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Thrillers are politically conservative? That's not right Thrillers are politically conservative? That's not right
(about 5 hours later)
Quickfire quiz. Identify the following as left or right. Big business? On the right, obviously. Trade unions? Left, of course. The one per cent? That’d be the right. Nicola Sturgeon? Clearly, on the left. If those are too easy, try this literary variant. Crime novels: right or left? And what about thrillers: where on the political spectrum do those belong?Quickfire quiz. Identify the following as left or right. Big business? On the right, obviously. Trade unions? Left, of course. The one per cent? That’d be the right. Nicola Sturgeon? Clearly, on the left. If those are too easy, try this literary variant. Crime novels: right or left? And what about thrillers: where on the political spectrum do those belong?
Val McDermid, undisputed maestro of crime, reckons she knows the answer. Writing earlier this week, she argued that her own genre was rooted firmly on the left: “It’s critical of the status quo, sometimes overtly, sometimes more subtly. It often gives a voice to characters who are not comfortably established in the world – immigrants, sex workers, the poor, the old. The dispossessed and the people who don’t vote.”. Thrillers, by contrast, are inherently conservative, “probably because the threat implicit in the thriller is the world turned upside down, the idea of being stripped of what matters to you.”Val McDermid, undisputed maestro of crime, reckons she knows the answer. Writing earlier this week, she argued that her own genre was rooted firmly on the left: “It’s critical of the status quo, sometimes overtly, sometimes more subtly. It often gives a voice to characters who are not comfortably established in the world – immigrants, sex workers, the poor, the old. The dispossessed and the people who don’t vote.”. Thrillers, by contrast, are inherently conservative, “probably because the threat implicit in the thriller is the world turned upside down, the idea of being stripped of what matters to you.”
I understand the logic. You can see how McDermid’s own novels, like those of, say, Ian Rankin – another giant in the field, whom she cited as an ally in this new left/right branding exercise – do indeed offer a glimpse into the lives of those too often consigned to the margins, those power would prefer to ignore. But does that really go for all crime writing, always? If it does, someone forgot to tell Miss Marple.I understand the logic. You can see how McDermid’s own novels, like those of, say, Ian Rankin – another giant in the field, whom she cited as an ally in this new left/right branding exercise – do indeed offer a glimpse into the lives of those too often consigned to the margins, those power would prefer to ignore. But does that really go for all crime writing, always? If it does, someone forgot to tell Miss Marple.
Related: Why crime fiction is leftwing and thrillers are rightwing
Still, my quibble is not really with McDermid’s claim that the crime novel leans leftward. I want to object to the other half of her case: that the thriller tilts inevitably towards the right. As someone who is both a card-carrying Guardian columnist and a writer of political thrillers, I feel compelled to denounce the very idea.Still, my quibble is not really with McDermid’s claim that the crime novel leans leftward. I want to object to the other half of her case: that the thriller tilts inevitably towards the right. As someone who is both a card-carrying Guardian columnist and a writer of political thrillers, I feel compelled to denounce the very idea.
Sure, there are individual stars of the genre who sit on the right. Tom Clancy was an outspoken Republican (though even his most famous creation, Jack Ryan, was ready to rebel against a bellicose US president for meddling in Latin America). But Clancy’s conservatism is more the exception than the rule.Sure, there are individual stars of the genre who sit on the right. Tom Clancy was an outspoken Republican (though even his most famous creation, Jack Ryan, was ready to rebel against a bellicose US president for meddling in Latin America). But Clancy’s conservatism is more the exception than the rule.
Consider the supreme master of the spy thriller, John le Carré. His cold war novels stood against the mindless jingoism of the period, resisting the Manichean equation of east-west with evil-good. In the last decade, Le Carré has mercilessly exposed the follies of the war on terror, probing deep into the web of connections that ties together finance, politics and the deep state. The older he gets, the more Le Carré seems to be tearing away at the establishment and its secret, complacently amoral ways.Consider the supreme master of the spy thriller, John le Carré. His cold war novels stood against the mindless jingoism of the period, resisting the Manichean equation of east-west with evil-good. In the last decade, Le Carré has mercilessly exposed the follies of the war on terror, probing deep into the web of connections that ties together finance, politics and the deep state. The older he gets, the more Le Carré seems to be tearing away at the establishment and its secret, complacently amoral ways.
And that kind of fury is typical of the fuel that burns through many thrillers. This is a genre whose most frequent theme is injustice: the urge to right a wrong, even if that means, to adapt Val McDermid’s words, turning the world upside down.And that kind of fury is typical of the fuel that burns through many thrillers. This is a genre whose most frequent theme is injustice: the urge to right a wrong, even if that means, to adapt Val McDermid’s words, turning the world upside down.
That’s true of John Grisham’s tales of the southern courtroom, often pitting the weak and poor against the muscle of corporate wealth. It’s true too of An Officer and a Spy, Robert Harris’s recent retelling of the Dreyfus affair, a political scandal that rocked a nation – but which was, at bottom, a simple miscarriage of justice.That’s true of John Grisham’s tales of the southern courtroom, often pitting the weak and poor against the muscle of corporate wealth. It’s true too of An Officer and a Spy, Robert Harris’s recent retelling of the Dreyfus affair, a political scandal that rocked a nation – but which was, at bottom, a simple miscarriage of justice.
No one would identify Frederick Forsyth as anything but a conservative, but in 1972, The Odessa File caught a mood that was especially strong among Germany’s young revolutionary left: the anger of the postwar generation at the presence among them of ageing Nazis who had escaped justice and refused to tell the truth about their crimes. One of my own novels, The Final Reckoning, written under the name Sam Bourne, grappled with the true story of a plot by the very weakest to exact revenge for the horrors of the Holocaust.No one would identify Frederick Forsyth as anything but a conservative, but in 1972, The Odessa File caught a mood that was especially strong among Germany’s young revolutionary left: the anger of the postwar generation at the presence among them of ageing Nazis who had escaped justice and refused to tell the truth about their crimes. One of my own novels, The Final Reckoning, written under the name Sam Bourne, grappled with the true story of a plot by the very weakest to exact revenge for the horrors of the Holocaust.
All these stories are as rooted in the real world as any crime novel, even when they rest on an apparently ambitious, even outlandish, “high concept”. The premise of Ira Levin’s 1970s bestseller was far-fetched, but the book identified so shrewdly the male backlash against feminism that it bequeathed a phrase that has remained in the language ever since: the Stepford Wives.All these stories are as rooted in the real world as any crime novel, even when they rest on an apparently ambitious, even outlandish, “high concept”. The premise of Ira Levin’s 1970s bestseller was far-fetched, but the book identified so shrewdly the male backlash against feminism that it bequeathed a phrase that has remained in the language ever since: the Stepford Wives.
I’m not sure I can make such a claim for my next novel, The 3rd Woman, but it too asks questions – not least by imagining a world in which the United States has lost its place as the global superpower and must now bend the knee to China. America is used to dominating the planet: how, the book wonders, would America cope with being dominated?I’m not sure I can make such a claim for my next novel, The 3rd Woman, but it too asks questions – not least by imagining a world in which the United States has lost its place as the global superpower and must now bend the knee to China. America is used to dominating the planet: how, the book wonders, would America cope with being dominated?
I hope that’s a question that might intrigue Val McDermid. Whatever else she thinks of it, she could hardly call it rightwing.I hope that’s a question that might intrigue Val McDermid. Whatever else she thinks of it, she could hardly call it rightwing.