Robert Ludlum: A Critical Companion

by Gina Macdonald

There's more than meets the eye in the fiction of the master of the espionage thriller Robert Ludlum. In a study that examines seventeen of Ludlum's novels in depth, including the latest, The Apocalypse Watch (1995), Macdonald uncovers the serious themes running through the novels: the role of the individual in preserving democracy, the value of competing voices, the failure of educational institutions to preserve ideals, the temptations of power, the importance of personal loyalties in the face of impersonal organizations, and the nature of evil. She shows how Ludlum's novels are valuable in helping us to understand modern paranoia--our fear of conspiracies, terrorism, barbarism, and intolerance. A personal interview granted by Ludlum for this book illuminates the influences on his craft, especially his long experience in the theater, which affects his sense of pacing, characterization, humor, and suspense. After an initial biographical chapter, Macdonald examines Ludlum's literary roots in suspense novels and discusses the genre. Each succeeding chapter examines a group of his novels tied together thematically or, in the case of the Bourne series, by recurring characters. The discussion of each novel is organized into sections on plot and structure, character, and theme, and features an alternate critical interpretation, such as Freudian, Marxist, or reader response criticism, which offers the reader another fresh perspective from which to examine the concerns of the novel. Novels covered in depth are: Trevayne, The Cry of the Halidon, The Scarlatti Inheritance, The Rhinemann Exchange, The Gemini Contenders, The Holcroft Covenant, The Road to Gandolfo, The Road to Omaha, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Matarese Circle, The Parsifal Mosaic, The Aquitaine Progression, The Icarus Agenda, The Scorpio Illusion, and The Apocalypse Watch. This critical companion includes an up-to-date bibliography of all of Ludlum's published works, as well as selected reviews of all works examined in this study.

248 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 16, 1997

Reviews

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personally I much preferred the Critical Companion (in this series) of John Saul - a has-been hack writer who seemed to stop bothering with his pedestrian horror novels over a decade ago. This wasn't at all because I like Saul's work; at best, his is very average. Rather I just admired the ingenuity of the Companion in somehow making his novels appear complex.

Returning to this excellent series, which does a remarkable job in applying academic literary criticism to popular fiction, I selected Robert Ludlum over certain others on offer for two overarching reasons. Firstly, having disliked his Bourne Identity, which the 2002 film puts to shame, I was not worried about having the plots of his other books spoiled. These companions, one should be warned, are heavy in spoilers, without any but an implied warning at best. For this reason, I would never read the Companion for Stephen King until I had read all the books covered.
Secondly, as was the case with John Saul, I often find writers I don't particularly like to be interesting for themselves rather than for their work. It's a strange paradox.

As a critical companion, this book is top-notch. MacDonald does a brilliant in deconstructing some seventeen of Ludlum's novels. Readers of a more academic bent would love - as I did - the feature in which they offer an alternative reading of each novel at the end their respective chapters, such as a Marxist, feminist or Jungian interpretation. I really could not fault MacDonald's part here, and on that count alone I would feel inclined to give the book four stars.

However, taking also the subject into consideration, I did not find the trajectory of Ludlum's books to be as enjoyable to read about. Certainly, he seems to be more intelligent a writer than I have always taken him to be. I thought the Bourne Identity was positively tedious, clunky and misogynistic. Still, his books do not interest me very much. And on top of that, it turns out he was something of an anti-Catholic, given his paranoia towards largescale institutions, and so among many negative portrayals of the Vatican, the clergy and the Catholic faithful, he even has a comedy in which the Pope is kidnapped and held for ransom. (To be fair, the angle taken in that particular book is not exactly ungentle, but he still seems to milk the situation for all its worth in portraying the Church as a conclave of robed idiots).