narrat~ves of popular fiction have as their nucleus the
f - idea of home, and the hero is motivated by the need to preserve, at
all costs, the sense of belonging to a real home or manifestations of it.
The preservation of the tribe from external threat is the chief aim of the
hero. Zev Barbu offers a sociological perspective. He says that "in a
str~ct soc~ologrcal sc~isc a peasant or primitive culture is not only popular
but universal or communal, that is, shared by all members of the
community" (43).
The threat to the integrity of the tribe is also a threat to the
identity of the hero. Gideon Zadok, the central character in Uris's Mitla
Pass, who accompanied the Lion's Battalion on a few border and desert
patrols conducts himself impeccably. He is qualified as a friend by
Natasha Solomon, "Gideon Zadok is family" (16).
The scnse of home is a source of comfort. Gideon feels that:
Life wasn't easy in Israel in 1956, but what was lacking in
comforts was more than made up by an explosion of spirit
and a lust for life and a purpose for living and a feeling of
brotherly love that 1 never would have believed could exist
in an entire people. For me, being here was reaching
nirvana. (28)
The members of the tribe are bound by common aspirations and goals.
They are bound by the same set of beliefs, practices, customs and rituals.
They are united in a religious fervour which demands of the individual
fierce loyalty and commitment to the preservation of the tribe.
4. The Family: as a Symbol of Completeness
At one end of the need to preserve a sense of belonging to a place
is the Family. The Family is a symbol of completeness, of fulfilment
and, above the individual, is the unit of meaningful life. Even Saddam
Hussein, portrayed as the villain in Forsyth's The Fist of God, is no
exception. "Top of the list came family; after that the class; then the
tribe" (3 1). The integrity and wholeness of the family are cherished.
Parents serve as proper models to the children. The Third Twin is
about eight clones whose foster parents are different though they emerge
from the same egg that was split. They have all got criminal and anti-
social tendencies with a propensity for violence verging on the
psychopath~c, except Steve Logan. His father tells Dr Jeannie that he
docs not have any physical resemblance to which the latter explains that
"Steve isn't like them - and you're [Charles] the reason why. Only the
most patient, understanding and dedicated of parents can bring up such
children to be normal human beings" (480). He emphasizes that "Steve
has a profound sense of duty . . . [which] he got from you [Charles]"
(479).
The influence of the father is strong. He is a role model to be
emulated or an influence to be resisted. However, the family as the
nucleus of the individual's consciousness is reiterated. In The Fourth
Estate Armstrong who finds himself in a deep financial crisis is
chagrined. "His thoughts were several hundred miles away, with his
wife and children. How would they react when they heard the
news?" (4).
The propagation of such an idea of home presupposes the need to
achieve a sense of stability, of continuity and order. In extension, then,
home also symbolizes the notions about marriage and the continuity of
life. Frederick Forsyth looks at a settled marriage as an achievement:
She [Maybelle Walker] was, she frequently reminded
herself, a happy woman and had much to be happy about.
Married almost straight out of High School to her steady
'Date' of two years, she found herself wedded to a good,
solid man with a job in a local oil company who had risen
steadily through the ranks as the company expanded until
he was now finishing as one of the vice-presidents. . . . It had been a good thirty-year ma+age, rewarded with one
fine son. (38)
5. The Ideal of Patriotism
At the other end of this scheme is the Nation. The individual
strives to keep the place together by inspiring a spirit of fraternity and
offers himself as the finest example of courage, sacrifice and martyrdom.
The nucleus of home thus gives a shape to the hero's willingness to die
for a cause. The ideal of duty towards the family, the tribe, and the
Nation thus gets amplified into the romantic idea of patriotism. It is
enjoined on every member to preserve the identity as his principal duty.
In this dispensation patriotism becomes synonymous with martyrdom.
6. The Moses-Figure
The tirst part of Uris's novel is titled "Geronimo." It is named
after the chief of the Chiricahua Apaches. He led his tribe in war against
white settlers in Arizona for more than ten years. Thc Apaches hid in the
Sierra Madre Mountains between raids. He finally surrendered in 1886.
The tribe was taken to Oklahoma via Florida and set free in 1913. It is
part of American history (Elliott 246). It is, as American history, a
strong presence in popular fiction. It emphasizes the struggles of the
tribe to preserve its identity against all odds. The white settler represents
the alien, the aggressor who must be stopped.
"Geronimo" also represents Moses, as the man who led the tribe
through slavery and oppression to eventual freedom. Moses as the
leader of 'a tribe' which was pursued and persecuted has continued into
the popular imagination and the consciousness. Of all the struggles o f
the tribe to preserve itself against all kinds of opposition and attacks, the
struggles of the Jew are believed to have the longest, spectacular and
eventful run.
7. Triumphing over Odds
The stories of the persecution of the Jew straddles Mythology, the
Legends, the Bible, History, and Literature. Thus they have come to
occupy a significant positioning in the popular imagination more than
any other instance in world history. The probable reason could be that
there are more instances of the Jewish triumph over odds that it has
become one of the most favourite themes of popular fiction. Uris
refers to the entangled threads of the story of Israel in Mitla Pass:
He [Gideon Zadok] knew that there was something
different about the soldiers, different from any others in the
world. Their connection with the ancient biblical warriors
intrigued him. The pieces of a six-thousand-year-old
puzzle" (38).
Thus, a continuity is achieved from the biblical narrative into the modern
historical narratives. .b
8. A Case ? or Continuities
One can also observe a mythical patterning taking place with
regard to the idea of Jewish suffering and the persecution of the Jews.
The patterning is described as mythical because the original pattern in
the biblical narrative, of the Jew being persecuted by an Egyptian
Pharaoh is reinforced by a certain atavism. The historical Jew is seen to
be persecuted by similar forces. For instance, a German Hitler. Uris
exposes through Nathan Zadok, who is among the pioneers of Eretz
Israel, "the hatred shown to Jews by the Pole, Cossack, Russian, and
Ukrainian [which] was amply replaced by that of the Arab" (231).
Referring to the 1920-21 phase of Eretz Israel Uris says that "the British,
now ruling tlnder an international mandate, were ovcrtly sympathetic to
the Arabs and permitted their gangs to prey on the Jewish community
with impunity" (230).
9. Empire-Building
The loyalty of the member of the tribe and the sacrifice demanded
by the cause of preserving the tribe are absolute. In extension, this idea
of home becomes another important theme, that of Empire-building. It
may be the Corleone family building its Mafia Empire in The Gocifuther
by Mario Puzo or some mighty Corporation or Multinational or
Conglomerate consolidating its position. Berrington and Preston discuss
the "takeover" of Genetico by a German firm called Landsmann. I t
would fetch them 180 million dollars. The narrative parts which deal
with the discussions about the merger use words and phrases consistent
with the practice of military Generals who have to adopt ways to disarm
the enemy. An incident in The Third Twin which reads "and Preston
could be an astute strategic thinker [emphasis added]" (99), presents
him as a General moving his men towards the final takeover by
Landsmann that would also enable him to run for President of the
United States.
10. Making of the Perfect Society
Empire-building in popular fiction has as its ideal a "perfect
society." It matches and revives some of the historical and traditional
ideas about the perfect or 'utopian' society. It constructs the empire as a
society of superior human beings who would be without blemishes of
natural human beings. "Nurture" is privileged over "Nature."There is a
belief that such a society can be engineered as meticulously as, say, the
popular fiction writer plots his stories.
The narrative shows an anxiety to scw up nny loopholes that
< might expose the possibility of such a construction. In The Thirci
Twin, Berrington Jones who is a professor with Joncs Falls Un~versily.
holding professorhips at Berkeley in California and at Haward is
introduced as having completed his latest book whose title reads, "To
inherit the Future: How Genetic Engineering will Transform America"
(50).
Bemngton expresses contempt for the government's "welfare
policy [that] works against natural selection. . . . [Thus] breeding a
generation of second-rate Americans" (51). It is suggested that a new
class of individuals who are perfect is sought to be created. In this
connection the view of Ashley Montague is pertinent. He posits that:
In the cultural dynamics of Western Civilization the
concept of blood has played a significant and important
role. . . . It is [the] conception of blood as the carrier of the
heritable qualities of the family, race, or nation. . . .So that
today, the words race and blood have come to be used as
synonyms. (244)
That explains the mindset of characters like Berrington who
appear to privilege and advocate an elitism with regard to the class of
individuals. The creation of such a sophisticated class of human beings
is a latent though vital theme of popular fiction. "Think of it, Preston,
Bemngton said, 'Perfect babies for the middle classes, and sterilization
for the poor. We could start to put America's racial balance right again"
(54). Onc is led to believe that racist sentiments are still alive in the
i Amcrrcan psyche that popular fiction has a wide narrative space f a
devoted to racist issues and biases along with its obsession with
classism. "t3y the time Berrington began work on his Master's degree he
was widely assumed to be a Brahmin himself' (283). The italicized
word is suggestive of the efforts Berrington makes t o~each the highest
rung of social prestige and refinement. The word 'Brahmin' is thus
metaphorlzed to represent the superior class of society.
1 I . The Fear of the Enemy
.I hat the Empire is built on the lines of a 'perfect' society yields
further reflections on the mindset of the characters of popular fiction. If
one accepts the observation that the identity of home or the identities of
its manifested forms like the tribe, nation, empire, are to be preserved
against all odds, then, one must also admit that there are odds. These
odds are all the forces perceived as threats to the stability of the
Empire. Popular fiction entertains this fear-of-the-enemy as a source of
vast narrative potential. On closer examination, the Empire's attempts
to preserve itself against the alien, the enemy, becomes a pattern in the
narrative.
12. 'I'he Struggle for Power
'I'he Sear-of-the-enemy creates a condition where 'Power' has to
be controlled to preserve the Empire. Popular fiction appears to look at
knowledge, information, secrets, as vital sources of Power.The popular
narrativc has an existential need to carry suspense and be unpredictable.
C , So thc narrative creates spaces for spies, detectives, the CIA, the
i Mossad, and such 'intelligence'outfits who control the interest in the
story and the reader's interest as well. Like Prometheus who saw fire as
Powcr, popular fiction sees Knowledge as Power.
I t is for this reason that most of the narratives in popular fiction
are about scientists, industrialists, soldiers, adventurers, investigative
journalists, scholars and so on for whom Knowledge and Information are
Power. The atmosphere of the narratives is always charged with the
spirit of competition, of rivalry and one-upmanship. It is an atmosphere
where the cult of the individual unfolds. So the power of Knowledge is
patently dramatized. It is invariably that extra bit of information which
scparatcs thc Victor from the vanquished. One can find numerous
instances in the narratives where the Israelis, especially, the Mossad,
have enjoyed a field day. A continuity can be traced from the Aesopic
fables through the Panchatantra to the historical narratives where an
aura surrounds the Promethean hero who manages to outwit the
Almighty when it is least expected of him.
In pursuing the theme of Knowledge being ultimate Power,
pop~~lar narratives present glorified images of the academy, the
universities and schools. They profile in laudatory terms professots and
scholars. In Forsyth's Tire Fist of God, the Promethean figure is Dr
Terry Martin. With his proficiency in Arabic he becomes the source of
knowledge which tips the balance of power in favour o f the Western
forces. 'To illustrate from the same novel, Forsyth reminds the reader
that the British Intelligence agency called SIS or MI6 is popularly called
! i the "Firm" in more than one sense of that term. Its information is &--- .., \firm arid reliable. He says that, "the 'Firm' has earned a solid 1
reputation among friend and foe for the quality of its 'product' " (66), referring to secretly gathered information.
13. 'l'he Promethean-Figure
.l'he instrumentality of the Promethean figure in the race to
control Power so as to preserve the Empire's sovereignty is driven home
in the narratives. The Promethean figure assumes the dimensions of a
myth bccause the narrative is woven around his adventurous deeds. The
figure of a Prometheus is a singularity. It is an isolation of the Man from
the others by virtue of his qualities of heroism, of the spirit of sacrifice
and his fierce commitment to the idea of home and Empire. The popular
narrative thus becomes a saga of the deeds of one man, who becomes the
spatio-temporal axis around whom the narrative takes shape as story.
14. l'he Cult of the Individual
If a pattern is sought by putting together the ways in which
popular narratives represent the Prometheus figure, one can see the
clncrgcncc of n cult: the cult of the individual. The accent is on his
"achievcmcnts." It is only through his deeds that the individual can
imprint his image in the reader's mind. The obsession to be 'doers' and
'achievcrs' weigh heavily on the characters. In The Third Twin, Jim
Preston says wistfully, that "as I get older more and more I start to think
that the world will muddle along somehow even if I don't achieve
c\lerytlrirrg IPlcrrtrred [emphasis added] when I was twenty-five" (55) .
'I'lic italicixd words indicate the meticulous preparation of
6 - ,the individual to make his presence felt in the world. The words
"everything" and "achieve" are indicative of the ambitious drives of
char act el.^ in a capitalistic middle-class society where the spirit of
conlpetition is sharpened by the goal of profit-making; or, as is
conirnonly said. 'making a kill.' It is also ironical that some achievers
do no desist from evcn 'killing' others to realize that end.
15. The Individual as a Non-Conformist,
The cult of the individual looks at the "Presidency of America" as
the pinnacle of achievement. In this connection one must observe that
America is the 'hidden' New Atlantis or the visible 'utopia' that gives
anyone a dream to realize and a hope to live for. Florentyna Rosnovsky
in The Prodigal Daugl~ter by Jeffrey Archer wants to become the
President of America, to crown her career of outstanding achievements
for a woman. Jim Preston in The Third Twin says, "The White House . . . I'm going to run for president" (55). These individuals are also seen to
be non-conformists. I t is their distinguishing quality. Steve in the same
novel admits, "I just couldn't be obedient. I did what I wanted to do.
The rules seemed stupid, and 1 got bored" (92). Jeannie Ferrami's reply
to why she her nostril is also characteristic of non-conformists.
She says, "I fcel that total respectability is dcadly dull" (92). The
individual as thc Prornethcan hero ~loughs a lone and, often, untrodden
path on his way to achieving big things.
16. Winning at Any Cost
It calls for a belief in oneself and the toughest qualities of the
body and t l~c mind. In 7fie Fourtl~ Estate, when the narrative begins,
Armstrong, the Newspaper baron is facing bankruptcy. He is introduced
in these words, "the odds were stacked against him. But the odds had
never worried Richard Armstrong in the past" (3). Every effort at
character delineation is employed to cut a sharper profile of the central
character. The obsequiousness of the waiter, Henri, who serves at
Armstrong's table helps to achieve the desired effect. Archer describes,
"the head waiter frowned. European royalty, Hollywood stars, even
Italian footballers didn't unnerve him, but whenever Richard Armstrong
was in the restaurant he was constantly on edge" (4). The hero who
goes after achievements is also the man with a certain "death wish." He
is a gambler who stakes everything he has got. He may lose. But then
his greatest victories have been the outcome of gambles. To win at all
costs is the motto of the Promethean hero.
17. 'I'he Voice of the First Person Pronoun
In order to profile the hero as a gambler and a dare-devil, the
i/ narratives use the irst Person pronoun with regularity. It suggests an ;.' k
affirmative tone of the hero who meets the reader as being forthright and
willing to make a clean breast of everything. Nathan Zadok in Mitla Pass
is an illustrative case:
From the time I was a little guy I rehearsed the moments of
future glory a thousand and one times. When it did
happen, I, Cideon Zadok, would be ready. During the dark years,
the fantasy of reaching the top had become an overwhelming driving
r force that kept me going. (77).
The italicized words are suggestive of the affirmation of the hero who is
obsessed with the Promethean idea of adventure and the glory of the
individual. As important as the prominence of the pronoun is the
meaning attached to the proper noun of the central character.
18. ?'he Christening of the Hero
The christcning of the hero is a significant fictional phenomenon
comparable to the Christian Sacrament of Baptism. His character is
defined by the name he cames. Wilmoth Carter says that "naming, nick-
naming, or misnaming, are products of a functional language that has
bccomc typical of the folkways and mores" (379).
In T11e Fourth Estate Armstrong has a picaresque boyhood. His
initiation into the big world is preceded by his having to go to many
placcs as the Picaro. He assumes names to protect himsclf. The names
act as talisnlans against the challenges of the world. So Lubji, who
becomes John Player, is christened by his Commanding Officer as
Richard Ian Armstrong. The character is to later take on serious and
forbidding challenges which require him to possess strong arms
(suggcstivc of physical action).
