Spies by Michael Frayn
Tracking a Text: Spies by Michael Frayn
1: Chapter One: pages 3 – 6
The narrator (Stephen) is disturbed by the smell of a certain shrub every June. It triggers his memory and makes him think of the past. Particularly, he thinks of Keith and Keith’s mother. He remembers Keith’s mother, her eyes sparkling and her laughter. Then he remembers her crying and he not knowing what to do. He remembers that the whole thing started with six words spoken by Keith.
He resolves to go back to the place where these events took place and books a flight to London. He doesn’t say where he lives. But it is not far from London and there is a suggestion that his daughter is not speaking English.
He tells his daughter and son that he is going. They know it has something to do with the past, but they don’t know what. He tells the reader that he wants to ‘establish some order in it, some sense of the connections’. (p6)
He wants to bring the secrets ‘out into the daylight at last’ (p6) and hopefully resolve his unrest and understand what happened in the past.
Ch 1 raises more questions than it answers. This is the author’s intention.
Whose Reality? In Ch 1
There are a number of ‘realities’ evident. There is the reality of the narrator. This reality is unclear to the narrator himself and it is his quest to find his own reality in relation to events in the past, fifty years before.
There is also the reality of the present and the reality of the past. The past is represented by a fragrance in the air that disturbs him and some fragmentary memories. The present is represented by his torment and his children. The present seems relatively settled, while the past is very unsettled.
Think about the philosopher Friedrich Nietzche’s statement:
‘There are no facts, only interpretations.’ Try to explain this in your own words.
2: Chapter 2: pages 9 – 36
‘Everything is as it was . . . and everything has changed.’ (p9) This is the narrator’s response as
1: Chapter One: pages 3 – 6
The narrator (Stephen) is disturbed by the smell of a certain shrub every June. It triggers his memory and makes him think of the past. Particularly, he thinks of Keith and Keith’s mother. He remembers Keith’s mother, her eyes sparkling and her laughter. Then he remembers her crying and he not knowing what to do. He remembers that the whole thing started with six words spoken by Keith.
He resolves to go back to the place where these events took place and books a flight to London. He doesn’t say where he lives. But it is not far from London and there is a suggestion that his daughter is not speaking English.
He tells his daughter and son that he is going. They know it has something to do with the past, but they don’t know what. He tells the reader that he wants to ‘establish some order in it, some sense of the connections’. (p6)
He wants to bring the secrets ‘out into the daylight at last’ (p6) and hopefully resolve his unrest and understand what happened in the past.
Ch 1 raises more questions than it answers. This is the author’s intention.
Whose Reality? In Ch 1
There are a number of ‘realities’ evident. There is the reality of the narrator. This reality is unclear to the narrator himself and it is his quest to find his own reality in relation to events in the past, fifty years before.
There is also the reality of the present and the reality of the past. The past is represented by a fragrance in the air that disturbs him and some fragmentary memories. The present is represented by his torment and his children. The present seems relatively settled, while the past is very unsettled.
Think about the philosopher Friedrich Nietzche’s statement:
‘There are no facts, only interpretations.’ Try to explain this in your own words.
2: Chapter 2: pages 9 – 36
‘Everything is as it was . . . and everything has changed.’ (p9) This is the narrator’s response as