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crack_van2006-01-30 10:25 pm
franciskerst.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2006-01-30 10:25 pm
Entry tags:
The Treatment Affair Affair by Bill Koenig (PG)
Fandom: THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
Pairing: None (Gen)
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: Bill Koenig Timeshift Series
Why this must be read:
Looking at the list of MFU stories in![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
crack_van, when I started this round of recs, I got the strong and unpleasant impression that the whole body of gen stories and gen authors were somehow neglected. So I tried, since the beginning, to award them a fair share of place and praises and, with more time, I could have presented much more of them I always re-read with most interest and pleasure, especially when I want to rediscover the features and the flavour of the show.
That's peculiarly true with Bill Koenig's stories, which, in spite of his timeshift setting, could be easily taken as scripts for some episodes of an hypothetical U.N.C.L.E. revival, with their fast pace of action scenes, accuracy of the U.N.C.L.E. background and fidelity to the international organization's ideals, great villains and likable innocents. It's interesting to note that his original characters are seldom helpless or shallow, and it's especially true of his female characters who are not the conventional and one-dimensional figures you so often find, curiously, in female authors' works. In his stories, women are usually quite smart, lively and realistically depicted. They don't swoon at the first appearance of a brave, bold, and good looking male agent, would he be Solo or Kuryakin; that's really a refreshing experience for a seasoned MFU fanfiction reader! Could it be that male writers are the most apt to render a faithful picture of the other half of mankind?
Let's come back to this story; I chose it because it's not pure action and adventure: it gives as much importance to the emotional life and moral consciousness of the heroes, dealing honestly with the inner conflicts and traumas they are exposed to in the line of duty. Here Napoleon Solo is held captive in a fake psychiatric hospital and submitted to a "treatment" based upon reactivation of guilt feeling, a feeling he cannot avoid when confronted to his partner's supposed demise and the memories of the many people whose death he has been involved with, had he killed them as enemies or endangered as innocents. After his rescue (by a very clever and professional U.N.C.L.E. female agent), he will remained deeply affected as his partner, lucidly, acknowledges:
The American lay back down and seemed as if he would go back to sleep. Illya looked at him for a moment, and wondered if should say something more.
Kuryakin held back. Although Illya knew only some of the details, he knew in a way Solo had been violated. Not physically, of course, but in a way that was just as real to Napoleon. In the end, it would be up to his friend to mention it. For Kuryakin, the best he could do is be there when that happened.
The idea that true communication and understanding between friends is more present in shared silence than in idle talks or untimely confidences is still righter between agents but...leaves the reader curious about what could have been said later (if ever) by the partners after such an experience...
The Treatment Affair Affair
Pairing: None (Gen)
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: Bill Koenig Timeshift Series
Why this must be read:
Looking at the list of MFU stories in
crack_van, when I started this round of recs, I got the strong and unpleasant impression that the whole body of gen stories and gen authors were somehow neglected. So I tried, since the beginning, to award them a fair share of place and praises and, with more time, I could have presented much more of them I always re-read with most interest and pleasure, especially when I want to rediscover the features and the flavour of the show.That's peculiarly true with Bill Koenig's stories, which, in spite of his timeshift setting, could be easily taken as scripts for some episodes of an hypothetical U.N.C.L.E. revival, with their fast pace of action scenes, accuracy of the U.N.C.L.E. background and fidelity to the international organization's ideals, great villains and likable innocents. It's interesting to note that his original characters are seldom helpless or shallow, and it's especially true of his female characters who are not the conventional and one-dimensional figures you so often find, curiously, in female authors' works. In his stories, women are usually quite smart, lively and realistically depicted. They don't swoon at the first appearance of a brave, bold, and good looking male agent, would he be Solo or Kuryakin; that's really a refreshing experience for a seasoned MFU fanfiction reader! Could it be that male writers are the most apt to render a faithful picture of the other half of mankind?
Let's come back to this story; I chose it because it's not pure action and adventure: it gives as much importance to the emotional life and moral consciousness of the heroes, dealing honestly with the inner conflicts and traumas they are exposed to in the line of duty. Here Napoleon Solo is held captive in a fake psychiatric hospital and submitted to a "treatment" based upon reactivation of guilt feeling, a feeling he cannot avoid when confronted to his partner's supposed demise and the memories of the many people whose death he has been involved with, had he killed them as enemies or endangered as innocents. After his rescue (by a very clever and professional U.N.C.L.E. female agent), he will remained deeply affected as his partner, lucidly, acknowledges:
The American lay back down and seemed as if he would go back to sleep. Illya looked at him for a moment, and wondered if should say something more.
Kuryakin held back. Although Illya knew only some of the details, he knew in a way Solo had been violated. Not physically, of course, but in a way that was just as real to Napoleon. In the end, it would be up to his friend to mention it. For Kuryakin, the best he could do is be there when that happened.
The idea that true communication and understanding between friends is more present in shared silence than in idle talks or untimely confidences is still righter between agents but...leaves the reader curious about what could have been said later (if ever) by the partners after such an experience...
The Treatment Affair Affair
Thanks for the kind words
(Anonymous) 2006-02-02 01:53 am (UTC)(link)Bill Koenig