19. .l'lie Comic-Strip Logic
Besides the naming ceremony one can also see the manner in
which the hero's identity is constructed. The character who finds
himself in a world full of challenges, competitions and bitter rivalries is
shown to be the product of his childhood experiences. The hero's
childhood and upbringing are built up as an animated sequence obeying
the cause-effect principle. It resembles the logical sequencing of events
that the comic-strips follow. One frame-event logically extends into the
next frame-event and so on. So reading becomes an exercise in
constructing the sequence of animated events that add up to the heroic
image of the central character. Richard Carpenter is of the opinion that:
The archetypal hero[es] in all cultures come from similar
backgrounds, undergo much the same set of adventures,
the same sort of trials and sufferings, and achieve the same
kind of victory or defeat. . . . I t is this universality that
makes the hero-journey so significant to us and that
accounts for its perennial appeal. (81)
A character build-up from Tlze Fourtlt Estate is an illustration
which seems to be on the lines of the storytelling mode of the fairy tales
or the comic-strips like Asteriks and Phantom:
1,ubji was born in a small stone cottage on the outskirts of
Douski, a town that nestled on the Czech, Romanian and
Polish borders. He could never be certain of the exact date
of his birth, as the family kept no record, but he was
,:* roughly a year older than his brother and a year younger than his
sistcr. (23)
IJol)ulilr liction envisages the Empire as the perfect institution or
utopia. The individual as the Promethean figure who helps in Empire-
building is a man of action. The representation of the Promethean
individual, i t is felt, is not a fictional or mythical construction altogether.
One can trace vital connections between the fictional representation of
the hero and the historical representation of the individual men of action.
The perfect Empire of perfect men can be located in historiographical
narratives. A continuity can be traced from the cultural formations in
history to the popular story with regard to the representation of the
individual.
20. The Classical Idea of Excellence
The University History of the World makes a point about the
ideals cherished by the new cultures like Greece that were emerging after
the barbaric invasions. The reference is to the representation of the
individual in these cultures:
The traditions of the new peoples perpetuated the ideals of
their former barbarism; in literary terms, they were
'heroic.' They reflected . . . the world of the invaders, in
which a man's standing depended mostly on his own
abilities. . . . This primitive society admired especially
stature and strength (Samson, Ajax), the physical beauty
of Illen (Absalom, Achilles), masculine friendship (David,
Patroclus), skill in deception (Jacob, Odysseus), hospitality to
strangers (Abraham, Menelaus) . . . With a reasonable share of these
good things a man could do well in life -- . . . These were
the legitimate goals of human endeavour. (Garraty and
P.Gay 139)
Alongwith this passage may be read the ideas of Plato about the
individual and his relationship with the state. Will Durant outlines the
expcctations of Plato:
We cannot afford to have a nation of malingerers and
invalids; Utopia must begin in the body of man. . . .With
minds so freely growing and bodies made strong by sport
and outdoor life of every kind, our ideal state would have a
strong psychological and physiological base broad enough
for every possibility and every development. (24)
The hero or heroine in popular fiction appearJto be manifestations
of the classical idea of excellence. They are beautiful bodies endowed
with brilliant minds. In the narratives they demonstrate the spirit of the
scholar-warrior.
In Tl~e 7'lrird Twin, Dr. Jeannie Ferrami is an assistant professor of
psychology at Jones Falls University. She has a master's in Computers
from Pr~ncclon, a doctorate and Post Doctoral degrees. She is also a fine
tennis player with a serve like "dynamite ... [and a] two-handed cross-
court backhand smash [that] was a killer" (22). The same book
describes its hcro, Steve Logan as, "a hunk; tall and athletic, with curly
t b i r h n i l 1.111 SIIWI. rind nice blttc cyca . . .[wlm na n lnw srndun)c hnd
' a 1 o f ' scalc . . . [who came] top of [his] class without even
studying hard" (87).
The continuity in the Greek 'heroic' ideal takes different shapes
in the fictional narratives. Sometimes historical figures serve as models
of human excellence. They function as objective correlatives who help
in the superimposition of fact over fiction. It makes the narrative more
plausible. Dr Jeannie Ferrami who is working on the genetic
transference of traits is tagged on to the list of individuals like "Einstein,
a Louis Armstrong, an Andrew Carnegie" (loo), who are noted for being
super-achievers.
2 1. Privileging of the Masculine Ideal
The list of individuals reflects a particular slant in popular
narratives. 'They privilege the masculine ideal. So much so that even a
woman character is defined in tenns of man-like attributes. "When
radical feminists said the penis was the enemy, Jeannie wanted to reply,
speak for yourself, sister" (141). One meets in the novel of Ken Follett,
a woman who accepts the gender-equations obtaining in the fictional
world. The celebration of the male body is acceptable and imperative.
Perhaps, the dominance in the fictional world, of men who act in very
challenging situations prevent writers from subverting the traditional
stereotypes. A certain conservatism with regard to the worship of the
male body interferes even in the representation of the female. Follett's
description of his heroine is a case in point: "But when Jeannie played
6...--/ tcnnis shc ;~cllicvcd a special grace. I t was like watching a lion
: break into a sprint in a nature film" (333).
22:I'he Woman as an Object of Male Gratification
'That should make one consider, cursorily, the roles that women
play. Thc general picture that emerges about the woman in popular
fiction is that ol'n coc~imodity. She is an 'idcal image' (of the body) who
is a nlcasurc of the hero's attempts to achieve big things. The woman
thus bccomcs an objectified end of the quest of the hero who needs to
triumph. Katherine Fishbume admits that "the voices of the popular
imagination . . . would keep women subordinate to men" (24).
The other roles that the woman plays are supplementary. She
initiates the hero into the adult world; she is the medium through which
he arlives at adulthood. The woman gives him an experience of love
which defines the quality of commitment to his mission. She also nurses
the hero to recovery; emotionally and physically. Besides being a
motherly prop the woman is a consumable in a capitalistic world where
even pleasure of the bodily kind can be bought at a price.
23. Worship of the Warrior
The nurturing of the cult of the individual causes popular
narratives to focus action. Archetypally, the man of action is a wamor
who has a mission to accomplish. Historiographical narratives too are
constructed around warrior-like men who perpetuate their names by
performing feats that are admirable. Popular fiction which cherishes
individual glory thus romances war, violence and honourable death. In
- -. The Foirr.th Estate, Archer puts legendary war heroes alongside
1 h~storical ones. One of his characters draws inspiration from the
legends about warrior heroes:
'That was for the good boys who, once they had changed
and were back in their rooms, were expected to read
Homer in the original. Keith's reading had lately
concentrated almost exclusively on tales of 'our gallant
war herocs' and their exploits in the front line, as reported
in the Courier. (42)
24. The Feminine Allure of War
On close examination it becomes clear that the romance of war is
a complex of images which relates to both the physical and
psychological worlds. There is an aspect of the feminine about war. The
love of war is in fundamental ways akin to the love of women. Shlomo
tells Gideon, in Mitla Pass, about the war-crazy Israeli fighters: "Some
probably prefcr this destitution to having a woman. What insanity to
succumb to a mistress like the Sinai" (339). When the discussion veers
to Gideon's uncle, Matti Zadok, Ben Asher tells him that the latter "read
the landscape as though it were his woman's body" (341). Freud says
that, "in thc majority of ambitious fantasies, we can discover in some
corner or the other the lady for whom the creator of the fantasy perfoms
all his heroic deeds and at whose feet all his triumphs are laid" (1985
38). The Freudian idea that there is some woman to be satisfied is true
-flit juxtapostition of martial frames with love of/and the
{ feniininc causes the man-woman encounter itself to be seen as a
kind of war. In The Fourth Estate Armstrong who has a reunion with
Charlotte Reville in Paris is cooped up a whole night and day with her.
The scene is described by the concierge to her husband, " 'I realize
there's a war on, . . . but they haven't even met before' " (127).
'Two impulses, of Eros and of Thanatos, go hand in hand. The
hero dares death in his quest for individual glory. He also longs for, or is
eager to please, a woman who symbolizes the perfection of the female
body. 'The conquest of the enemy and the conquest of the feminine are
generally congruent. The woman as a symbol of Eros is an ambiguous
image. Shc is sometimes benevolent to the hero as the goddesses Diana
or Athena. Sometimes she assumes the aspect of a Siren or a Witch who
thwarts the hero's progress.
Wnr, adventure, aggression, bullcts, blood, the image of the male
soldicr arc tl.opcs tlint dorninatc iiiuch of popular fiction. Suthcrland
says that the subjcct of war has received "mythic, reductive, romantic,
wish-fulfilling and fantastic treatments. At all periods, however, war is a
popular subject" (167). The reason could be that both the writer of
popular fiction and the reader, in the twentieth century, are conscious of
what Frcud would call the "death wish" as a prerequisite for adventurous
or man-like dccds
; '1'11~1-c is a preponderance of martial details in most popular
$' ..> ~narrativcs. Even in the description of eatables and leftovers on the j
table, Uris in Mitla Pass resorts to martial terms:
tie [David Ben Gurion] was behind a desk that looked
down a long conference table which was covered with
green felt. Dead cigarette butts spilled over their ash trays.
The fruit baskets held spoiling apple. . . . Their fmit
tlevoctred. Half-empty soda bottle had lost their fizz and
others, tipped over in disarray, appeared like a platoon of
soldiers caught in a crossfire. ( 1 1 )
The italicized words suggest the ambience, the colour, the tone, the
aspects of aggression and adventure, of a martial existence, and, of
dcath. which is its concomitant.
The slant towards a martial existence can be traced back to that
phase of human evolution where man is the hunter. It appears that all the
abovementioned are aspects of a primitive life when violence and death
had a creative role to play. They were determinants in the preservation
and the formation of the family and the tribe. History has, in all the
academic and popular narratives, been represented as a continuous
current of instances of human violence where the capacity for
destruction is a necessary prelude to creation.
25. The Personal and the Mythical
The dichotomous aspects: creation-destruction, are retained in symbolic
terms in mythological narratives. Every culture boasts of such symbols
e - , - I that possess dual, often contradictory, features. In Hindu
j mythology, for instance, the godess Kali is both creative (as the
consort of Shrva) and destructive (as when she rides on the lion and
destroys dcrnons like Narakasura); Krishna is both the beloved of
Yasl~odl~a (his foster-mother) and the destroyer of Putana (the demoness
who appears as a counterfeit mother). In a similar vcin popular
narratives glve to historical characters a mythical density.
In Mitln Pass a historical character like David Ben-Gurion is
mythologized through a persona that combines mutually exclusive
characteristics. I le is dcscribed as having a "great head" with "an angry
white mane flaring out in every direction" (1 I), like a lion's. In the
context of Israel he thus revives memories of Moses who is his mythical
counterpart, the king of the tribe. It is his duty to preserve the peace of
thc jungle. Hcnce the comparison to the lion. David Ben-Gurion
prescnts "the cherub-face" that "remained deceptively peaceful" (1 1).
The subtle hint may be that Ben-Gurion as the Moses or Christ- figure is
a peacc-loving cherub who when necessary is not averse to taking whip
in hand. In the same novel Gideon Zadok is chastised by his wife
Valerie, who calls him "a war lover." He responds, " 'It's part of me
baby, 1 can't help myself. All right, I'm intoxicated by it. I've got to go
for it, baby. I've got to reach for it' " (45).
The discussion on the matrix of popular fiction has mapped out
the following ideas: that popular fiction is a vital source of the middle-
class's need for wish-fulfilment whete the capitalistic ideology is
championed; that the themes reflect the ambitious drives of the
4- - -. .. , individuals and institutions; that the idea of the family extends and I manifests as notions about home, tribe, nation culminating in the
Empire and, the visions of a 'perfect society;' that Knowledge is the
Promethean powcr which facilitates Empire-building ambitions; that the
individual is lionized as the symbol of conquest and wish-hlfilment; that
there are only herocs and no heroines as it is the world of action; that the
world of action romanticizes war and turns death into a desirable end.
'The inferences are made based on the reading of popular fiction
which has many identifiable patterns: ideological, thematic, symbolic,
besides, narrative. I t is felt that these patterns are identifiable owing to
the way popular fiction 'tells' the story.
26. The Slant towards Generalities
There is a gap between what one reads and how that text (or
narrative) is constructed. Apparently, the narratives are about particular
individuals or institutions, usually, fictional. But the actual telling or
narrating is achieved by a dependence not on particularities but on
generalities. Perhaps, it is the need to reach as wide an audience as
possible (thc machinery of the publishing industry is implied) that
imposes demands on the writer. He is required to speak a language that
does not demand a conscious intellectual investment of the reader. The
fact that popular fiction operates in the zone of racy-reading compels it * A
to facilitate the quick-consumption which is the raison d etre of best-
sellers. This is discernible in the difference one can see in the role of an
allusion or a lnetaphor or a citation of a historical reference in texts that
1 are called "classic literature" or mainstream literature and those < 1 texts that are called "airport novels" or popular fiction.
In 7'lie Wasteland, when Eliot alludes to his experiences in
Austria, particularly, his reminiscences of Countess Marie Larisch and
the description of the sledding which takes the shape of "Marie, Marie,
hold on tight" (63) , he makes the allusion an integral part of the text. It
cannot be rcad outside its textual ambience. It is a personal experience,
memorialized in a narrative. The allusion assumes a contributory
position of sustaining the imagistic and ideational content of the poem.
It thus becomes integral to the poem's narrative fabric.
'l'h~s closeness of the alluded reference to the specific narrative
context in which i t is used is weak or non-existent in a popular narrative.
The reason one can provide is that popular narratives seek to illuminate
what thc character does. They generally circumvent aesthetic problems
which arc grappled with by the canonical texts. One should assume that
the emphasis is on making the reader conscious of the 'telling.' So the
descriptive notes keep the action in perspective and do not allow
distractions in the name of stylistic improvisations. References in
popular fict~on appear to be uncritically deployed.
27. Dictionary of Popular References
I t may be posited that there is an imaginary dictionary of
references and notions. The writer of popular fiction may be seen to
employ such a dictionary which is full of generalizations, sweeping
statcnlcnts, cxprcssions of biases and pcrsonal prejudices. 'They are not
integral to the narrative as they do not contribute qualitatively to the t
evocation of a mood or a situation or even in the delineation of a
character. rhey are like heavy brush strokes that help in the early and
casy dcfin~tlon of a subject. The aim is not to follow the 'character' of a
person, and so there is no need to weigh the subtle peculiarities of
individuals. The notions or ideas help in offering information that would
locate the character under discussion without any fuss.
In The Third Twin Ken Follett describes Ghita Sumra, who has a
top job managing information technology for the FBI, in these words: "a
math wizard of Asian-Indian descent" (1 17). The notion that Asians, in
general, and, especially, the Indians among them are good in
Mathcmatics, is hinted. The merit of the allusion is not dependent on
how much i t contributes to the quality of the narrative as a stylistic unit,
but to the economy and quickness with which it enables the location of a
character.
In this way one can trace generalized statements, even prejudices,
about countries. Certain nationalities are caricatured. One is led to
believe that the corpus of popular fiction has created akind of thesaurus
or dictionary in which countries, cultures and peoples are identifiable
from a quasi-standard description. Writers of popular fiction seem to
keep to these standards with unvarying regularity.
28. The Narrator-Character as the 'Insider'
Positioning a prejudice or an opinion quickens the establishment
of characters and situations. The emphasis on what the charactcrs do and
not on themselves, as characters, enables popular fiction to put < - , credibility above accountability. Some of the strategies that popular
fiction uses to facilitate an uncritical telling or 'positioning' are as
followsl'
One notices in popular fiction certain metafictional elements
when writers use characters who are themselves writers. A space is thus
created within the story about the challenges and the romance of
writing. It creates a situation where the reader has an 'insider' in the
story. The 'insider' who is himself a writer would function as a spy or
the Prometheus- figure stealing truths out of the narrative for the
reader's benefit. Such a strategy sharpens the credibility-factor, so
necessary in the perusal of popular fiction.
The reader who pays to read a story does so because it is
imaginative and widely displaced from reality, offering an optimum of
vicarious wish-fulfilment. At the same time, the reader would not wish
to be conscious about fiction being imaginative for he seeks to supplant
reality of life with the fictional reality that he is absorbed in. Under
these conditions the instrumentality of a writer-character within the
narrative serves to remove the fiction-reality separation and strengthens
the credibility-factor.
In the twentieth-century world there is a high premium on
information which is reliable and authentic. The different news- media
insist on on-the-spot reporting which gives the stories credibility.
