''Funeral in Berlin'' is a 1964

spy novel Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligenc ...

Len Deighton Leonard Cyril Deighton (; born 18 February 1929) is a British author. His publications have included cookery books, history and military history, but he is best known for his spy novels. After completing his national service in the Royal Air Fo ...

set between Saturday 5 October and Sunday 10 November 1963. It was the third of Deighton's novels about an unnamed British agent. It was preceded by ''

The IPCRESS File ''The IPCRESS File'' is Len Deighton's first spy novel, published in 1962. The story involves Cold War brainwashing, includes scenes in Lebanon and on an atoll for a United States atomic weapon test, as well as information about Joe One, the ...

'' (1962) and ''

Horse Under Water ''Horse Under Water'' (1963, , ) is the second of four Len Deighton spy novels featuring an unnamed British agent protagonist (named Harry Palmer in the film adaptions). It was preceded by ''The IPCRESS File'' and followed by ''Funeral in Berlin' ...

'' (1963), and followed by ''

Billion-Dollar Brain ''Billion-Dollar Brain'' is a 1966 Cold War spy novel by Len Deighton. It was the fourth to feature an unnamed secret agent working for the British WOOC(P) intelligence agency. It follows ''The IPCRESS File'' (1962), ''Horse Under Water'' (1963 ...

'' (1966).

Plot

The

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

, who is unnamed, travels to Berlin to arrange the defection of a Soviet scientist named Semitsa, this being brokered by Johnny Vulkan of the Berlin intelligence community.Baker, Brian (2006) ''Masculinity in Fiction and Film: Representing Men in Popular Genres, 1945–2000'', p. 42. Continuum International Publishing Group
at

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

. Retrieved 29 April 2013. Despite the protagonist's scepticism, the deal seems to have the support of Russian security-chief Colonel Stok and Hallam at the Home Office. The fake documentation for Semitsa needs to be precisely specified. An Israeli intelligence agent named Samantha Steel is involved in the case but it soon becomes apparent that behind the façade of an elaborate mock funeral lies a game of deadly manoeuvres and ruthless tactics.

Legal dispute

The UK publication of ''Funeral in Berlin'' brought on a lawsuit: At the novel's climax, the protagonist and Hallam meet at a fireworks party where they discuss the hazards of fireworks. The dialogue went on to say the Home Office was hampered from taking action by vested interests, and mentioned Brock's Fireworks, a UK company, by name. Brock's objected to this, and sued for

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

. The complaint was upheld, and the 1972 Penguin edition had the dialogue deleted. This ruling did not affect books published elsewhere, which continued to contain the offending material.

Adaptation

A film version of ''

Funeral in Berlin ''Funeral in Berlin'' is a 1964 spy novel by Len Deighton set between Saturday 5 October and Sunday 10 November 1963. It was the third of Deighton's novels about an unnamed British agent. It was preceded by ''The IPCRESS File'' (1962) and '' H ...

'' was made in 1966, starring

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...

and directed by

Guy Hamilton Mervyn Ian Guy Hamilton, DSC (16 September 1922 – 20 April 2016) was an English film director. He directed 22 films from the 1950s to the 1980s, including four James Bond films. Early life Hamilton was born in Paris on 16 September 1922, wh ...

. In 1973, the TV series '' Jason King'' (starring

Peter Wyngarde Peter Paul Wyngarde (born Cyril Goldbert, 23 August 1927 – 15 January 2018) was a British television, stage and film actor from the late 1940s to the mid 1990s. He was best known for portraying the character Jason King, a bestselling novelist ...

), used the plot from ''Funeral in Berlin'' to smuggle an individual out of East Germany. The book is shown at the end of the episode. (Ostensibly, they had been using a plot from a book written by eponymous hero Jason King but it turns out at the end that it was a double bluff. King ostentatiously throws the Deighton book into the fireplace.)

Chess references

Every chapter title is a quotation from the rules of chess.

References

{{Len Deighton 1964 British novels "Unnamed hero" novels British novels adapted into films Novels set in Berlin Jonathan Cape books