Alan Furst (born February 20, 1941) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author of historical spy novels set just prior to and during the Second World War.
Born in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, and raised on the Upper West Side of
ManhattanManhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.New York County, which has the same boundaries as the Borough of Manhattan , is the most densely populated county in the United States, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795...
, Furst received a B.A. from
Oberlin CollegeOberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1833 by Presbyterian ministers, and is home to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, making it the only top-ranked liberal arts college with a top-ranked conservatory...
in 1962 and an M.A. from Penn State in 1967. Furst's papers reside at the
Harry Ransom Humanities Research CenterThe Harry Ransom Center is a library and archive at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the United States and Europe. The Ransom Center houses 36 million literary manuscripts, 1 million rare books, 5 million photographs, and more...
at The University of Texas at Austin and include "a 1963 letter from Furst's grandfather Max Stockman in which his grandson is urged to be a teacher and 'write as a sideline' in his spare time."
Furst did not follow this advice.
Alan Furst (born February 20, 1941) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author of historical spy novels set just prior to and during the Second World War.
Biography
Born in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, and raised on the Upper West Side of
ManhattanManhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.New York County, which has the same boundaries as the Borough of Manhattan , is the most densely populated county in the United States, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795...
, Furst received a B.A. from
Oberlin CollegeOberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1833 by Presbyterian ministers, and is home to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, making it the only top-ranked liberal arts college with a top-ranked conservatory...
in 1962 and an M.A. from Penn State in 1967. Furst's papers reside at the
Harry Ransom Humanities Research CenterThe Harry Ransom Center is a library and archive at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the United States and Europe. The Ransom Center houses 36 million literary manuscripts, 1 million rare books, 5 million photographs, and more...
at The University of Texas at Austin and include "a 1963 letter from Furst's grandfather Max Stockman in which his grandson is urged to be a teacher and 'write as a sideline' in his spare time."
Furst did not follow this advice. While attending general studies courses at
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
, he became acquainted with
Margaret MeadMargaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s....
, for whom he later worked. Before becoming a full-time novelist, Furst worked in advertising and as a magazine article writer (not, according to Furst himself, as a "journalist," as has often been reported), most notably for
EsquireEsquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
, and as a columnist for the
International Herald TribuneThe International Herald Tribune is a widely read English-language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 35 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 180 countries...
.
The Ransom collection includes early articles on a wide variety of topics, published in many magazines for which no common denominator can be found: "
Architectural DigestArchitectural Digest is a American monthly magazine. Its principal subject is interior design, not — as the name of the magazine might suggest — architecture more generally. The magazine is published by Condé Nast Publications and was founded in 1920, by the Knapp family, who sold it in...
,
ElleElle may refer to:*Elle *Ellé, a river in the region of Brittany, France*Elle, Central African Republic*Elle of Sussex, a Saxon king*Elle, an orthographic unit consisting of ll in Spanish orthography...
,
Esquire,
50 Plus,
International Herald Tribune,
Islands,
New Choices,
New YorkNew York is a weekly magazine concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it offers less national news and more gossipy, tabloid-like stories, but has also published noteworthy articles...
,
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851 and published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"—named for its staid appearance and style—is regarded as a national newspaper of record...
,
Pursuits,
SalonSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online magazine, with content updated each weekday. American liberal politics is its major focus, but it covers a range of issues. Reviews and articles about music, books and films are also a prominent feature of the site....
, and
Seattle WeeklySeattle Weekly is a freely distributed newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded by Darrell Oldham and David Brewster as The Weekly...
." Furst seems to have been taking whatever jobs he was offered.
This broad education, however, can be linked to the often-remarked accuracy of how it feels for his spies to live by their wits, with nothing to rely on but intelligence and luck. It also no doubt enriched his descriptions of minor characters in a great variety of professions. The Ransom collection, probably prepared with Furst's approval, remarks: "Of note is the April 1984
Esquire article, 'The Danube Blues,' which sparked Furst's interest in writing espionage novels. Numerous slides of his 1983 Danube trip are also available. Unproduced
screenplayA screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. A play for television is known as a teleplay.- Format and style :...
s include 'Heroes of the Last War' (1984), and 'Warsaw' (1992)."
His early novels in the 1970s achieved limited success. The Ransom collection includes the manuscripts for something called "One Smart Cookie" (with
Debbi FieldsDebbi Fields is the founder and current spokesperson of Mrs. Fields Bakeries. Additionally, she has written several cookbooks. She currently lives in Memphis, Tennessee with her husband, former Holiday Inn and Harrah's CEO, Michael Rose...
, 1987), which seems to be a commissioned biography of the owner of the
Mrs. Fields CookiesMrs. Fields Famous Brands is a franchisor in the snack food industry, with Mrs. Fields and TCBY as its core brands. Through its franchisees’ retail stores, it is one of the largest retailers of freshly baked, on-premises specialty cookies and brownies in the US and the largest retailer of...
company.
