Deighton Dossier readers, after nearly three months of hard editing, stitching together, curating and adding of music, the Spybrary SamsonFest 2018 podcast is now available here on Spybrary.
Over one hour and eight minutes of conversation from six spybrarians wandering around freely across East and West Berlin - this time, with no Wall in theway - in the footsteps of Bernard Samson, and using Berlin Game as a jumping off point for convesations about Len Deighton's other works, and thenceforth into spy fiction and spy fiction culture in general.
All helped by lots of lovely German libations, freely poured and drunk.
While it talks more widely than Berlin Game, we were careful to keep it spoiler free, so if you haven't read beyond this book - and why not? - it's safe for you to listen.
Hope you enjoy it.
Interesting podcast listening to those who participated in this Berlin meet up. Essentials of Bernard Samson’s divided Berlin came out, with sparkles of the Cold War situation, particularly the focus on Friedrichstrasse,. On the whole just enough to mentally glimpse the settings at that time. It was good to hear references to Alex Leemas from the Spy who Came in from the Cold, and Quiller memorandum.
ReplyDeleteWhilst it is understandable that the specific context here is the book: Berlin Game, the background is the Cold War Berlin-East and West at that time, and hence, the book cannot be read in isolation of this background. There could have been more focus on East and West Berlin, divided in the after math of the WWII, and hence references to other spy novels set here with the Cold War backdrop as the theme needed to be articulated well. The contribution from the Berliner in the meet up team is interesting to the extent of his comment on the Stassi’s attitude to visitors to East Berlin. In my opinion , he was the most important member of the meet up team, who provided the link to the Cold War Berlin, having lived through part of that period. His experience is missed in the podcast ( not sure whether he was able to refer to it in the chats during visits to places there) which would have provided a greater authenticity to the narrative s in the book. Having visited the divided cities, I experienced the eerie shadow of the Cold War chasing me wherever I went in West Berlin or its counterpart in the other side of the Wall. The experience of a West Berliner, who lived in that period is too important to miss .
Simon