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Talk:A Small Town in Germany

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Anachronism: If the novel was released in 1968, how the hell can it be "set in the early 1970s in Bonn"?

Hello! ... Bueller?? Bueller??

Because it was set in the near future? Shimbo 08:17, 7 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Just finished reading it and, yes, I wondered about the 1970s theme too. In the book there was talk of 25 years since 1945 (or the end of the war/Berlin airlift period), but that might have been a character meaning about 25 years. (Can't give page number as I've taken it back to the library!) LewPotT 17:01, 7 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
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I wonder whether le Carré's "Chancery" is the same thing that is referred to by the article linked to in Plot Summary: "The embassy's head of Chancery, Rawley Bradfield"…

That link denotes a meaning of "chancery eventually became a common referent to the main building of an embassy."

Whereas le Carré refers to it as, e.g:

  • Chancery means no more than political section; its young men are the elite.

  • …all the dross a big Embassy attracts: Missing Persons, Petitions to the Queen, Unannounced Visitors, Official Tours, the Anglo-German Society, letters of abuse, threats, all the things that should never have come to Chancery…

  • He’d been out of his depth in Chancery, he’s not their sort at all, and the ground floor didn’t have much time for him either…

[Carré, John le. A Small Town in Germany (Penguin Modern Classics). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.]


All these quotes seem to suggest a particular department, as opposed to "the main building".

Perhaps the article link ought to be removed from the word Chancery?

--Cdmackay (talk) 22:01, 15 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The 'small town'

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I rather think the 'small town' refers not to Bonn as much as the small town where the 'experiments' were conducted by one of the characters. (I'm trying to keep this vague for those who have not yet read the novel.) Most will know to what I am referring, I suspect. 2605:A000:BFC0:21:C94D:52F:CA1F:5155 (talk) 05:06, 1 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately, reliable sources say it's referring to Bonn. See, for example, this review in the New York Times. If you can find a source saying it's not a reference to Bonn then we can change it, otherwise not. I'll add that source to the article. Shimbo (talk) 06:27, 1 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Add A Fact: "British Embassy setting in Bonn"

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I found a fact that might belong in this article. See the quote below

Most of the action takes place in or around the British Embassy in Bonn, the "small town in Germany" of the title.

The fact comes from the following source:

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/03/21/specials/lecarre-germany.html

Here is a wikitext snippet to use as a reference: 

 {{Cite web |title=What Became Of Harting? |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/03/21/specials/lecarre-germany.html |website=archive.nytimes.com |access-date=2024-10-01 |quote=Most of the action takes place in or around the British Embassy in Bonn, the "small town in Germany" of the title.}}

This post was generated using the Add A Fact browser extension.

Shimbo (talk) 06:42, 1 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

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