Since I started this blog nearly three months ago, one of my brothers has repeatedly urged me to speak out on the political issues of the day, to add some controversy to my postings. He says I will get more hits on the site. And he may be correct about that.
But I have resisted because the purpose of this blog is to talk about my journey as a writer __ from being an aspiring novelist to a published novelist. That is the purpose of this posting today. Because while it may not seem like it, William F. Buckley had a tremendous influence on me, both as a writer and a thinker.
I am not a political conservative and generally find most conservative viewpoints repugnant. I certainly disagreed with Buckley. But he was a great thinker, full of wit and passion, and through his intelligent discourse, forced people to more deeply examine their political views and the rationale supporting those views. He emboldened post-World War II conservatism with a heft that today's intellectual lightweights, such as Rush Limbaugh, can not emulate.
But most of all, I love his fiction. (There are those who say all of his writing was fictional but that is an argument for another day.) I probably have more books in my library by Buckley than by any other author. In particular, I love his series with the fictional character Blackford Oakes. In 10 or 11 books (I forget which), we see Oakes progress through a career in the CIA. Starting with "Saving the Queen" and all the way through "Last Call for Blackford Oakes" (not one of my favorites, by the way), the series is as compelling as it is literate.
In many ways, the main character in my novel, "Fighting Chaos," is patterned after Blackford Oakes. Both are Ivy Leaguers, tall and handsome. Oakes was a Yale grad, while my character, Brewster Monroe, was a Penn grad. Both were recruited early into the CIA and traveled extensively aboard. Both have a moral center and intellectually struggle to keep a balance in a world that isn't always black and white.
Nowhere is that more apparent to me than in his second Blackford Oakes novel, "Stained Glass." It is set in the early 1950s, examined the issue of German unification and the price of one man's life.
It was no mistake that in the beginning of "Chaos," Brewster is posing as a West German businessman from Westphalia, which is a region in the north and west. Westphalia was the location Buckley used in "Stained Glass," which, 30 years later, remains my favorite Buckley novel.
Also the first two chapters of "Fighting Chaos" take place in Beirut, which Buckley used extensively in "Spytime: The Undoing of James Jesus Angleton." The book is not part of the Blackford Oakes series but I was inspired by Buckley to use the Lebanese capital as a location.
In praise of "Spytime," USA Today wrote, ". . . between running to the library to see what's fact and what's fiction and looking up words such as succubus and recondite, Spytime is a quiet-time read for those who like their espionage erudite and their intelligence intelligent."
I like my espionage erudite and my intelligence intelligent. And I have tried to show that in "Chaos."
As a journalist I have met many, many famous people but William F. Buckley Jr., unfortunately, wasn't one of them. Now, of course, I never will. But he has left a legacy of excellence in storytelling and writing that I will try __ undoubtedly without successful __ to live up to. But it will always be the goal.
He held some views that were dreadful, particularly in his youth. But on the whole, his sometimes sardonic smile and razor-sharp wit will be missed.
Long live William F. Buckley Jr.
Thanks for reading and don't give up writing.
No comments:
Post a Comment