Popular writers take advantage of this phenomenon of modern news-
4 medla by 'gettlng their man in.' Such a character can effectively
remove the h~story-fiction separation when he is made to encounter
real hlstorlcal characters. In Mitla Pass, Uris shows Gideon Zadok as
encounter~ng David Ben-Gurion.
29. The "And then" Factor
Closely linked with the use of the 'insider' is the use of what
E.M.Forster in Aspects of the Novel would call the "And then?" (45)
query of the reader. The quality of raciness of best-sellers is what
enables them to be read by people on the move. Raciness is achieved by
the skillful handling of the "And then?" query. The perennial interest of
the reader to know what-happens-next is a vital cog in the machinery of
best-sellers.
In The Fourth Estate, Armstrong finally manages to take over the
Der Telegruf within the first two hundred pages. In a five hundred page
novel it is the reader's curiosity to know the next move Armstrong
would make which makes the former soak in the weight of the latter's
decision, "to tell Colonel Oakshott that the time had come for him to
vcsign llis c o n ~ ~ l ~ i s s i o ~ ~ cl~itl return to Englund. Ile would not have done
so if Arno Shultz hadn't held a party to celebrate his sixtieth birthday"
(199). Thc beginnings of a race for ultimate power between two
Ncwspnpcr barons is strategically effected. So also the reader's curiosity
to know "And then" who wins in this contest.
30. The Fictional Tempered with the Historical
Onc of thc rcasons for using history, in the form of dates, events,
personalities, is that the reader's keenness to know can be stoked to an
even greater degree. The print and electronic media which offer more
views than news (the event as it took place) construct a history that
leaves room for interpretation. The twentieth century reader being now
conscious of the way the media handle events and personalities looks at
them as 'stories' ( in the ramified sense of that word today). Brian
McHale rationalizes the use of the word "story" as "constructions . . . or
versions of reality, [which] are strategic in nature, that is, designed with
particular purposcs in view" (2).
By entering the interpretive space of historical stories writers of
popular fiction embellish history with stories and make credible stories
out of history. This creates a situation where the fiction writer can
introduce the exact facts into the story, which as being different from the
media stories, is more engaging and hence jostle with the available
history for being the starker truth. The voluble blurbs of popular fiction
testify to this fact. Forsyth's The Fist of God is introduced thus:
"Frederick Forsyth's research has never been less than awe-inspiring.
In this, his latest super-thriller, his incomparable authority is everywhere
evident in a powerfi~l novel."
The italicized words suggest the emphasis on authenticity and
nearness to the truth. Such a tendency, to foreground the truth of the
story, could bc read alongwith Marina Warner's description of the
f . archetypal storyteller. She uses a fifteenth century frontispiece to
,the Deccarneron for her book From the Beast to the Blonde: On
Faity Tales arid their Tellers. It depicts Boccaccio, who as the narrator,
is seated outside the circle of story tellers. Boccaccio, as the
eavesdropp~ng narrator, is in close proximity to the 'truth' eventhough
the narrated truth is fictional (x). He interests the reader by being
closcr to the 'voice' or the 'presence' of the speakers. And by being
closer he is wltness and recorder of the uncorrupted speech.
In this connection one can think of the tribute which Forsyth pays
to Tom Clancy in The Fist of God. He compares his character, Dr.Terry
Martin, Academic and Arabist, to the writer of Techno-novels, Tom
Clancy. The comparison underlines the enormous knowledge of authors
of popular fiction which in a way restores the omniscient author to his
original position as all- knowing and all-seeing. Forsyth says, "the
American novelist Tom Clancy is regarded as a world expert on defence
equipment of the NATO and the former Warsaw pact" (61). So also,
Lionel Chetwynd, screen writer, comments that, "in too many cases the
only history people get is from popular culture, and for them, films such
as JFK are truth" (Fitzgerald 68).
The fiction writer who uses history cashes in on this conditioned
attitude of the reader. His claims to accuracy and the truth actually are
meant to cement the reader's trust about the uncontaminated spoken
word. The effect of veracity is achieved when the historical characters
and events are easily identifiable and familiar.
Onc should assume that the difference is that between y... ;
1 Coleridgc and Wordsworth. The former makes the unfamiliar
familiar which is the realm of pure imagination and fiction. The latter
looks for surprising elements in the familiar, creating an aura of
strangeness and for that reason romantic visibility. The reader who likes
to think that he can grasp the truth, get the meaning, is teased when the
writer by so leading him makes the familiar unfamiliar through the
'difference' in the degree of privileging of the same facts, events and
personalities.
One would like to thini that the reader's ego is pricked. His
reading is an act of revenge, of getting even with the writer. By so doing
he means to challenge the writer's omniscience. It can be seen as either
an act of defiance or even a secret envy of the writer who has the
knowledgc. l'he reader is in an imaginary tussle to wrest the knowledge
from the writer, re-living, in the process, the myth of Prometheus or the
stealing of the nectar by the Devas. In most popular fictional narratives
the writer's rnonopoly over the truth is sought to be broken by the reader
who tries to think out hislher moves.
31. Manipulation of the Pronominal Position
Thc proximity to the truth through reading is achieved in popular
fiction by yet another strategy. Writers manipulate the position of the
Pronoun in the narrative to show the position of the character at the
moment of being discussed. The imaginative use of the Pronoun in the
' narrat~vc can give a picture of the different positions the reader is < - <
e~ther expected to take or compelled to take.
Uris alters the position of his character in Mitla Pass from the
'outsider' to the 'insider.' By so doing the involved reader also moves
from outside the pale of the story to within the story. Gideon Zadok, the
American writer, who is dropped in the Sinai peninsula, ruminates the
different possibilities. From the 'outsider' who has come to report the
story, and the 'truth,' he moves into the 'family' to become one with the
Israelis. As a reporter he appropriates the affiliations of the reader with a
quick shift of Person from "they're gone" (19), to "Are we at war?"
(20). From the outside he moves into the story. From the reporter-
narrator he is to become an actor himself.
32. Shifting Locales
As important as the position of the Pronoun is the position of
'place.' The frequent change of location or geography is a factor which
contributes to the fascination of popular fiction. The hero's experiences
in many placcs assurncs a picaresque quality. It gives to popular fiction
the aspccts of thc Fairy 'I'alc wh& a rapid change of scene is exploited.
Archcr's Fourlh Estate, which constructs the life and adventures
of Arnistrony, shows him to be in the casino when the story begins. The
location changes then to the restaurant, from there to the helicopter
which lands in London; a private plane then flies him to Nice, from there
he goes to Monte Carlo. This change of location resembles the Fairy
Tale where the hero is seen moving from one place to another either r in search of an adventure or as a part of an unfolding adventure.
The change of the pronominal position and the change of 'place'
are capitalized upon to give the reader the sensations of moving within
the story. I t communicates a sense of getting under the skin of the story
and of moving from one place to another around the globe. Globe-
trotting, literally, for the alienated reader seeking society through the
game of rccovcrics.
33. Persistence with the Straight Clironology
'l'hc changes of person and location are felt thanks to the
persistence of popular narratives with the straight chronology. The
linear movement is preferable to the circular movement as the thrust is
on the spectacular deeds of the hero. The reader's curiosity to know the
"And then" is better served by sequential arrangement of the different
adventures in different places.
The Third Twin of Ken Follett is a typical example which
commences on a Sunday and concludes on a Monday, the drama itself
spanning eight days. The preference for the straight chronology
establishes a strong kinship with historiographical narratives which,
generally, en~ploy the telling of events in a logical sequence of
happenings.
34. 'l'he Marketing of America
Reading popular fiction as the adventures of the hero in many
places appeals by virtue of the quality of life it foregrounds. There is a
qualitative difference with real life that becomes a site to indulge the
desirable in real life. The metaphysical patterns even suggest an
ideologtcal stance of writers where a certain quality of life is generally
prcfcrrcd. The metaphysical patterns that are discernible point to the
quality of American life which is, generally, suggested as desirable and
ideal.
Amcrican brand names, the images of American life and trends
influcnccd by their movies, and the big and famous names of American
public life, all find a place in popular fiction. As metaphors they
rcprcscnt an ideological statcment about thc hcro as bccoming sueccssful
when he can be defined in terms of such metaphors.
In Follett's The Third Twin, Dorothy, the transvestite calls Steve
Logan "My hcro" and later,"John Wayne" (60) bringing memories of
the cnduring hcro of the American Westerns who always triumphed over
seemingly impossible odds. Other celluloid idols like Sharon Stone
become symbols of feminist expressions. She becomes a metaphor for an
attracttve woman who is fiercely independent and truly liberated (99). In
vein names like "an Einstein, a Louis Armstrong, and Andrew Carnegie"
(150) are mentioned to help the reader construct an image of American
life with h ~ s familiarity with the men who dominated American r .
public lifc.
Berr~ngton Jones who makes love to Jane Edelsborough feels that
he "had just made love to a famous beauty, Cindy Crawford or Bnget
Fonda" (383). l'hcy are 'supcrmodcls' of feminine charm. As symbols
of scxual appcal for the male they become the standard by which women
arc measured in popular culture, especially, fiction. And as American
women they symbolize the perfect American beauty.
It can be seen that these individuals who are turned into
metaphors of achievement and success in real life are treated as legends.
In the media which glorifies these men and women they are treated with
a largcr than life image. They, thus, come to occupy the public
in~ugination as dcmi-gods who havc an almost unrcul cxistcncc. By
assuming the status of legends, these personalities come to represent the
concrete images of the dreams of the less successful who equate them
with ultimate success and achievement. Hence the relevance of such
metaphors which turn personalities from real life (history) into the
objective correlatives in fictional life (story).
35. A Game of Chess
One of the most prominent metaphors in the fictional narratives is
the game of' Chess. History as a record of individual achievements is all
about individuals making the right moves. This assumes a special
significance in fiction which is also in one sense a history involving the
making of moves in the narrative. Since wars and such power games of
individuals are a major theme of popular fiction, the game of Chess f -.
becomes a significant reference. It symbolizes the moves of the
author to see the narrative game to its finish. It also stands for characters
who. as chess players, make the moves in the narrative.
Forsyth in T / I ~ Fist of God talks about:
Marcus Wolf serving the East German communists. . . .He was a Chess player. He lived for the game, the
intricate moves of spy and counter-spy. Iraq was his
chessboard. (56)
Similarly. thc Chief of Counter-Intelligence, Hassan Rahmani is
introducctl in the following manncr. tlc supports Saddam not because
he is loyal to him but because he fears persecution and would rather,
"kccp smiling at the idiots and rise within their ranks through brains and
talent" (50). The men who make the right moves are all ordinary but
they exhibit a certain unexpected quality, something uncanny in
judgement, in their moments of trial. As in a game of Chess, the right
moves arc duly rewarded. As if an internal mechanism were operating to
dispense justice which takes, either strength or charm, or intelligence, or
endurance, or initiative, or intuition, or simply the luck to make it to the
top. The intelligence chiefs after reading the personal dossier of Mike
Martin conclude, "the man's unusual" (85). Another profile of the
American fighter pilot reads, "Don Walker knew he was a hot-shot pilot
and he revelled in i t . . . which meant that every fighter squadron in the
Air Force would be happy to have him" (92).
36. The carpe-diem Factor
Most of the adventures described in popular fiction are time-
bound. Reading a piece of fiction is in itself a proposition that cannot
overlook time. This makes time a key-factor in popular fiction. One can
even coll it tllc curpe-dlern factor. In popular fiction the significance of
time goes beyond the usual philosophical engagements, like the I
tlistinction bciwccn trn ience and permanence. I t docs not touch the v h. + discussions about mortality and immortality or all the other intellectual
constructions that follow in the wake of our engagement with Time as a
fundamental entity.
rime opcrates at a different level in popular fiction. It operates in
the realm of speed and busy-ness. Popular fiction which engages the
man who is in a huny, by virtue of its place in a busy man's life is
existentially fast-paced, 'racy' or 'spellbinding' as the blurbs commonly
charactcrizc.
For the man on the move, popular fiction is the story told on-the-
run. There is n congruence, hence, of the nature of waiting in airport
lounges and railway stations, and the nature of the narrative in popular
fiction. This creates a commercial proposition where the story that can
hold thc '~mpatient' reader is likely to be a saleable commodity, It
becomes doubly profitable when it takes advantage of the consciousness
of time. The real journey becomes an excuse and a foil for the 'journey'
into timc. I'opular fiction which uscs the clock to calculated effect and
advantage bcco~ncs thus the story worth the money spent. And in a
capitalistic context it means money spent for the 'time' of the reader 'i :
i that popular fiction consumes. i
Stories that re-live historical events, which have been of crucial
importance to the course of history itself thus make engaging
rcaditig.'l'lic ~i;~rr;~tivc build up to thc climax gives the plcasurc of the
journcy through time with all the speed and consciousness of time that in
fundamental ways dominate everyday existence. As an illustration one
can refer to Uris's Mitla Pass which begins in Tel Aviv on "October 20,
1956 1 D Day MINUS NINE" (1 1).
37. The Society of the Colloquial
1 he raciness of popular fiction depends on the kind of language it
uses. If popular fiction is commonly characterized as being fast-paced it
is becausc, to a great cxtent, the languagc is colloquial, frce of linguistic
or stylistic flourishes and improvisations drawing attention to
themselves. If writers like Faulkner and Joyce can be called the writers
of 'classics' and if writers like Archer and Forsyth can be called the
writcrs of bestsellers, the diffcrence between them can be established
only if the d~fference in their handling of the language is considered.
I t could be that mainstream fiction with its 'hold' on the language,
its insistence on a 'culture' of the reader, its preference for the 'initiated
or a reading elite, has constructed an aristocracy of readers. It is a closed
community of academics, and 'serious' men of language, like, the
Academy for the preservation of the purity of the French language. The
imperialisin of the language of the classics is answered by popular
h - fiction's tendency to be unconventional. There are fewer
sh~bbolcths of style. The threat of being 'outlawed' by the
'mainstreani' classics is answered by popular fiction with a language that
is informal, unconventional and even outrageous.
In the popular narrative which makes a virtue of quick and
efficicnt definitions and descriptions, instances like the following from
Forsyth's 1%e Fist of Cod is illustrative, "the Kuwaitis could not scratch
a flea-bite on their arse without summoning a foreign servant" (58). Archer's the Fourlh Estate uses colloquialisms, puns, neologisms,
humorous and surprising turns of expression. Barbara Bennett in
Archer's novel describes Townsend as "a peddler of pornography whose
only interest is the bottom line" (15). Gary Deakins, in the same novel,
reports thc rapc of a woman by thc Archbishop of Brisbane by
suggesting a different meaning everytime he uses the word "lay" (12).
38. Mythology as a Narrative Sub-Text
'I'hc tclling of popular fiction harnesses the resources of classical
mythology. 'l'hc mytl~ical charactcrs and the numerous adventures of
classical mythology have come to stay in the popular imagination. They
represent human aspirations across cultures and literatures. Joseph
Campbell in Tile Power of Myth says that "Myths are clues to the
spiritual potentialities of the human life" (5). Campbell also opines in
Prinritive Ml~tlro/ogy: The Masks of God that "the comparative study of
the mythologies of the world compels us to view the cultural history of
mankind as a unit" (3). This implies that they also constitute the
rud~mentary stages of all modern narratives. It is only logical that 6
popular fict~on which glorifies adventurous deeds should exploit the
synibol~c content of classical mythology. It is a vast fund of symbols
and metaphors that serves the effective telling of popular narratives.
'l'hey arc responded to as if they were not symbols but rcal characters.
It can be said that classical mythology forms a narrative sub-text
of popular fiction. I t is the matrix in which the latter is located. In
f;orsyth's 7%e Fist of God, the committee that Britain forms to put an end
to the ambitions of Saddam Hussein is given an "appropriate name,
Medusa" ( 1 1 I), after the Gorgon who was slain by Perseus. Popular
fiction frequently adopts the stance of popular epics and mythology
which puts the Gods on the side of the 'good' and the 'righteous.' The
Western world in popular references is seen to be up against the
'monstrous' Eastern world. Similarly, the idea of the God-like Krishna
or Zcus taki~ig sides with the Pandevns or thc Greeks is rcinforccd. The
reader, under thcse circumstances, is enjoined to make his loyalties clear.
This feature of popular narratives is vital because the interest in
reading is sustained only because the fate of an individual, or a State, or
an institution, whom the reader is made to like, are under siege or under
some threat. The act of reading is discreetly transformed into an effort to
vicariously celebrate the victory of the 'just' and the 'righteous.' It is
also subtly catecheticai that the moral awareness or moral
susceptibilities of the reader are teased and tantalized for effects.