The next year, the 1988 publication of
Night Soldiers — inspired by a trip to
Eastern EuropeEastern Europe is a region lying in the Eastern part of Europe. The term is highly context-dependent and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
on assignment for
Esquire — revitalised both his career and, it could be argued, the entire genre of the spy novel.
Often compared to the works of such writers as
Graham GreeneHenry Graham Greene OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
and
Eric AmblerEric Clifford Ambler OBE was an influential English author of spy novels who introduced a new realism to the genre. Ambler also used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for books co-written with Charles Rodda.-Life:...
, Furst's novels — which he calls "historical espionage" — have a literary quality that sets them apart from most thrillers. In addition to Greene and Ambler, Furst cites
Joseph RothJoseph Roth was an Austrian novelist, best known for his family saga Radetzky March , and for his novel of Jewish life, Job .-Habsburg empire:...
,
Joseph ConradJoseph Conrad was a Polish-born British novelist, who in 1886 became a British subject....
, and
John le CarréJohn le Carré is an English author of espionage novels, several of which have been adapted for film and television...
as important influences. Furst has been particularly successful in evoking the cities and characters of
Eastern EuropeEastern Europe is a region lying in the Eastern part of Europe. The term is highly context-dependent and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
during the period from 1933 to 1944. While all his historical espionage novels are loosely connected (protagonists in one book might appear as minor characters in another), only
The World at Night and
Red Gold are linked together as prequel and sequel.
Furst lives in Sag Harbor,
Long IslandLong Island is an island located in southeastern New York, United States, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City, and two of which are mainly suburban...
, but he considers himself a
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an by sensibility. Awarded a
Fulbright teaching fellowshipThe Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of grants for international educational exchange for scholars, educators, graduate students and professionals, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright....
in 1969, Furst moved to
SommièresSommières is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.It lies from Nîmes, from Montpellier.-Geography:Sommières is to the south of the garrigues and on the edge of the Vaunage, a wine growing region. It straddles the River Vidourle....
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, outside of
MontpellierMontpellier is a city in southern France. It is the capital of the Languedoc-Roussillon region, as well as the Hérault department.-Population:...
, and taught at the
University of MontpellierThe University of Montpellier was a French university in Montpellier in the Languedoc-Roussillon région of the south of France. Its present-day successor universities are the University of Montpellier 1, Montpellier 2 University and Paul Valéry University, Montpellier III.-History:The university...
. He later lived for many years in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, a city that he calls "the heart of civilization" and that figures significantly in all his novels.
Furst has long had a devoted popular and critical following in the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, and his readership in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
has grown sharply since 2001.
Stand-alone novels
- Your Day in the Barrel (1976)
- The Paris Drop (1980)
- The Caribbean Account (1981)
- Shadow Trade (1983)
Night Soldiers novels
- Night Soldiers (1988)
- Dark Star (1991)
- The Polish Officer (1995)
- The World at Night
The World at Night is a novel by Alan Furst.-Plot summary:The story takes place in and around Paris between May 1940 and June 1941. Jean Casson is a French motion-picture producer who specializes in gangster films and who possesses no political views to speak of...
(1996)
- Red Gold (1999)
- Kingdom of Shadows
Kingdom of Shadows is a novel by Alan Furst, it won the 2001 Hammett Prize.-Plot summary:The story is set in Europe between April 1938 and July 1939, a time of ever-increasing fear and apprehension throughout the continent. Nicholas Morath is an expatriate Hungarian in his forties and the...
(2000)
- Blood of Victory (2003)
- Dark Voyage (2004)
- The Foreign Correspondent (2006)
- Spies of Warsaw (2008)
Crossover characters
Secondary characters that appear in more than one Furst novel include:
- Ilya Goldman, NKVD (Night Soldiers, Dark Star, Kingdom of Shadows, The Foreign Correspondent)
- Colonel Vassily Antipin (Night Soldiers, Red Gold)
- Colonel Anton Vyborg, Polish military intelligence (The Polish Officer, Dark Star, The Spies of Warsaw)
- Count Janos Polanyi (Kingdom of Shadows, Blood of Victory, Dark Star)
- S. Kolb, British agent (Dark Voyage, The Foreign Correspondent)
- Dr. Lapp, German military intelligence (Kingdom of Shadows, The Spies of Warsaw)
- Boris Balki, Russian emigre bartender in Paris (Kingdom of Shadows, Blood of Victory)
- Mark Shublin, Polish painter (Kingdom of Shadows, The Spies of Warsaw)
- British intelligence operatives in Europe (mainly Paris), such as
- Lady Angela Hope (appears in Night Soldiers and Dark Star; mentioned in Red Gold, The Foreign Correspondent, Kingdom of Shadows, Blood of Victory)
- Mr. Brown (Night Soldiers, Blood of Victory, Dark Voyage, The Foreign Correspondent)
- Brasserie Heiniger, Paris restaurant (every book)
External links