The Untouchable - Softcover

Banville, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786212136 ISBN 13: 9780786212132

Publisher: Thorndike Press, 1998

Synopsis

In a novel based on the lives of Cambridge spies, Victor Maskell, faced with exposure after a lifetime of hiding, sits down to pen his memoirs, struggling to come to terms with his life, his friends, and their role in wartime espionage

About this title

Review:

A brilliant, engaging, and highly literate espionage-cum-existential novel, John Banville's The Untouchable concerns the suddenly-exposed double agent Victor Maskell, a character based on the real Cambridge intellectual elites who famously spied on the United Kingdom in the middle of the 20th century. But Maskell--scholar, adventurer, soldier, art curator, and more--respected and still living in England well past his retirement from espionage, looked like he was going to get away with it when suddenly, in his 70s and sick with cancer, he is unmasked. The question of why, and by whom is not as important for Maskell as the larger question of who finally he himself really is, why he spied in the first place, and whether his many-faceted existence adds up to an authentic life.

From the Inside Flap:

wenty years after his "retirement, " ex-spy Victor Maskell attempts to come to terms with what has happened to his life by embarking on his memoirs. This is the plot which fuels Banville's stunning new novel--a story that goes beyond the mere facts of espionage to penetrate the intricate heart of the spy.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thorndike Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0786212136
• ISBN 13: 9780786212132
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 577