A n idea that runs close to the deus ex machina- mechanism is 1 < - 'the side-changing or Quizzling-syndrome. In popular fiction where
the West is an Edenic idyll, one becomes a 'saviour' when he, betraying
the East, moves Westward. In The Fist of God the Director of the
Mossad, General Kobi Drov, receives secret information from time to
time from someone who is close to Saddam Hussein, code-named
"Jericho." It makes Drov understand that "either Saddam himself is
behind this farago, or Jericho is betraying his country" (192).
In the context of The Fist of God, Jericho is like Vibhishana in the
Rattznyntla who comes to Rama's (the God's) side; moving from
injustice to righteousness. In the same novel Forsyth makes a reference
to Oleg Penkovsky, the Russian who spied for the Americans. He is
described as having "changed sides for genuine 'conscience' reasons,
. . .Oleg Penkovsky turned out to be one of the most amazing agents ever.
. . . In their [counter intelligence] world, he was part of legend" (188).
He resembles Sugriva in the epic Ramayana who divulges to Rama, the
secret of his brother's (Bali's) strength. The latter is shot in the back and
killed by Rama.
In Jeffrey Archer's The Fourth Estate, Armstrong's yacht is
called "Sir Lancelot" which revives memories of the Arthurian legend
and the t . 0 1 ~ of Sir Lancelot in it. The yacht is to, in more than one
sense, weather many storms like its owner who in his attempt to conquer
the world of newspapers is virtually taking on a sea of troubles. The
achiever in popular fiction is one who can express his success in terms of
material possessions. He is one who makes a lot of money. Some of the
d popular heroes gamble in casinos and some take risks to amass
! wealth. 111 terms of classical mythology it is the "Midas-desire"
which is thc index of success in a man's life. The hero is one who can
touch and (111-ti cvcry venture of his into gold. The preoccupation with
wealth is one reason for the Swiss enjoying legendaly status. They are
synonymous with banking in popular fiction. Jeffrey Archer pays a
tribute to them by calling them a "nation whose bank accounts always
had to bc in the black and in whose dictionary the word 'risk' wasn't to
be found" (7).
If the Swiss banking institution is glorified in mythical terms, then
thcrc arc instances whcn individuals arc also dcscribcd in such tcrms. In
Mitlu Puss, Leon Uris gives to the lsraeli Defense Minister, Moshe
Dayan, a mythical personality. He talks about the one-eyed chiefs
"strangc Cyclops-like expression" (335) in an obvious effort to equate
the real, historical character with the surreal and mythical character. The
Cyclops was a tormentor of Ulysses and his men in the Odyssey. The
unreality of the one-eyed figure is exploited by Uris to handle the almost
unreal manner in which Moshe Dayan, in the Six-Day War led Israel to
victory against the Arab states.
39.l'he Hero: A Paragon of Virtues
The hero in classical mytholdgy or the knight of the legends have
come to contribute to the image of the hero in popular fiction. As the
examples of excellence in physical prowess and astuteness of the mind,
bcsidcs moral uprightness, they are useful metaphors for a character's
excellence. The hero in popular fiction is made to resemble the C
knight of the medieval times or the legendary soldier, as they are
idealists. 'l'hey are most appealing to women by virtue of being noble.
They do irnposc themselves or their ideas on others. They do not
retaliate unlcss they are pushed to the wall. In Ken Follett's The Third
Twirl. Ricky calls Steve Logan, "My cousin, the idealist" (62). Jeannie
Ferra~ni calls him, "the ideal all-American boy" (44). Steve Logan as
the hero with mythical dimensions has enough justification for his
actions. Steve Logan was the captain of the Hillsfield High Basketball
team. Tip Hendricks, an opponent repeatedly fouled, cheated and won
the gamc. He added insult to physical injury by bullying Steve by
burni~ig his jacket with a cigarette butt. Steve reacted in such a way
that he ailnost killed Tip. Being a minor he was lucky to be off the
police records.
40. Reiterating Popular Images to Mythify
Pers~stencc of an image or a name is also a feature of mythology
and fairy tales exploited by popular fiction. The rcpeated reading of
il myths, legends and fairy tales, establishgproper names which take a
permanent place in the popular imagination. Popular fiction can be seen
as using the same strategy, of repeating names, which with increased
frequency ol reference come to stay in the reader's mind. The repetition
of names like 'Xanadu' of Kubla Khan or 'Camelot' of King Arthur
have given them the aspects of exotic locations that they are already
mctaphors for fantastic places. In a similar manner, Langley, the - headquarters of the CIA, through repeated references has come to be a
i mythical place which is the greatest fund of vital and secret ( . i
: information in the world. Forsyth refers to "the notion that the
lobby at 1,angley is rather choked with the corpses of former agents
gunned down by their own colleagues at the behest of genocidal
dircctors OII tlic lop floor is amusirig but wholly unrcal" (15). In thin
way I:orsytli posits a notion about Langlcy which rcmovcs it from its real
physical description to a qualified idea about the CIA headquarters.
The authorial intervention to introduce and persist with popular
images is an unmistakable feature. Sometimes it is the case of real
historical characters jostling with fictional characters. In Archer's, The
Forrt.t/t E,~tute- "Margaret Thatcher" (1 1) agrees to the terms of the
contract of 'fownsend, the other newspaper baron who is the rival of
Annstrong. At other times, the profiles of historical characters are made
which reveal the popular attitudes of the readers; some are even
prejudiced towards those historical characters. When Archer mentions
Adolf Hitler, (the context is that of Townsend Jr being educated by his
father, Graham), he retains the image of Hitler as a small man, with a
distinctive appcarance and as a demogogue:
I t was the first time Keith had heard of the name of Adolf Hitler,
'Damned good photograph, though,' his father added, as he pointed to
the pictures of a little ittan, with a toothbrush moustache, striking a pose
with hls r~glir hand held high in the air. 'Never forget the hoary old
clichk, my boy: A picture's worth a thousand words.' (41)
i I ( 1 3
The italicized phrases and sentences make a point. They are a
reflection of the attitude of the Western media towards a figure like
flitler. I t also suggests that the pictures in the textbooks of History have
a role to play - of reinforcing an image which at all times would remain
the same.
41. The Tone of Impersonality
I t is also to be noted that there is a tone of impersonality which is
affected when novelists refer to prominent historical events and
personalities. They are referred to with minimum preparation. This can
be seen as a technique of foregrounding the said event. The reader
notices the absence of ceremony when the author makes his references.
This makes him pause and take a second look which achieves
effectively what could have otherwise required an elaboration. In The
Folrrtlt Esrctie, "He [Keith Townsend] knew this would not have
pleased his father - who was on his way back from a place called Yalta
in the Crimea" (45). The historical importance of the venue of the
Allied Conference in February 1945, which was a prelude to the
fomlation of the United Nations, is underplayed. In the same novel,
Archer refers to a historical personality with calculated impersonality.
"He [Lubji] went on to tell him [his boss] about a British gentleman
culled ('llilrnbcrlnin, who had honded in his resignation as prime minister
only a few months before" (59).
42. Allegorizing the Historical I
111 cc~,luili cotilcxts historical churaclcrs arc sccrl to be
'T tmythified to gain a greater control over the fictional situations.
Such situnti~~ns rlrc cilher nllcgorical extc~lsions or rc-cnactmcnts of the
Iiistorical situetions. Keith l'ownsend's victory in Tlze Fourth Estate is
ncar impossiblc. tlis father offers him advice. He is asked to take a leaf
out of the politician's book. Keith tells his father that he is not very
popular with the electorate. His father's response is very significant: "
'Few politicians rely solely on popularity to get elected,' his father'
assured him. 'If they did half the world's leaders would be out of office.
No better example than Churchill' " (64).
43. 'I'he Significance of Numbers
The popular imagination also harbours certain notions about
numbcl-s which arc cashed in on by writers. The reference to certain
numbcrs are meant to cany significance in the narrative. They are meant
to tickle the bone of curiosity. The number Thirteen has been seldom
ignored. In Tlte Third Twin "Steve had gone through a religious phase
at about age thirteen" (65) . In the same novel, the negative character,
Dennis I'inkcr cuts thc "power to a cinema in the middle of a Friday the
7Yrit.tcetrtlr trrovie" ( I ) . Oncc again, classical mythology and folk tales
can be seen as the sources that give to numbers significance that is put to
usc in popular fiction.
44. The In-Weave of the Bible
Besides drawing from the resources of classical mythology,
popular fiction draws heavily from the Bible. It is a very large cultural
womb which is more advantageously milked by popular fiction than t
even classical mythology. Just as mythological heroes, their deeds
and triumphs are superimposed on historical figures and historical
events, a systematic vocabulary is constructed with popular fiction using
the ljible as a vibrant sub-text. Being entrenched in the popular
imagination the Bible is a repertoire of names, events and symbols which
encompasses a cross-section of cultures. It has a strong contribution to
make to popular fiction which is the product of the capitalist West. It
lends itself to hermeneutic exercises and exegeses which have been
largely Eurocentric or Western.
The line dividing the mythological and the historical contexts of
the Bible is very thin. In the hermeneutic exercises the distinction is not
always stressed. On the contrary, the slant towards the Bible's historical
antecedents is emphasized for effects.
An illustration may be used to drive home this point. It is drawn
from fie .loro.ttnl oj' Cotzjlict Resolutions. Here, Daniel Bal-Tal, Dan
Jacobson and Tali Freund discuss the security feelings among Jewish
settlers in the occupied temtories. They refer to the ease and seeming
unselfconsctousness with which the biblical sub-text informs the
references t o real historical happenings. The mention that the Mafdal
Party, the nat~onal religious wing of the Zionist movement and the Gush
Emunim Movement affiliated to it , "interpret the conquest of the West
Bank and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Six Day War as the fulfilment of
biblical promises of Jewish sovereignty over the entire Eretz Israel (Law
of Israel)" (358).
1 1 1 11 largely C:hristian world where the Bible is history or even
4. quasi-history there is a place for metaphysical constructions like
God, the Messiah, the God-ordained universe, and so on. A
predominantly Christian cosmology can be divined in popular fiction
which galvanizes thc telling of stories by establishing a continuity from
thc biblical situation on to the historical and fictional situations. A
rcfcrcncc bcconics picturesque from the manner of associating it with
IilrniIic~r synlhols or imagcs. 'I'hc rcfcra~ccs in populur fiction bcncfit
from the C:hristian symbols and images that constitute the popular
psyche.
Thc llihle inevitably becomes a sub-text and a strong presence in
popular fiction. I t lends names, metaphors, symbols and evocative
phrascs. I t works to the advantage of certain communities who find
mention in thc Ilible. When these same comrnunitics becomc tllc topic
of discussion in the stories, their biblical presence serves to fudge the
line separating the story from its biblical antecedents. In this way
mythical associations are communicated. When one considers the Jews
as an instance, i t is evident that their campaigns have, in a convincing
manner, cst;tblished the popular notion that they are the people who live
'by the Book.' This earns for them an unconscious justification for their
acts in history. In Leon Uris's Mitla Pass one comes across Ben Gurion
who calls his operation, "Operation Kadesh," after "the biblical site in
the Sinai where the Jews dwelled for a time during their wanderings
with Moses" (12).
'I hc cc~~t ra l character of Mitla Pass is Gideon Zadok. He is a
writcr who goes to the warfront to tell the story. He goes there to
tell the story as truth. The narrator as the teller of truth is named after
the bibical "Gideon." An entry in The New Nlustrated Encyclopaedia of
Knowledge describes him as:
'I'lic biblical judge, Israelite hero, and father of
Abimelech. Called by an angel of God, he destroyed the
altar of Baal. After a victorious attack on the Midianite
camp, with only 300 soldiers, he refused to be made king.
(248)
Zadok benefits from the biblical image of Gideon by gaining the aspects
of courage, of being divinely assisted, of the benevolent soldier who is
not after power, and so on. Leon Uris, here, takes the fictional character
Zadok with the biblical image of Gideon and superimposes it on a
historical event that features David Ben Gurion. The fictional context
benefits from the biblical precedent of the handful overcoming the
mighty and achieving an impossible feat.
Sympathy for the Israeli cause is mustered by cashing in on Psalm 9% 137 wh~ch IS about the Israelites in exile under Moses. On the river +. ''*
banks of Babylon they weep for their lost home and ask, "How shall we
slng the Lo~d ' s song in a strange land?" (668). This song was made
cven morc popular by the music band called Bot~ey M. Having occupied
the popular mind, the song evokes all the sentiments of homelessness
t\nd tl\c col\thtlon of exilc. Ilris tries to ccho this biblical i~nagc of the
people of Israel sitting by the waters of Babylon, lamenting the fate +
of Zion through the introspection of Gideon Zadok. He stares at the
prospect of Israel going to war and muses, " I was more .afraid for Israel
than for myself' (20).
45. Taking Sides
One of the putative indoctrinations of the Bible is the insistence
on taking sides. It is a text containing a series of existential conundrums
that requires the individual to exercise his value judgement. This means
that there is a compulsion within the text to read it as a clutch of
dichotomies: of light and darkness; day and night; to do and not to do;
to be with God and to be against Him. The catechetical demands are
such that having weighed either side one is coerced into favouring one (
and only one) side which outweighs the other with its merits.
The modus of such a catcchetical reading is applied to the
territorial aspirations of the Israeliles. 'rhe historical scenario appears to
show that the Israelites were threatening to occupy a certain
geographical description and, by so doing, unhouse the other
communities that were already existing there as political entities. But by
a shrewd arrangement of narrative particulars the Israelites are made to
carry sufficient justification. They are made to carry justification for
making a political bid for a sovereign state as the culmination of their
long and cvcntful journey through time and across the major continents.
'1 he attempts of the Israelites to create and establish a motherland
come into sharp focus when it draws comparison, inevitably, with
slnillar attclnpts by other countries at different times in history. The
pattern could be that of, say, India bcing invaded by the Afghans,
thc Mught11~ ant1 thc British; the invasion of South America by the
Port~~gcsc and ihc Spaniards; the invasion of Poland and Czechoslovakia
by Gcrniany Such a patterning of instances creates an image of the
lnvad~ng country being the aggressor; the plunderer who must be
resisted by the invaded country.
By reiterating the biblical and historical 'right' (of possession of
the land by Israel), the state has created a position for herself where she
has all the justification for any political, military, or diplomatic action.
The narrator in Mitla Pass foregrounds the idea about the formation of
the state of Israel which plays down all the notions of aggression,
pillage, and hegemony. Rather it garners for Israel a sympathetic
following:
It was no land of milk and honey. In truth, Palestine was a
weary and neglected place, eroded by sun and infested by
swanp. Feudal Arab overlords fought any progress the
newly arriving Jews might bring, prefemng to continue to
suck dry their own lethargic and defeated people. (230)
. . I he italicized words, meant to add emphasis, do make an emotive
statement. The hostile terrain that no one would wish to possess is what
the Jew calls Eretz Israel. And because it is said that it is "no land of
milk and honey." the acquisitive fervour of the Israelites is made to look
different frorn the greed and land-grabbing tendencies of the imperial
powers in history. It is also made to appear as a harmless, even
justifiable act that the Israelites must put down the "feudal Arab
overlords." The Arabs are called "lethargic" and "defeated." These
qualifications leave them, logically, undeserving of the land which the
Israelites are rapidly occupying and turning into productive land through
hard work.
The whole passage hangs from the biblical idea of man having to
earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. The labouring Israelite thus
appears to be operating under a divine decree which even legitimizes his
efforts to keep the Arab out of his land. The interpretations of biblical v
situations are rife even to this day that Leon Uris can be seen as subtly
taking sides with the Israelite for turning the "lethargic" and "defeated"
Arab out of his political and geographical home.
It must be remembered in this connection that popular fiction
respects a history that shows a continuity from the biblical times,
invariably, when the topic is about the Jew and his struggles to make a
home anywhere on Earth. The Bible is thus a reference point to locate
the Jewish state and its relationship with other countries. It also retains
an image of America as the country that is most concerned about Israel's
sovereignty. Read cryptically, it suggests an American intent to retain
the spirit of the Bible and restore its widely received meanings.
Comrncnting on the efforts of the Jews in getting acculturcd in America,
Leon Uris says, "for the first time since biblical days the Jews had a
country they loved fiercely" (307).
