Episode 37: Spy Fiction
Episode description
Today on the Agenda Podcast we talk to Frederick Forsyth, acclaimed author of espionage thrillers like The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File and The Fourth Protocol. We ask him about how the genre has changed since he first started writing and where he sees it going in the future.
Forsyth explains how he started writing spy fiction and what he did differently compared to his peers [04:16]. He tells us why technology has changed the genre forever and how he would write a spy novel in 2020 [08:19]. Forsythe also explains some of the insights he had that helped make his work unique [10:21].
James Bond remains the most famous spy in the world, but modern viewers have had to square his glamorous adventures with accusations of racism and sexism perpetrated by Agent 007. To understand this better, Stephen spoke to Penny Fielding, Edinburgh University professor and organizer of Edinburgh's Spy Week, and to Monica Germana, author of the book Bond Girls: Body, Fashion and Gender.
Fielding explains that while the legend of Bond is extremely exaggerated and hyper masculine, the author Ian Fleming saw his books as more realistic and grounded in reality [16:34]. Germana talks to us about Bond girls in the age of MeToo and how spy fiction has treated women in general. She explains what she thinks about calls to have a female James Bond [19:34].