Talk:The Untouchable (novel)
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Assessment comments
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The book is a fascinating read; and a satisfying one too because of Banville's talent with the language. It raises some issues though, when you consider how much is factual and how much isn't or has been left out. The factual accuracies are very tightly focused. Maskell is clearly Anthony Blunt, but has a childhood which is that of Louis Macniece, right down to the retarded brother Freddie (Macniece had a Down's brother called William). Other aspects of Maskell's life are clearly Blunt's and allude to real people and relationships (the Queen Mother's family for example being distant relations). Main characters such as Boy Bannister (Guy Burgess), Querrell (Graham Greene, although he was never shown to have been a Soviet agent) are clearly based on real people, and the Rothenstein character seems to be very clearly based on Victor Rothschild. Some of the other Cambridge spies don't really appear: Kim Philby, the alleged 'fifth man' John Cairncross, Donald Maclean (only latterly as the 'dour Scot' Macleish). However the key character of Alastair Sykes, a gifted mathematician at Cambridge and later based at Bletchley Park, seems to be Alan Turing, right down to the method of his suicide (a cyanide poisoned apple) after a prosecution for homosexual acts (illegal at the time). There is no evidence that Turing was ever involved with the Apostles at Cambridge, nor a Soviet agent. The question must be asked whether this is an ethical way to create fiction; take real people and introduce fiction their lives.
All this might seen as a way to highlight the shadowy world of double agents during the period described, but does the impact of the novel ultimately come from these real life associations? (And do you need to know about the Cambridge Spies to find the novel engrossing?) Many authors play fast and loose with historical events (Shakespeare a case in point), but a slight uneasiness seems unavoidable where such recent events/people are used. —The preceding comment was added to the main artcile by 87.82.9.232 (talk • contribs) 15:10, 10 October 2006.