'I'lic~c is 11 rcfcrcnce ill tllc OIlf lb.vl(tntorf to thc tllytl~ of the
i-. "Passover." This reference is employed in popular fiction sometimes to mythify the way the Mossad operates. The God says in
Exodus Chapter XlI, Verse 13, "and when I see the blood, I will pass
over you, and the plague shall not be upon you . . . when I smite the land
of Egypt" (The Holy Bible 78). The same situation recurs in the
Arabia11 Nighrs tales when the markings on the doors saves the Master,
Ali Baba:
The robber then made marks with white chalk upon the
door to the end that he might readily find it at some hture
time . . .Not long after it so fortuned that Morgiana, going
out upon some errand, marvelled exceedingly at seeing the
chalk- marks showing white in the door; she . . .presently
divined that some enemy had made the signs. . . . She
therefore chalked the doors of all her neighbours in like
manner and kept the matter secret. (749)
The correlation between the elimination of a person and the
instrutncntality of an identifying mark is carried over into the popular
narrative to give the formal approval of the Israeli Prime Minister a
mythical aspect. The Israeli Prime Minister who signs the execution
order is given the aspect of a God who decides the fate of men on the
execution list. As the head of the Mossad:
He may either initial each name, giving the Mossad the go-
ahead on an 'if-and-when' basis, o r insist on being
consultcd bcfore each new mission. In either event he must sign the
execution order. ( 16)
Frcdcrick Forsyth presents a deified image of the Israeli Prime
Minister who presides over a "Passover" in the biblical manner. The
same posture is parodied or ironized in the presentation of the supreme
leader of the Iraqis, Saddam Hussein. With dramatic descriptions,
Forsyth shows Saddam calling for a meeting of his inner advisers at his
palace at Sarscng, high up in the Kurdish mountains. It reminds one of
Mount Olympus, or Mount Kailash or even the biblical mountain from
which Satan looked down as he tempted Christ.
Forsyth pictures the leader like an Almighty looking down at his
subjects:
He liked Sarseng. It stands on a hilltop and through its
triple-glazed windows he could gaze out and down at the
surrounding countryside while the Kurdish peasants
huddled through the bitter winters in their shacks and
hovels. I t was not many miles from the terrified town of
tlalabja whcre, for the two days of 17 and18 March in the
year 1988, he had ordered the 70, 000 citizens to be
punished for alleged collaboration with the Iranians. (29)
The leader at an exalted position resembles a powerful God who
controls his tribe with brutal force. A page later Forsyth shows Saddam
as "he stood before the window of his dressing room and gazed down
that mountain. He had been in power, undisputed power, for sixteen %
years and he had been forced to punish many people" (30).
'This is a slow preparation of Forsyth to draw the battle-lines.
After all. Tlre Fisl of God is about the almost invincible weapon of
Saddam tlussein with which he means to menace the allied Western
powers. In a six-hundred page novel, which pits the superpowers like
America, Britain and Israel and France as being at war with Iraq, it is the
compulsion of the narrative that Saddam be constructed to proportions
commensurate with an equal and mighty contest. For the build-up of
Saddam as a military general with devious intent, Forsyth resorts to the
biblical sub-text. The Bible is used to decide the colour of Right and
Wrong; the Just and the Unjust. Saddam Hussein as the new star of
Iraq is introduced as "a new Sennacherib [who] had risen out of
Nineveh and another Nebuchadnazzar out of Babylon" (30). That
Sennacherib and Nebuchadnazzar were inimical to the Israelites is a
quiet preparation to locate Saddam Hussein who will eventually be
brought to 'justice.'
Continuing in the spirit of constructing an equal opponent to the
Allied powers, Forsyth gives to Saddam the character of a God (here, an
evil one) when he says that, "For Saddam Hussein there was only one
quality he demanded of a man in his favour. Loyalty. Absolute, total,
slavish loyalty" (31). And Saddam as President, (one may recall the
sense of Thomas Hardy's "President of the immortals" in Tess of
L)'Urbewilles), "claimed he could read into a man's soul through his
eyes, and many believed it" (32). Thus the supreme leader as an
j almighty God is reinforced. Against such a profile are set the Prime L '
/ ~ i n i s t c r s and Presidents of the Western countries, especially, of
America, Britain and Israel who are symbols of wisdom, of decisiveness,
and an almost God-like infallibility.
The qualitative difference between the leaders of the Eastern
countries and those of the Western countries is indicated by the
responses of the subordinate characters. The leader as an almighty God
commands the admiration of his subjects verging on idolatry. In
contrast, the subjects of the Third World countries, (in the context of
Forsyth's novel, Iraq), live in fear of their leaders; they loath and
condemn them as mean creatures.
In The Fist of God there is an instance of the God failing the
Iraqis. The allied forces which bombard their radar facility likcn thc
scenario to a "sightless Samson" (395) with all its biblical overtones. It
also suggests that the Western powers with their spy satellites and
advanced technology are more powerful Gods for they have the capacity
to even render a Samson like Iraq sightless.
l'hc prcscticc of thc Rible can bc fclt cvcn in casual comparisons.
Squadroll Leader Lofty Williamson is seen to be "reading the latest
edition of World Air Power Journal, the combat pilot's bible" (485).
This metaphor turns the Bible into a synonym for absolute knowledge
I I I I ~ aut11011ty. '1'11~ metaphor also suggcsts that as an c~icyclopaedia of
human experience everything that matters is obtained in the Bible; what
is not in it is non-existent and immaterial.
Since most popular narratives are constructed in the manner I
c of an order being destroyed and the need of a hero to restore the lost
order, there is a vast space filled by the Bible. By contributing the
'Messiah-factor,' the Bible occupies the narrative space. Forsyth's
novel opcns at the point of order being disrupted when Saddam Hussein
comes into possession of a weapon of mass destruction. It thus becomes
imperative that he must be neutralized. The mission calls for the
~nstrurnentality of a Messiah. The archetypal description of the Messiah
is that of one who can take a human form, be like any common human
being, and carry out the 'mission' he is entrusted with.
A Christ or a Krishna are Messiahs who incarnate for a purpose.
In Tlre Fist of God, the secret agent, Mike Martin, equipped with the
most arduous of commando trainings and the perfect knowledge of
Arabic, is appointed by Britain to infiltrate into Kuwait and relay the
truth about the Iraqi occupation. This resembles the incarnation of
Christ in the Bible or Krishna in the Mahabharata who arrive at a time
when injustice has raised its ugly head. The biblical pattern of heralding
the Coming of the Messiah through the prophet John, is repeated with
the lntclligc~lcc agencies making all thc prcparations necessary for
Martin so that the Messiah can start his ministries.
To achieve an ironic effect Forsyth applies the Messiah-factor on
Saddam Hussein too. All over Baghdad are "pictures of Saddam
portrayed as the desert warrior on a white charger with raised sword"
(133). This kind of posturing is debunked by Teny Martin as "all
bunkum of course: the man's a back-street shooter" (133).
'l'lic popular narrative which thrives on holding the reader's
.- intcrcst hy gc~wnti~ig the "And-thctl" syndromc also bcncfits From
the role of the prophet. The biblical prophet who announces the
Coming of the Messiah manifests in different forms in popular
narratives. In Mitla Pass Gideon Zadok's grandmother Hannah Balaban
plays the prophetess when she declares, "that boy is a genius, . . . someday he will make us proud" (436).
The hero who undergoes enormous trials and challenges appears
to manifest the Christ-figure of the Bible. Till the final resurrection his
is a life full of suffering and struggle. For instance, in The Third Twin,
the hero, Steve Logan, undergoes jail sentence because his identity gets
mixed with the real culprit Harvey Jones. A narrow brush with death
follows when he is shot at. The fictional contexts where the hero who is
sought to be killed by his pursuers, and, incarcerated in dungeons, or
some 'safe place' from which he emerges, liken him to the resurrected
Christ. Another feature of the Messiah-factor, taking a shape of the
Christ image, pertains to their real identity. Like Moses or a Christ, their
real identity is concealed leading to a reworking of the biblical journey
of the Magi or the discovery of the coarse Jewish cloth (that reveals the
identity of Moses).
'The plotting of popular narratives by this reckoning is actually an
cnactmcnt of the search for the identity of the hcro. In Tlie Tiiird Twill,
Dr Jeannie 1;cl-l.ulili is in love with Stcvc Logan. But she has to identify
him from among seven others who are identical clones. She must do it
1 also to save Steve Logan from imprisonment following allegations A. .~.. ~. -. !
i of rape by Lisa Hoxton.
The i7i.7t of God is actually a translation of the Arabic word
"Qubr-ur-Allal~." Allah is the Almighty of the Iraqis who are
predominantly muslims. The Qubt-ut-Allah is the most devastating
secret weapon the Iraqis have which the Allied powers want to silence.
America and England which are the major players among the allied
forces are also the two most powerful nations symbolizing the might of
the Western Christian world. And their attempts to silence the Iraqi
weapon, can be seen by extension, as an attempt to justify the ways of
the Christian God to man. The "bird-rocket" which Gerard Bull
designed for the Iraqis is called, "Al-Abeid," the Believer. The naming
of the weapons, the threat perceptions leading to their neutralization,
give the narrative the form of a contest between the 'Believers' of the
46. l'he David and Goliath Face-Off
The face-off between Saddam Hussein and the Allied powers sets
off a train of inferences. It dramatizes the proverbial clash of the titans.
I t finds a parallel in the confrontation between Christ and Satan in
Christian mythology. Particularly, i t takes the shape of the clash
between David and Goliath which is part of Jewish lore. A
megalomanlac like Saddam Hussein, the President of Iraq and its
supreme army commander, is constructed as a Goliath figure who is
taken on by a Major Mike Martin of the British SAS. In comparison, the
1 latter is only a David who undertakes, as the blurb puts it, "the most L -1 , hazardous mission of his life."
Eastern mythology too has equivalents in the form of the
Devas or the Pandavas who are David-like and the Asuras and Kauravas
who are Goliath-like. In historiographical narratives too there is a
privileging of the individual who takes on the might of institutions.
Sami Gershom in The Fist ofGod recalls how " Israel had destroyed four
armies and four air forces in six days" (177), in 1967. This historical
rel'crcncc is turnctl into o legend which is propped up by tho niyth of
David and Goliath.
In The Third Twin when Steve Logan is asked about his role -
model lic replies that it is "Ralph Nader . . . [who] took on the most
powerful corporations in America - and he won!" (62). The myth of
David and Goliath finds further application when Jeannie Ferrami, the
pretty young scientist in the same novel, challenges the might of the
Genetico firm, the FBI, the Jones Falls University authorities and
eventually manages to defeat their oppressive designs.
Steve Logan enacts the myth when with just a year in law school
he defends his case against Henry Quinn, who has thirty years of
courtroom experience. Though David here loses to Goliath, he elicits the
following approbation: "You were very sharp in there . . . I hope you
won't think me condescending if I say I enjoyed matching wits with
you" (420). In the same novel there is another case of'the individual
challenging the mighty institution and winning against all odds.
-< (Berrington Jones is apprehensive about the damage Dr Jeannie 1 I Ferram~ can cause when provoked. Even when he comforts himself
with the thought that she is "but one girl" he "wondered if he should be
so sure" ( 108).
'l'tlc 11ty111 of I )wid and Goliath 1111s UII ubiding intcrcst for wrilcrs
of popular fiction because it presents a contrast of strengths. The reader
of popular fiction is only too familiar with the mighty forces which hem
him in on all sides in his existential struggles. In this situation, the
possibility, though fictional, of the apparently weaker individual
triumphing over the apparently stronger, is appealing. The contest
between unequal powers becomes absorbing in the event of the
predictable outcome being subverted.
With the readers sympathies likely to be on the side of the
underdog whose rights are to be vindicated there is a space in the
narrative to enlist the reader's interest. So when Jeffrey Archer presents
The Fourth Estate, as a power struggle between Armstrong who heads
the Citizen and Keith Townsend who heads the Globe, the novelist
means to reap the reader's interest which is buoyed up by the biblical
~iiylli. 11c s ~ ~ s t i ~ i ~ l s tlic interest by identifying Arnlstrong alias Lubji with
David. "1)uririg Lubji's second year at the academy the name of Adolf
Hitler came up in conversation almost as often as that of Moses" (51).
Furlher ~ l o n p in the narrative w11cli onc of the dcckhnnds kcpt rcpcatiilg
thc wort1 'liyypl,' "Lubji's first thougl~t wt~s that of Moscs alld the
t'romiscd i.and" (90).
' l ' l~e space in the narrative allows the free play of the
*,. :metnpliysici~l rlcments l ik r faith, or niirnclcs. or the providentinl
help. ' I I I L I S the il~clividual cndcars himsclf to the reader by appcaring
smarter thzin t l~c institution. When it appears that the individual is
cornered, hc surprises everyone by giving the slip. In The Fourth
Estate, Keith l'ownsend is cornered by his Headmaster and others,
thanks to the betrayal of Motson who is jealous of his genius. When the
headmaster asks Townsend to open the locker, he is embarrassed to see
thnt the hugc stock of eatables, said to be in there, is not found. A
composed 't'ownscnd thus hoodwinks the headmaster.
David, it is believed, overcame Goliath with a sling and soft
pebbles. This myth is adapted by Archer in a situation where Rudi, a
fugitive, on the run from the Germans, rescues Lubji and takes him into
the forest. He says:
The Germans had not pursued them once they had seen
him being carried off into the forest. 'Perhaps they were
fearful of what they might come up against, although in
truth the nine of us have only two rifles, a pistol, and an
assortment of weapons from a pitchfork to a fish knife.'
Rudi laughed. (84)
Leon Uris's Mitla Pass is about an Israeli operation against the
Arab states. The historical event gains plenty of fictional mileage by
reviving the myth. The details of the military operations are presented
by massing all the data in favour of Israel (the David figure) so that it
I has all the sympathies of the reader. I t amplifies the position-taking I
I tendency of the reader when the David figure takes the form of
David Ben-Gurion who contemplates the chances of his country against
the Arab states. The odds are heavily against him and his country.
There is mounting international pressure against any use of violence.
The crisis is dramatized by Leon Uris. When the story begins, Israel is
in a beleaguered position. He says that she is:
Alone, outmanned, and outgunned. . . .All sorts of things
were going wrong as D Day approached. The ordnance
reports all but crushed the spirit: no spare steer matting to
roll vehicles over the sucking sands of the desert . . . aged
tanks being cannibalized, . . . rifles from Belgium not upto
spect . . . no filters for the tracked vehicles to keep them
from choking in the desert . . . a shortage of tank tracks,
chains, pulleys, winches, flatbeds, four-wheel-drive trucks,
repair stations, batteries, belts . . . an obsolete air force of
World War I1 piston planes to face double the number of
the latest MiGs owned by the Egyptians . . . no anti-aircraft
batteries to defend the cities against Egyptian bombers
flown by 'volunteers' from Poland and Czechoslovakia.
(13)
David, realizing he is weak and powerless, turns to his God for
strength. This reminds one of the situation based on the Bible in the
story Ben Hur by Lew Wallace. Judah Ben Hur, in the privacy of a tiny
room prays to his God, kisses the Star of David aAer consenting to the
Chariot-race with the Roman Tribune. It puts Judah, as David, C
figainst the mighty Roman empire. Ben Gurion, in Mitla Pass, is
very sick and in a bad shape at the time when Israel launches "Operation
Kadesh." HIS doctor is concerned for his health. The doctor "looked
heavenward in a gesture of futility and staggered from the room" (334).
The besieged land of Israel can be saved only by faith. Uris looks at
Israel as "poorest of cities, lonely and remote, a place reserved for only
those with the most powerful faith" (233).
In the same nove1,Gideon Zadok, who has ambitions of becoming
a writer is staggered by the rejection slips and the accident to his
daughter. He turns to God. "God! . . . I've got no strength left . . . look,
man, you listen to me" (71). The equation with the Almighty suggests
the leverage of faith in popular narratives. The balancing of the biblical
and the fictional is made by fleshing out the hand of God with the
underdog pulling off surprises.
In the myth of David and Goliath, the tactical victory is scored by
the unknown quantity in the form of the sling and the soft stones. In the
same vein the Israelis "hinted they were going to attack Jordan, then
wheeled about and hit the Egyptians in the Sinai, achieving a brilliant
tactical surprise" (335).
In this manner, popular fiction can be seen to exploit a number of
situations which have amplified connotations by virtue of appearing in
symbolic forms in the Bible which is a major sub-text.
