Thursday 18 March 2021

Disposable Heroines

In a certain kind of spy fiction, the titular hero is a constant of the series whereas there is a different heroine in every episode so what happens to heroines between episodes? In his Dominic Flandry series, Poul Anderson usually tells us:

Flandry and Persis part;
Djana leaves;
Kathryn stays with her husband;
etc.
 
James Bond does not dispose of as many as we might think. Of twelve novels, only four leave the fate of the heroine unresolved.
 
In Casino Royale, Vesper Lynd is a double agent and commits suicide whereas, in A Circus Of Hells, Djana refuses to become a treble agent, curses Flandry and leaves. Thus, I found an oblique symmetry between the conclusions of these two novels.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Given that Flandry did not want a permanent liaison with Djana, the right thing for him to have done at the end of A CIRCUS OF HELLS was to part from her in as friendly a way as possible. And NOT to suggest to her that she become a triple agent working for the Empire. I have long that was very insensitive and unperceptive of Flandry.

Ada astra! Sean