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).