47. Impressions from the Classics and the Fairy Tales
Like classical mythology and the Bible, which form the cultural
and referential sub-texts of popular narratives, mainstream classics and
fairy tales too are seen to facilitate their telling. The fairy tales and the
classics have a universal appeal. The former enriches a child's
imagination by offering it colourful encounters with memorable
characters. They continue to remain in the mind and nourish the child's
impressionable years. The classics are so called owing to their
commitment to examine - and understand - human life. They are also a
significant part of the individual's formation. It is only logical to expect
the fairy tales and the classics, alongwith classical mythology and the
Bible to be the individual's encyclopaedia of experience.
Popular fiction has at its disposal such a vast and vibrant cultural
matrix. In itself, it is an interweaving of hundreds of narratives. Taking
aRer Vladimir Propp, it is an interweaving of all the possible narratives.
48. Yearning for the past
The fairy tale is resorted to, to earn some romantic leverage. The
language of the fairy tale is used to create a romantic past. Forsyth
offers an illustration of the same. The story begins in Iraq. The text
reads thus: "It was a good time to live in Baghdad. Life was slow and
easy, the boy-king Faisal was on the throne" (74). On the following
page the text moves to Langley, which is the headquarters of the CIA:
It was not even dawn in Washington but the first
indications of the coming sun pinked the hills of Prince
> Gcorges ('ounty where the Patuscent River flows down to join the
Chesapeake. On the sixth and top floor of the big, oblong building
among the cluster that forms the headquarters of the CIA
nnd is known siniply as Langlcy, thc lights still burncd.
( 7 5 )
The first reference is a location in the past. The second is located
in the present. The style is the same but it conveys two different effects.
The lraq of the past which was beautiful is dead and has vanished. It is
suggestive of a happy time that will never come back. There is nostalgia
in the air. The shift to Langley, on the other hand, is suggestive of hectic
activity amidst the general appearance of a sluggish dawn and a
langorous beginning. The description appears to remove the familiar
landmark to a certain serene distance. The tcmpo of the narrative rouses
thc reader's curiosity.
The sedate movement of the language of the fairy tale and its
dcnsc atmosphere is rccrcated to evokc fcelings of' nostalgia. Perhaps
because popular fiction is so much about escaping from the immediacy
of life that it, like the fairy tale, hearkens back to a time when life was
pleasingly slow-paced; a tranquil world that was full of promising
beginnings.
Gideon Zadok, in Milla Pass, during a crucial phase of his career
switches to the fairy tale mode to recall the happy times he spent with his
girlfriend Valerie who is now his wife. He reminisces with his wife
seated beside him:
2 I We sat lor a long time hanging on to the lost images. 'Val, I once I took a g ~ r l upto a hilltop a long time ago. A place called Twin Peaks !
In San Fransisco. We were kids. I told her I was going to
be a great writer someday.' . . . 'What happened to her?' . 'We got married but we didn't live happily ever after.'
( 124)
Forsyth relies upon the language of the fairy tale to describe the
East. In The Fist of God, he adapts from the Arabian Nights to describe
Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. The popular image of that ancient city is
recalled for thc benefit of Western eyes. In thc dcscription of the
Arabian Gulf which is visited for the first time by the American
Maybelle Walker, there is resemblance to the Arabian Nights's
descriptive style. It reads as follows:
The sights enthralled her. . . .She admired the palaces and
the minarets, wondered at the torrent of raw gold on
display in the gold souks . . . The exotic sights and sounds,
smells and experiences of another world. (38)
49. From the Pauper to the Prince
In the presentation of individual characters too, since popular
narrativcs. gcncrally, construct the rise to promincncc of individuals, the
pattcrn or tlic fairy tale is adopted. In most fairy narratives the
individual tends towards a certain royalty or the position of an emperor.
In this scheme of things both the prince and the pauper are equally
endowed to realize the ideal of kingship or princehood or even an
- 1 i ~ n p c r ~ i ~ l staturc. Arnistrong in 771e Fo~rrth Estate begins as a
i pauper. I3ut hc goes on to build an empire. This is the proverbial
rags-to-r~ches theme which is the stock-in-trade of popular fiction.
50. l'he Hand of Merlin
In the individual's preparation to climb from humble beginnings
to the zenith he meets people who make particular changes in his life.
He may be a weakling but along his adventurous journey he gets to meet
the manifestations of the archetypal magician, or benefactor who is
impressed with him, or some angel or god who would grant him a boon
or a magical gilt that will enable him in his ascent to the top. Like
Mcrlin, thc sorccrcr, who guidcs the rortuncs of King Arthur in the .
Arthurian legends; or, like the Fairy Godmother protecting Cinderella
the hero in popular fiction is guarded by a genial spirit.
In 171e Fourth Estate one meets Armstrong who as a Jew, is so
'naturally' brilliant, who picks up many languages. His
accomplishments make him an ideal choice to head the Allied Control
Commission in Berlin and be in charge of Britain's Public Relations and
Information Services Control, to present Britain's case persuasively.
The hero also has the luck required in adventures of life and death.
In the same novel, one of the fairy tales itself saves the life of the
central character. Lubji, who is rechristened Private John Player, gives
the password as "Little Red Riding Hood" (121). He had a short while
before gone out into the darkness stalking the German 'wolf and killed
one of the soldiers, thus sparking off the association with the fairy
tale character.
51. The Classics in the Western Canon
Mainstream classics that people the Western canon contribute to
the signifying process of popular narratives. The writers with colourful
personalities, literary situations, coinages and phraseology, the titles of
classics, memorable characters, and, thc redoubtable American literary
prescncc - all - arc cmploycd by popular fiction.
In f i e Fist of God, Mike Martin who is disguised as a Kuwaiti
doctor, has in his jeep ammunition for subversive activities. When he is
ordered by the Iraqi soldiers to open the trunks, he plays the same trick
the "Scarlet Pimpernel" played on the French officials. He scares away
the Iraqi soldier saying, "these are full of smallpox and cholera samples
for analysis" (232). Forsyth is here echoing Baroness Orczy's novel.
The Scrrrle/ f'i~npernel, which coincidentally, is also about an
Englishman, who comes to the rescue of people who are brutalized by a
military regime.
References from the classics are also made to serve a mythopoeic
function. In The Fourth Estate, Richard Armstrong, who is forced into
an agrccmcnt with Tulpanov of the KGB over sccret British documents,
expresses his frustration over the job. Tulpanov replies, "because, Lubji,
like Faust, you have signed a contract with the devil" (233). The
Russian Mephistopheles who has exacted the soul of Amstrong is
suggested.
Besides situations from the classics, one can also see profiles
of writcrs whose charisma and popular appeal give to narratives a
gloss of glamour. It can also be discerned that the American literary
classics and their writers are turned into icons. The American writer
who has the image of the adventurer, the explorer of new terrain, ate 'd - highlighted. The zest for something new, for action and personal
enterprise like the medieval knights is used to some advantage.
In Mitla Pass there is a reference to Hemingway. Gideon Zadok,
the American writer, who wants to write about Israel's acts of
daredevilry is compared to Hemingway. The comparison even does not
spare the latter's passion for drinking. Hemingway became a legend in
his own lifetime, symbolizing the cult of manliness like no other writer
before or since. He has a unique place in the popular imagination as one
who ventured forth at will, like the mythical Ulysses. He seemed never
to be surfeited with the experiences of life. In the novel, Hemingway
becomes a mythical figure who lends his aura and charm to Gideon
Zadok (16).
When Gideon recollects his schooldays he fondly remembers his
schoolteacher. She [Leah] learned to read beautifully and lifted us into
the world of Ernest Hemingway and Eugene O'Neill" (390). Leah
inspired Gideon to follow his dreams of becoming a writer. He reads
voraciously. And in one of his letters to his schoolteacher he comments
on John Steinbeck who, by the narrative clock of the novel, was only
then emerging as a new talent. The letter reads, "He's new. He'll be the
greatest of tllcm all. Tortilla Flat is about the Mexicans" (398). In this /
' context the writer, Gideon, within the narrative of Leon Uris, is the <- -1
\ 'insider' and the witness of the times who observes the changing
currents of taste and literary perception. The same writer is seen to have
a disdain for dandies and intellectual show-offs who, for him, resemble
Oscar Wildc (78).
The American literary cultural matrix makes a strong presence.
Evan Thomas, assessing "The Art of the Techno-Thriller," makes an
observation about Tom Clancy's novels which can be taken as a
generalization. He observes that "America's warriors are always brave
and true, the weapons always work and the 'good guys' always win"
(34). In The Third Twin, on Dr Jeannie Ferrami's shelf, Steve Logan
finds women novelists, "Ericn Jong nnd Joycc Cnrol OIIICS, livc or six
Edith Whartons; some modem classics. . . .7b Kill a Mocking Bid"
(277). The heroine, Jeannie, goes on to summarize Harper Lee's book as
the story of "the hero . . . the lawyer who defies social prejudice to
defend an innocent man" (277). Jeannie who is a professor of
psychology uses the summary to analyse the psyche of Steve Logan
whom she loves. When Steve is amused at the similarity between the
fictional lawyer and himself who is studying law, Jeannie reasons that it
is in thc American psyche. She says that as the typical all-American boy
Stcvc Logan, is com~nittcd to social justicc. Thus thc Amcrican ethos is
glorified in popular fiction.
Literary classics also make their appearance in the form of
memorable characters. In Mitla Pass, when Nathan Zadok, Gideon's
uncle who was injured while paradropping, hobbles on swollen legs, it
? made him think himself as "the hunchback of Notre Dame" (253). \ .,. -7
i It is obvious that no one has seen a Shylock. There is only the
description of Shakespeare. The dramatic productions on the stage and
in films down the ages have given to the Jew a typical image which has
stuck to him. Shakespeare's contribution to that construction must be
seen as singularly copious. Commodore Perry Holifield in Mitla Pass,
struck by the appearance of Moses Balaban, describes him as "a slight
Jew, . . . with a straggly goatee and wearing a black cup like cap. . . .He
could well have been Shylock from The Merchant of Venice" (263).
Words and phrases, titles and coinages, are the other literary
resonances from the classics. Gideon Zadok turns the title of
Steinbeck's novel into a piece of philosophical rumination when he tells
himself, "Gideon, the best laid plans of mice and men" (29) can go
awry in the final reckoning. Forsyth in The Fist of God characterizes the
Kuwaiti royal family, now under seige by Iraq, by metaphorizing the
words of Tennyson by calling them, "the A1 Sabah lotus-eaters (sic)"
(57). In Archer's novel Keith Townsend is an aristocrat who practises
the values of socialism and is in Berlin to write articles about the
aftermath of World War 11. He is critical of the class consciousness of
the British. He is seen going to bed reading George Orwell's Animal
f701~tll ( 1 3'9).
Popular fiction's relationship with mainstream classics is an
epiphytic onc. It draws sustenance from the widc array of rcfcrenccs
which are largely universal in their appeal and for that reason profitably
used. The fact that references from the classics are enduring due to their
I capacity for plurisignation makes them efficient tools in the hands of k.-..-** !
! i writers of popular fiction.
52. The Fear of a Frankenstein
The ministries of a God-figure in the popular narratives are made
imperative by the perceptions of threat to the individual or tho
institution. The need to propitiate a benevolent God arises from the
apprehension about what may be called 'Frankensteins,' who get out of
control of their creators and will have to be checked at all costs. So in
Tlie Fist of God, when it is understood that. Gerard Bull is making
wcnl)ons of mass destruction o~id tlil~t " ~ t i i ~ t i g clictits for tlicsc gutis W I ~ S
a certain Saddam tlussein" (25), the President of America, wakes up to
the enormity of the danger.
l'he hidden anxiety about a Frankcnstein-like man who must be
stopped is evident when Laing expresses his fears about Iraq using the
supcrguns. l ie puts Saddam Ilussciti it1 tlic catcgory of "jumped-up
dictators of highly unstable aspect getting hold of seriously high-tech
weaponry and then possibly using it" (106). Writers like Alister
Maclein, Ian Fleming, Sidney Sheldon, and so on have exploited the
fictional possibilities offered by classics which have discussed the
preternatural fear-of-the-enemy.
53. l'he Latter Day Promised Land
Popular themes which make sellable propositions have a tendency
to repeat themselves. One of the most widely discoverable notions is
that of Atnerica as the proverbial Promised Land. The biblical Promised
Land, of'course, is Israel. It is the land where the dreams of success
are realized. For the man of courage and initiative America provides
encouragement and abundant opportunities. Uris in Mitla Pass calls it
"the classic apple-pie road from rags to riches" (66). There is a splurge
of American place names, personalities, brand names, geographical,
political and cultural locations which describe almost completely the
strong American presence in popular fiction.
The European Jew was the victim of the pogroms that were
unleashed in waves from the 1700s. The Moslems from the Seventeenth
century; before them, the Papal establishment during the Eighth, Ninth,
and Tenth centuries, have only marginalized the Jews.
This has been the reason for the European Jew to migrate to
Amcrica. This part of history repeats the biblical pattcrn of thc Exodus
whcre the Pharaoh causcd the Jews to lcave Egypt under Moses. Their
dreams were that they would eventually come home to Jerusalem. The
Jews who migrated to America formed a vital core of that nation's
growth. In the process they have also changed their lives dramatically to
be able to put their horror-filled past behind them. Thus for the emigrant
Jew America is the Promised Land. Nathan Zadok in Mitla Pass
believes. "Amcrica! Amcrical What a wondrous placc" (176).
The historical landmarks of America are revived to serve as
parallels for the Jewish cause. America as the Promised Land and the
Israelite's search for a home are juxtaposed to piece out a mythical and
glorified idea of a place which gives to the man his freedom. Nathan
Zadok as the intellectual and writer, sees similarities between the
home-making efforts of the early settlers and the Zionists:
l ie [Nathan] remembered what a great favourite the
American cowboy films had been. The covered wagons,
thc lr~dinn attacks, the privation. At the time he couldn't
possibly have equated the Americans crossing the prairie
with Zionism, but now there seemed to be amazing
similarities between Kansas and the Northern Galilee,
except that the earth of Kansas showed more promise.
(239)
Gideon declares to his father who has come to enlist him as a full
member of the Communist Party, his loyalty to America. He shouts out
the Pledge of Allegiance. Uris communicates the dramatic effect of the
scene by printing the declaration in capital letters to stress the stability of
an American home over any other source of comfort. "I PLEDGE
AI,I ,I<tiIAN~'I~ .l'O ' l ' l l l ~ FLAG OF 'I'IIE UNI'I'ELI S'I'A'I'ES OF
AMERICA A N D 7'0 THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS"
(433).
By tracing the devclopment of egalitarian thought in Amcrica,
Mcrle Curti arrives at the triangular relationship between capitalism,
democracy and individualism. One of the reasons for America enjoying
a privileged treatment in popular fiction is, perhaps, the convenience
writers find in rcrcrring to A~ncricu as the nlctuphor for the triple ideals.
It is the land whcrc these ideals stand absolutely justificd. The existence
i of the American Dream in the popular imagination is a construction +--I
j that is licld by the scaffolding of thc thrcc idcals mcntioncd above.
Merle Curti draws from the conclusions of Francis Bowen in The
Prirrciples oj'l.'oliiical Econonzy and says that:
The justification of industrial capitalism on democratic
grounds included the argument that in his efforts to better
his condition the individual was free of paternalism and the
unfair favours which government interference with God's
natural economic order involved. (292)
During the journeys of Lubji, in The Fourth Estate one can see
the 'Qucst-myth' played out. His journcy bcgins in Czechoslovakia, and
niovcs thl-ough Ostrava and Turkey beforc culminating in America. The
metaphorical implications of the journey cannot be dismissed as the
character moves from a predominantly Eastern location to a typically
Western destination.
America also symbolizes the land of stability and permanence. In
The Fist of God when Maybelle comments on the road to Abu Dhabi
bcing good, her husband, Walker rcplics, "We built it" (38), meaning
Americans.
History is selectively used to construct the idea that the Western
world, in general, and America, in particular, has always thought about
the well being of humanity. Historical events and landmarks are cited to
serve in the construction of the 'Promised Land,' where all good things
begin. When Don Walker, in The Fist of God, drives towards Cape
fIattaras, hc IS seen paying homage at "the monument at Kitty Hawk < -- where Orvtlle and Wilbur Wright hauled their string-and-wire
contraption Into the air for a few yards to prove that man really could fly
in a powerful airplane" (94). America as the land which heralded the
era of the ailplane is emphasized.
