The Spy Who Came in from the Cold: A Hardboiled Séance

This week we discuss the movie version of John le Carré's novel The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. Alicia leads us in a séance of sorts, asking us to consider why the main character, Alec Leamas (played by Richard Burton) is such an effective protagonist. To make sure the ghosts are summoned, she does not offer us any definition of effective. We float around the following themes: the questionable distinction between political methods and political policies, the difference between betrayal and the traitor, the hardboiled qualities of a spy who believes nothing can rock his world, and, as always, the question of gender (in this case, we bring up Nietzsche's "Suppose truth was a woman."). Beast & Sovereign is there, and Alicia's thesis regarding Leamas' total lack of negation brings us face to face with the unconscious, and thus Pervs 'R Us. We also try to identify other handsome men Richard Burton looks like.