One of the most prominent themes in popular fiction is the
making of a 'home.' There is a universal justification for any attempt to
wrest territory which is supposed to be occupied by 'aliens.' The
establishing of a 'home' is a continuing theme from the past; traceable
from the myths, to the fairy tales, to the legcnds. America as such a
'home' is often glaringly stressed. That also explains the penchant for
storics about thc Jews clnmouring for Eret7, lsrncl. It symbolizes tlic
quintessential crusade of a man for a place of stability he can call
'home.'
In the context of Israel, one of the categories of carriers or agents
for the Mossad is called "Sayans." They are unlisted, common men who
wish to serve the state of Israel, though they themselves enjoy a different
nationality and citizenship. The mere fact that they are of Jewish origin
binds them in a common bond of brotherhood. They serve Israel
because there is the notion of a 'home' they cherish and wish to see
~.cnlizcd. 111 U r c r f i t ~ f ( ; o ( f , whcn Scnor 1 3 ~ 1 ~ ' s son is ilskcd to work
Ibr Is~.tlcl he agrees with tlic blessings of his paretlts. "'l'he emotional
pull of the needs of the Land of Israel, which none of them had ever
seen, was strong" (193).
I he same notion is made to look like brutal violation of
human rights when other countries that do not figure in the Western
frame of reference dare the same adventure. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait is
connected to similar developments in other parts of the world which are
not, as Forsyth holds, perfectly justifiable. The act of Saddam Hussein is
first deliberately split into an act of legitimate expansion which is a
positive idea. This is set against unreasonable aggression which is a
negative idea. Through the exchanges between right and wrong, the idea
that Saddam did wrong is gradually established:
"He invaded Kuwait," Paxman pointed out.
"'l'hat was different. Flc could claim that was correcting an
imperialist injustice. . . . like Nehru invading Portuguese
Goa."
"Oh, come on, Terry, Saddam invaded Kuwait because he
is bankrupt. We all know it."
"Ycs, that's the real reason. . . .Look, it happcns all over
the world. India took Goa, China took Tibet, Indonesia has
takcn East Timor, Argentina tried for thc Falklands. . . .It's terribly popular with the home crowd, you know. . . .And he won 't get away with it."
"Only because of America, not because of the Arab
world." (132)
' I he human side of America and America alone being home
in every sense of that word is reinforced through images of that
country caring for her citizens while others appear incapable of genuine
care for their peoples. The difference betwccn Saddam and President
Bush is dclincatcd through Amcrica taking cvcry cautious step to attack
even when she is certain of decisive victory. America is worried about
"casualties.. . America can take many things, but she cannot take
massive casualties. Saddam can. They don't matter to him" (133). The
picture that emerges through the reading of such passages is that Saddam
is a monster while America is a caring mother.
I t appears that America can only be benevolent. They may have
dropped the "Little Boy" and the "Fat Man" on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki respectively. "And the world said we shouldn't have done it,
after all. Trouble was, if we hadn't somebody else would. Nazi
Germany, Stalin's Russia . . ." (457). Thesc words of Profcssor 1,otnan
to 'I'crry Martin in fie Fist of God cotlic as a justification for that act of
America which by any count is the most gruesome and brutal act of
inhumanity. Yet popular fiction reserves for America the sympathies of
men who have the welfare and well being of the majority in mind. By
which the Western majority is implied. One should not overlook the
coincidence and irony of the bombs being dropped on the Land of the
Rising Sun.
A 'humane' America also carries the image of the Big Brother.
America cares, her leaders care for those who are in their charge.
General Chuck Horner, Commander of the Coalition Forces, is described
as one who slept the least among all the military top brass. Forsyth 6 ---.
presents the image of a soldier's leader with these words, "perhaps,
when his beloved aircrew were aloft and flying deep into enemy
territory, he did not feel able to sleep" (477).
America is also seen as being constructed as a manifestation of
the Fairy God Mother. Especially, when dealing with the Jewish
problem the 'Cinderella-factor' from the fairy tales is employed where
the Jew as the neglected child is transformed into a Cinderella by the
American Fairy God Mother. Such a sentiment is testified to by
Townsend who is asked about Kate by Bruce Kelly in The Fourth
Estate. His reply offers a measure of America as the land of promises.
He says that, "She hates London, and seems to spend most of her time in
New York" (410).
The American President, as the head of the most powerful nation,
is deified as a God who is omniscient and omnipotent. Forsyth has a
comment about "President Jimmy Carter [who] had come to power and
political correctness was the new order" (24). Like Zeus or Jove in
classical mythology the President of America appears as a benevolent
God in human form. The abode of the Gods like Mount Olympus and
Pamassus are relocated as Camp David and the White House. Since
these structures are associated with information gathering and control,
with cspionagc and countcr-cspionagc, thcy arc synibols of ultiniate
power in the modern world. In the fictional world they arc landmarks
that reinforce the presence of the American President as a "Hidden
God." In 7Yre f i ~ r r v r h Esrote, 'l'ownscnd is told that "thc Prcsidcnt
called from Camp David just before you boarded the plane" (1 1). c---: ' The 'President' is neither identified nor is his nationality made
explicit. Archer does not make an effort to do that in the obvious
assumption that the reader would not make a mistake in associating the
fictional President with the real American President.
The association between the fictional and the real are cemented
through other situations like, say, the service in Church. The American
President appears to have bequeathed a body of truths that can be used
as books of Common Prayer. Keith Townsend recalls the words of
Reverend Jessop in his Sunday sermon: "One should always remember
thc words of George Washington: ' I cannot tcll a lie' " (102). This
bcing the gcncriil state of nffnirs in populnr narratives, the officc of the
American President assumes aspects of ultimate achievement. The
realization of a man's destiny is metaphorized as the assuming of the
Presidentship of America. Armstrong says wistfully, "This is my home.
I only wish I'd been born in America. If I had, I'd be the President"
(484).
Since popular fiction induces the need to take a position through
reading, one can discover the ways in which American history is handled
to make countries, or organizations, or individuals who are against
America to appear as enemies or dangerous threats who must be
eliminated. Patriotism is defined by, selectively and even preferentially,
deploying nuggets of American History. The patriotism-angle comes
into play in The Third Twin in the interpretation of the historic
confrontation between America and Japan. "Like every small boy in
America, he [Berrington] hated the Japs and played games in which
he slaughtered them by the dozen in his imagination" (100).
American landmarks, historical personalities, the American
academy, the passion for basketball, are all glamorized. In The Fourth
Estate, Archer cashes in on the popularity of the New York Times by
rechristening it The New York Star which reports the historical
happening of 23rd November 1963 in the headline that reads, "Kennedy
assassinated in Dallas" (16). The name is so effective as a metaphor
that when Archer's character Townsend is contemplating a new
magazine for all Australians called the Continent, he is seen visualizing
the concept in terms of the American magazine. "He says, 'I want [it] to
be the Times of Australia' " (239).
In thc same novel, the Australian, Mc Crcedy confcsscs, "I miss
being able to watch the Tigers playing on a Saturday afternoon" (17).
The American passion for basketball seems to brim over into a global
passion. The American temperament for righteousness i indicated thus: L5 l' But Dick [Armstrong] found out that Sackville was
unmoved by charm, bullying or bribery, partly because the
Americans seemed to have a surplus of everything and
always assumed the ultimate authority was theirs. (154)
The inside-account of the Indian journalist Anil Dharkar, is a case
in point. He mentions the experience of the Australian journalist, Philip
Knightley, who edited a magazine financed by the CIA. It was, "the
magazine's policy to carry articles like 'How I fled the Soviet Union,'
and 'Russian breadlines getting longer.' Plus reams on happy
American families" (1 5).
54. <:ultural Imperialism
Most ~)ol'ult~r ~it~rrativcs are prcoccupicd with thc collccpt of
'I'owcr.' <jcncr;llly, it is Knowlcdgc which dctcrlnincs thc diffcrcncc of
I'ower betwccn individuals. The engagement with Power revives the
myth of Prometheus. The figure in the carpet of popular narratives that
deal with notions of Power is that of cultural imperialism. Cultural
imperialism manifests as the manouevers of one country, tribe or
institution to overwhelm another country, tribe or institution. It is
somctimcs military powcr, sornctimes supcrior scicntific and
technological know-how and sometimes mere physical prowess. The
thirst for powcr and the urge to keep it ncccssitates the contcst bctwccn
two factions and turns it into a stand-off like war or such show downs.
Popular fiction's persistence with the war motif resembles the
gladiatorial contests in the ancient times. The gladiator coming up
against all kinds of opposition, in the midst of blood-thirsty spcctators,
was the norm. The war motif appears to be most handy in
sensationalizing such a face-off and in clearly defining the winner and
the vanquished.
The reader of popular fiction thus enters an imaginary arena
bristling with tension and violence, aggression and death. At least, the
fictional frame offers clear conclusions which are difficult to fetch in
life. In life one learns about violence only as a tangled web. A writer
like Forsyth would even philosophise about violence. He says that, t; -
"combat is dedicated to the pursuit of optimism, cautious optimism I
perhaps, but nevertheless optimism or no one would take part in it"
(478). That statement is as much an assessment of the reader's position
in his perusal of popular narratives. It can be inferred that the reader is
expected to take sides as he reads along.
55. 'I'lte East-West Stand-Off
One interesting pattern that emerges is the dramatization of the
stand-off between the East and the West. The East suggests countries in
the Eastern hemisphere, like the Arab states, the Socialist bloc countries,
besides, the Third World nations. The West is represented by the
developed nations, with America as the model for a fully evolved
culture. Forsyth offers a working definition of the West: "the West
meant America, with the Brits at their side, and they were all Anglo-
Saxons" (57).
The manner in which the East and the West are represented reflect
the general disposition of writers in popular fiction. Hassan Rahmani
who was educated at Mr Hartley's Tesisiya Prep School is the civilized
one among the natives. The proof that Forsyth gives makes a case for
the West's cultural superiority over the East. Rahmani is described as
"clever, cultured, cosmopolitan, educated and refined, an upper-class
scion who served a regime of thugs" (57).
! 'I hc valuc of an English education is elaborated by Forsyth \
h " later on in The Fist of God when he points to the contribution of the
English towards civilizing and refining the world through their public
schools: "the entire upper class had been potty-trained by starched
English nannies which always leaves a lasting impression" (74).
The East is pictured as uncivilized and backward. In The Fist of
God, the Arabist, Dr Terry Martin, evaluates the Arab mind by
comparing it with the Western man:
President Bush, he said, and all the people around him, will
act according to their upbringing which is based on the
Judaeo-Christian moral philosophy supported by the
Greco-Roman concept of logic. And Saddam will react on
the basis of his own vision of himself. (1 10)
He then compares Saddam Hussein with Bush. He dates Saddam's
nature as belonging to the Pre-historic times: "No, you have to go back
to Nineveh and Assyria. He doesn't mind how many have to die, so long
as he thinks he can win" (1 10).
By dating them to prehistoric times a view that is constructed is
that the Eastern world, especially, the Islamic countries, are
superstitious, too orthodox, and too hermetically closed. Their religious
practices are spotlighted for being so curious and unlike the Christian or
Jewish practices. The Islamic world thus obtains a caricatured
delineation. In The Fourtl~ Estaie, when the editor of the Evenir~g Posi
reacts to the sexual escapedes of a Labour minister, Ray Atkins, she also
situates a common apprehension about the conservatism of the c ---
;Moslem. I t is said that "She's a Moslem. Having given birth to a
child out of wedlock, she can never hope to marry. They're a little strict
on these matters than the Church of England" (401).
l'he parts of Forsyth's novel which deal with locating the Arab
ambience srnacks of a common Western attitude. When Walker
discusses the Arabs, he visualizes them for the benefit of his wife as the
Bedouin whom she photographs. He says, "Don't go too close.
Probably got fleas" (40). Gerard Bull, who is spumed by the West, is
forced to turn to the East for acceptance. The description of the people,
the land, the leaders, in this part of the world, ark suggetive of the
difference the West seeks to establish with the East. The fictional
narrative keen to enlist the reader's interest only sharpens the divide.
The choice of the adjective to describe the lraqi side's activity tells the
assumed superior humanity of the American side. There is a mention of
"Iraq's hideous poison gas industry" (17).
Iraq is shown to be in the hands of leaders like Saddam Hussein.
Forsyth who follows Gerard Bull's progress says, "Friends had told him
[Gerard Bull] about Saddam Hussein's record as the man with the
bloodiest hands in the Middle East" (27). The son of Saddam Hussein
is introduced, in passing, as follows: "Had not his second son, the
psychopathic (emphasis added) Uday, beaten a servant to death" (31).
On the lraqi side, the Head of the AMAM, the Iraqi Secret Police, Omar
Khatib, is nicknamed "a[-Muazib" which means "the Tormentor."
When these impressions are put together it is made out that i < -\the East is a very dangerous place. By planting such impressions as
I
the opinions of individuals, the novelist does not feel compelled to
account for their use in the narrative. For instance, an opinion can be
planted as the concern of a mother for her son. The idea, however
untenable, gains credibility in the narrative. In The Fist of God
Maybelle Walker shows her son, Don, photos of:
The chain of emirates and sheikdoms she had visited.
'Now you be careful when you get down there,' She
admonished her son. . . . 'Dangerous people, just look at
those eyes.' (96)
A perception that gathers ground when one tries to understand the
visible biases are the expressions of classist and racist sentiments. The
popular narrative appears to favour a sociologically definable 'middle-
class,' or ideologically, a 'capitalistic class,' or by its own
philosophical orientations, a Western 'superior class.' It also appears to
marginalize the non-whites. to which category would belong, even the
Afro-Americans. The non-Whites are treated as individuals
sans any culture or sophistication. Their language indicates vulgarity.
When Steve Logan in the manner of a cultivated White 'gentleman'
greets a police officer, who is coloured, "the cop looked at him, 'vanish
motherfucker,' he said" (58). By the same chalk if the non-Whites
appear refined, they are treated with an exaggerated sense of amusement.
here is also a subtle construction that the Western world is
4- always right and the Eastern world, especially the Islamic bloc,
wrong. Thc West as the bastion of Christian tenets is held as being
conscious of justice, of Knowledge, of Power, because it is more
civilized. 7'he argument that shapes is that the East by virtue of not
being as civilized as the West does not deserve to be independent. The
argument is sharply defined through fictional situations where the East
appears to lack humanity. The Islamic forces are perceived as dark
forces of destruction. In The Fist of God, outlining the method of
operation of the Mossad, there is a mention of the second category of
Mossad targets, namely, " all contemporary terrorists, mainly Arabs who
have already shed Israeli or Jewish blood like Ahmed Jibril, Abu Nidal"
(16).
In Mitln ['ass. there is an occasion where the Arabs come in for
comparison with the Jews. They are typified as being always "on a
heady binge" (15). When the discussion turns to the military ambition
of Egypt, i t sees Gamal Abdul Nassar as one who "had turned the Gaza
Strip into one enormous terrorist base which violated the Israeli border
hourly" ( 15). The italicized word is associated more frequently with the
activities of the Arabs and the Arab world than it is with the Jews and
the Jewish world.
l'herc is a commonness about the features of Third World
countries. Attention is paid only to such details as would make easy
categorization possible. They are broad brush strokes meant for easy
identification. Mike Martin's mother, an Anglo-Indian, born in Assam,
!decides to settle down in lraq with Nigel, the Englishman she
eventually marries. Forsyth's reason is that she did not see any
difference between India and Iraq. Rather, it was for her, another Third
World country:
She soon realized it was a place she could settle down.
The swarming throngs of brightly coloured robes, the
sights and smells of the street, the cooking meats by the
edge of the Tigris, the myriad little shops selling herbs and
spices, gold and jewels -- all reminded her of her native
India. (74)
Whcn examining the attitudes of the Wcst towards thc East, one
can observe the role of Knowledge in defining the power equations
among the nations of the world. In The Fist of God onc sces the CIA
using thc siitcllitcs Kll-l l and KtI-12 to locate an Iraqi poison gas
factory or a nuclear facility. The Americans are weary of allowing lraq
to have her way. The Iraqis, who are unlike them, cannot be trusted with
Knowledge and Power. The Central Intelligence Agency contemplates a
plan of action by which "one day, maybe, they would all have to be
bombed back to the stone age" (77).
When these attitudes are pieced together it is possible to construct
a theology. This theology would approve of Powcr remaining in the
hands of tlic Wcst alone as necessary to sustain peace in thc World. The
American spy satellites being positioned physically above lraq, appear
like angcls of the Gods or the Gods themselves who kcep a watch over
1 the world. It revives the myth of God being watchful of man in
-- l ~ d e n and following him till Judgement Day. The spy satellites KH-
I I and KII-12 over Iraq looking for signs of destructive initiatives
resemble the biblical idea of God and the Fairy God Mother in the fairy
tales.
Forsyth's description of the American resonnaissance missions is
in terms of human faculties. He says, "so the NRO [National
Reconnaissance Office] was taking pictures and the ears of Fort Meade
were lisfenirrg and taping every word on every telephone call and radio
message into, out of and inside Iraq" (77). They are "all-seeing"
(127). The italicized words show the presence of America like a
concerned God.
Yet nnother construction of this thcology is the reprcscntation of
the West as being consistently triumphant. For the West has the
technological edge to find solutions to any problem that crops up
uncxpcctedly. The theology retains the traditional thinking,
catechetically ingrained, that the man of Christian faith would ever
triumph. America is the triumphant West. It is the imaginary side that
the Gods favour. In TIte Fist of God when Gerard Bull invented the gun
which was the most potent weapon of its time it, for reasons yet
unknown, did not have any takers. Forsyth appcars to fecl relief that the
Soviet Un~on did not lay its hands on it. The following words are
suggestive of the bias towards America in popular fiction. It also
indicates the alienation of the Socialist bloc countries alongwith the
Islamic states and the Third World countries. Forsyth says, "By the
< grace of'(iod. neither was the Soviet Union" (23) interested in the
Supergun.
'fhc iclincmcnt and sophisticaiio~i arc directly proportio~ial to thc
quality of a man's education. This presupposes the privileging of a
Western education to establish their cultural superiority. The historical
pattern of the colorliser using the 'Book' to control the thinking of the
colony is seen to recur in the popular narratives dealing with cultural
predominence. The Caliban-factor, where a Prospero controls the native
through the instrumentality of a book assumes the proportions of a myth.
In Millo Pn .~s , Nathan Zadok is shown beginning his campaign as the
proverbial soldier of fortune, after the pogroms erupt in Russia, by
breaking out o f :
the cave of the Talmud in which he had been locked and
drifted naturally towards languages. . . . Books not only
stoked his world of fantasy, they proved a practical tool in
working himself into group life. . . .This afforded Nathan a
special status, a subtle form of snobbery and a forum to
draw attention to himself. . . .His first true social opening,
a way to enter and dominate. (182)
This idea gains ground when i t is placed in the context of
America as the land of opportunity. Nathan Zadok, the Jew, thrives only
because he grows up i s America. The veiled argument favouring a
capitalistic and democratic way of life can be understood. America as
the Promised Land guarantees such a life.
'I his perception is resolved by setting it against the
4 perceptions of other European powers; especially, Germany, Russia,
Hungary as being totalitarian in their political organization. There are
two instances in Mitla Pass where the Russians are shown in poor light.
The first is a comment that, "Lenin is a liar" (198), and the next is that,
"the Russians are the biggest liars in the world" (217). As opinions
about a people the comments have the potential to become ideological
constructs against a Socialist or a Fascist country, like Germany or Italy.
In the same novel, Abigail Winters, an ace-pilot herself, gives her
reasons for going to Spain to serve in the Civil War:
I'm not going to Spain as a Communist. I've quit the
party. I'm going as an American. You see, the people of
Spain voted for a democracy and Fascists are trying to
destroy that. (409)
The comment of Abigail Winters looks ideologically trained at exposing
the emptiness of the socialist ideal of being a 'comrade' and to
highlight, in its stead, the virtue of being an American with a name and
address or the virtue of being a Jew in his avowed homeland of modem
Palestine. In contrast to the totalitarian countries which systematically
dehumanize individuals, America appears to offer the individuals a
sense of human dignity and pride in themselves.
Lester C.ThurowYs explanation may be quoted here for the
apparent dominance of the Western powers, particularly, America, over
the Eastern powers which would include the islamic and the
Socialist blocs. He explains:
Capitalism and democracy now live in a unique period
where effectively they have no viable competitors. . . .For
much of the nineteenth and all 6f the twentieth centuries,
capitalism faced off against socialism on the inside and
communism on the outside. . . .Capitalism stands alone.
(64)
The fictional space created by the separation of the East and the
West, respectively, as uncivilized/civilized; intolerant/tolerant;
totalitariani tlcmocrt~tic; dchumanizing/humanistic lcnds thc discussion
of CCI-toin historicnl situntio~is prodigious ~iarrutivc possibilitics.
The Jewish problem is a case in point. It is advantageously
milked because it carries all the ingredients that make an engaging
narrative. The Jews can be shown as suffering the acts of brutality and
inhumanity of the Arabs, or the Socialist bloc countries or Germany.
They can also be shown as suffering from biblical times. Thus by
superimposing the biblical exodus or the Jewish diaspora on the
historical frame, a picture of a suffering people is constructed, which has
the dimensions of a myth. By effectively combining the biblical and the
historical situations a predominantly Christian symbol for human
suffering is constructed in popular fiction.
56. 'l'he Jews: The Chosen People
Popular narratives can be seen to make capital of the subject of
the Jews, the birth of their state, the manner in which they have
defended their honiclatid. The story of Israel and the glorified treatment
of the Jews arc, arguably the most prominently sentimentalized of
subjects. I t appears that popular narratives cherish the continuing story
about Israel. Probably, the fascination for how the tribe preserves itself
is a theme that offcrs wide possibilities.
In Mitla Pass there is a detail about "Kibbutz Herman [which]
had grown to sixty members. . . .Their greatest pride was the children's
house where half-dozen babies had been born" (236) suggestive of the
abiding fascination for the tribe's efforts to go on like a continuing
argumcnt.
111 7he Fourrlr Estate, Archer uses a metaphor which provokes a
discussion. The fictional context is the occasion of the dinner meeting
for bankers. The place is America. The chairman whose gavel brings
the assembly to order, for the meeting to begin, is described in the
following words: "The room fell quiet enough for a rabbi to deliver a
prayer" (5 17). The italicized word is employed as a metaphor for the
solemn silence in a synagogue. It is a word of Jewish origin. It is
sympto~liatic of the widespread use of terms, names and references,
pcculiat. to .Icwish culturc. It points to thc Jcwisli prcsclicc in popular
fiction which is formidable. Invariably, that presence is a privileged one.
Jewish names, festivals, historical occasions which hold
c---/ special significance for the Jews are used with healthy frequency. !
These culture-specific references appear to be favoured more than the
references pertaining to other ethnic, racial or communal identities. This
is evidenced by the profusion of terms that constitute the functional
vocabulary of popular narratives. Some of them, for instance, are,
Rabbi, Synagogue, Rosh Hashanah, Bar Mitzvah, the Star of David.
The Jew thus emerges as a prominent figure in popular narratives.
I-lis attributes are that, hc is enterprising, daring, intelligent, a great
survivor and, lastly, destined to reach the heights of human achievement.
Two extracts from The Fourth Estate, referring to the Jewish male and
the Jewish woman, respectively, testify to the exalted status of the Jew
which is a widely sustained notion. The description of Lubji, as his
mother fondles him, is a sentiment about the Jewish male: "As his
mother held the child in her arms she smiled. He was perfect" (23).
The next is a reference to that mother herself which was a description
made to Lubji later on in his life. It constructs a notion about the Jewish
woman:
The rabbi did tell him on many occasions that in her youth
his mother had been courted by numerous admirers, as she
was considered not only the most beautihl, but also the
brightest girl in town. (24)
1 An assertion, thus takes shape, about the Jew as being, typically, a
i combination of charm and brilliance to succeed in the world of
challenges.
The Jew is also seen as being divinely guided which appears as a
solicitous explanation for the Jew's continued triumph in popular
narratives. By virtue of enjoying divine grace, he is regularly presented
as being a giRed peraan. In The Fourth Estate, Lubji "started to realize
. . . that he had a god-given gift for languages," and " a genius for
bartering" (27). His teacher, Mr.Lekski, noted with approval that Lubji
never asked the same question twice" (29).
Richard Armstrong's rise to power in the publishing world, is
handled by Archer in a patronizing manner. 1-lis jet-setting lifestyle is
sketched thus:
Within a couple of years, he had met every foreign
dignitaries, including the prime minister of Israel, David
Ben Gurion, who invited him to Tel Aviv. (289)
Uris's sketch of Jacob Herzog in Mitla Pass is equally flattering. He is
presented as David Ben Gurion's closest adviser and confidant. He is
"palc, in a scholarly way; an Irish Jew, thc son of thc Chicf Ashkenazi
rabbi, with a magnificent religious and legal mind" (14).
Since the Jew is a man of great learning, his judgement is seen to
be almost perfect and flawless. The fact that he is providentially assisted
is provided as the reason for the satne. His absolute faith and his
winsome ways guarantee victory.
I f thcre are glorified references about individuals, there are
4 equally laudatory references about Jewish institutions. In Tire Fist
of God, when speculations arise as to who killed Gerard Bull, the maker
of the Supergun for Iraq, there is a suspicion that the Mossad might be
behind the act. Forsyth uses the width of this fictional context to
elaborately discuss the ways in which the Israeli Intelligence Agency
operates. For a whole page and a half he goes over every detail which
establishes "the Mossad [as] the world's smallest, the most ruthless, and
the most gung-ho of the leading Intelligence agencies" (16).
The popular image of the Jewish individual or the Jewish
institution as being extraordinary is maintained alongside another image.
That is about the persecution of Jews in history. The Jew is presented as
having suffered the collective inhumanity of the peoples of the world.
They have been victims from time immemorial thus making them a
subject that deserves the reader's sympathy. A telling instance is from
Mitla Pass, where Nathan's father, Gideon Zadok, is introduced as one
who "never seemed to engage in laughter. Not that there was that much
for Jews to laugh about" (167). It presents the picture of a man who
carries the weight of the tribe's sufferings.
There are vast spaces in popular fiction documenting in great
detail the gory and gruesome nature of the attrocities committed against
the Jews. In certain contexts they serve as metaphors for man's
inhumanity towards man. Natasha Solomon who bids Gideon Zadok
farewell is sad and shaken. The reason is that she is menaced by
mcmories o f Germany's brutality during the war. "Shc broke. Sceing
-1 somconc off always terrified her . . . since she had seen her mother I , sent to the gas chamber at Auschwitz" (25).
Such references bring into sharp focus the deeds of certain
countries like Germany. The repeated references to the pogroms
unleashed by Germany create a monstrous and ugly image of that
country and its leader Hitler, who in popular narratives has assumed
almost a mythical status. The persecution of the Jews by Hitler is
reinforced in every manner possible.
'I'he chapter title of The Fourth Estate which reads "German
troops in the Rhineland," is dated 9 March 1936. It shows Lubji asking
his mother, "will we all have to wear a yellow star if Hitler crosses the
border?" (51). A psychosis of fear is worked up through such
questions. Archer keeps the tension of these queries by introducing
notes like, "Jews were fleeing across the border everyday reporting the
horrors taking place in Germany" (51) and "He [Lubji] was certain of
one thing: Hitler's master race wouldn't include the likes of him" (51).
The Jew who in biblical references was exiled by the Pharaoh is seen to
continue in historiographical references as the eternal exile and homeless
individual.
The popular novelist takes advantage of the image of the
'homeless' Jew to introduce fictional situations where he is seen to
scarch for, nrrivc nt, establish and stoutly dcfcnd his honlc. In the
process, referents like, Germany, Hitler, the Nazi military Generals are
constructed to Satanic proportions so that any retributive or retaliatory
move by Israel looks justified. In The Fist of God, Forsyth says
how, "Israel mounted a major operation to kidnap and try Adolf
Eichmann bccause it wanted to make an international example of him"
(16).
Another fictional context illustrates the way in which a possible
historical reference is deployed with dramatic effect. Saddam Hussein's
ambitions to occupy and take over Kuwait required the ability to lie and
manipulate smoothly. Forsyth calls Hussein's equivocation "Hitler's
touch - I only seek a peaceful settlement to my just demands, this is
absolutely my last territorial ambition" (57). This brings to mind the
public declaration of Hitler after his invasion of Poland and
Czechoslovakia. By using the historical echo Forsyth turns Hitler into
the personification of cunning and evil intent. In the novel, when Dr
Terry Martin, the Arabist, is asked to provide a profile of Saddam
Hussein, he cornpares him with Adolf Hitler: "He's an aberration. . . .He's perverted the old nationalism of the old Ba'ath party into
National Socialism, drawing his inspiration from Adolf Hitler" (109).
Popular narratives, by separating the hegemonic Germans and the
homeless Jews, have created categories of the proverbial Evil and Good.
In the bargain, Germany becomes the most feared place owing to the
ethnic purges which took place there. The repeated references keep
them in public memory as nightmarish evcnts in thc history of the
Jewish people. The inferences from such a treatment is that Germany is
a dangerous country from which the man of Good ought to flee.
In The Fourth Estate, Archer's character, Charlotte "was
t_--,. only too happy to have escaped from Germany" (281). The average
German is caricatured like the Ogre or the Witch who is ugly and upto
evil designs. This is reflected in the attitude struck by Ken Follett in The
Third Twin. Although the treacherous elements are all Americans like
Dr Berrington Jones, Follett places it at a level lower than that of the
treacherousness of the Nazis. In the novel, when the narrative discusses
the harmful fallout of the genetic cloning experiments, there appears a
television interviewer who insists that the 'unethical' genetic engineering
of the Amencans be seen as different from the Nazis. (52)
Two categories can be seen as emerging out of the citations. The
German side appears to represent the mighty forces of Evil and
inhumanity. The Jewish side, which is always besieged, appears to be
on the side of Good. The stranglehold of Evil is sought to be broken.
The logic of the deadlock is that it should, if broken at all, favour the
Jewish side as it would then represent the triumph of Israel over
Germany; of Good over Evil; of Intelligence over brute strength; of the
divinely inspired over the ones lacking faith.
'l'lic tri~~rnpli of the Jew in popular narratives takcs the shape of
David's triumph over Goliath. Popular narratives can be seen buoying
the triumph of David with historical references where Israel has been
successful. The victories of the Jews are celebrated. In The Fourth
Estare, thc victory of the Jews over the Arab states, which has become a
modem legend is referred to. Archer writes, "Townsend watched the
early morning newscasts. They were dominated by Lsrael's crushing
/ victory in the Six-Day War, although no one seemed to know where
'7 Nasscr was" (369). With one stroke Archer separates the mighty
Goliath (here, Egypt and the Arab states) from the tiny David (Israel).
The biblical sub-tcxt gives to the historical event a sense of
predestination where Israel is divinely ordained to win.
In a similar vein, acts of bravery and daredevilry of the Israelis
are remembered. They are glamorized. One such historical event which
comes handy in fiction is the action of the Israeli commandos in Entebbe
airport. Forsyth mentions this incident foregrounding the Palestinians
nnd the Gcrninns as tcrrorists. When he has to introduce Benjamin
Netanyahu, he tags on the name of his brother, Jonathan Netanyahu in
order to get any fictional mileage out of the reference to the Ninety
minutes of action at Entebbe airport. Forsyth profiles it as follows:
Ucnjamin Nctanyahu. n handsonic, clcgnnt, grey-hnircd
diplomat, and the brother of that Jonathan Netanyahu who
was the only Israeli killed during the raid on ldi Amin's
Entebbe Airport in which Israeli commandos rcscued the
passengers of a French airline hijacked by Palestinian and
German terrorists. (224)
While the Six-Day War is an instance of Israel defending her
homeland and the action at Entebbe a case of freeing hostages in a
hostile country, there is also an instance of Israel taking revenge which
gets an animated treatment in popular fiction. It is the account, as in The
Fist of God, of how the Mossad, "pursued the Arab terrorists
) responsible for the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich '&-; 1 Olyn~pic games" (271).
'I'he ef'forts of the Israeli to preserve his identity and his home at
ni l costs i s sccli to bc pursncd wit11 thc i~itcrve~itio~i of ~iictapliysical
powers. The notion that has gained ground is that God does not fail to
reward or punish. Justice will ultimately be done. By cherishing the
stories in which a tooth is extracted for a tooth, an eye for an eye, the
notion of Israeli acts being divinely inspired and justifiable is
constructed. This is quite evident in the rhetoric which accompanies the
deeds of the Israelis. A case in point is the reference in Mitlo Pnss
whcrc 1,con llris nicntions "nn unsccti Iientl lwhiclil swcpt ovcr thc lurid
of Israel gathering up men from the fields and shops, from the offices
and factories" ( 1 36).