The Final Affair (Man from U.N.C.L.E. story by Paula Block)

You may be looking for The Final Affair, a MUNCLE story by David McDaniel.

Fanfiction
Title:	The Final Affair
Author(s):	Paula Block
Date(s):	1976
Length:
Genre(s):
Fandom(s):	The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Relationship(s):
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The Final Affair is a gen Man from U.N.C.L.E. story by Paula Block, and was the first Man from U.N.C.L.E. fic to be published in a print zine.

It was printed in Warped Space #18 in 1976, and reprinted in The Wolves and the Lambs Affair & The Final Affair a year later.

The fic has two sequels in Syndizine #1. One is called "A Hawk and a Handsaw" by Eileen Roy (UNCLE/Prisoner), and the other is "Finale" by Paula Block.

Reactions and Reviews

1976

For a change, I'm going to analyze a good story: PBlocki's "The Final Affair."

In the way of some preliminary plaudits I'd like to say that this is not only an outstandingly well-written story, but it is Po's best published so far and the best piece WARPED SPACE has printed to date. This was a Good Story and deserves a far wider audience than fandom can provide. If you print nothing else, Lori, you have justified WS's existence.

A good story is harder to analyze than a bad one, because it is harder, literally, to pick apart. None of the elements of storytelling stand out like an advanced case of gangrene through misuse. Style, tone, characterization harmonize, the characters are appropriate to the plot, the background (sort of the sense that the writer understands the setting of her story: in sf, understands science or at least the scientific method; in gothics, the romantic mode; in all cases, understands people) contains the story, keeps loose ends from flapping. A good story, said Blish , must have at least one human character—'human' in the sense of sympathetic; a strong character, a believable character. The main excuse for writing is to examine the human condition; whether the actual characters are U.N.C.L.E. agents or vulcans, Lilliputians or inhabitants of the Ninth ring, makes no nevermind. That is only metaphor. The writer's task is to explain a portion of what it is to be a human being, why we are what we are, even in such trivial areas as learning to walk or tie.one's shoes, or overcoming one's fears of the dark.

PBlock has wrought here well. The characters of Waverly, Solo, and especially Kuryakin (even of John Drake) are consistent with what we found in the old TV program, but more deeply explored. She applies an ancient observation, that a 'man in his life plays many parts,' to the ultra-modern, almost un-human institution of the U.N.C.L.E., and presents this as the conflict within Illya. Kuryakin is no longer 30 years old, no longer eager to risk death; he is in his 40's and has been away from home for over half his life. He hasn't the commitment to the institution that Solo has; he is the man of the open window (which also symbolized his desire for personal freedom), where Napoleon is, as Po said, the cool, comfortable, but very American air conditioner. Illya as the man desiring freedom is given several thematic echoes; the Russian lone wolf, the perch in the open window. U.N.C.L.E. as the enclosure comes through in the closed windows of Waverly's office, the windowless, doorless detraining cell. This, symbolism, is a good way to show characterization, especially (as here) if the tone of the story allows it, even encourages it. All the characters fol low their fates; it is necessary that Illya go because of the man he has become, and that Napoleon stay because he has not changed, nor needs to. It is tragic, but inevitable.

The very ambiguity of the ending serves to make this a more real story; in reality, we don't know what will happen next. Whether Illya succeeds in his new life is an interesting question, but one not pertinent to this particular story, which dealt with the leave taking alone.

In most stories the driving force, as it were, is the plot, the total set of pertinent action in the story. Here, the drive is supplied about equally by plot, style, and character- exposition; just as important, all these are in balance, and complement each other. The plot tells the first half of the story—how Ilya tells his decision and what U.N.C.L.E. did because of it -- character-exposition does the rest -- how Illya, in surrendering that part of himself that was an U.N.C.L.E. agent, discovers what is mode probably his true self (the Russian wolf, when the 'clever, American wolf' has left). And style unifies the two halves.

Po's usual style is even more evident her than in her Faulwell tales. Generally she tells her stories through her lead characters's mood; this is never clearer than in Illya's wait in his apartment. Further, her sensations are brilliantly done. The wind is almost palpable, the smell of September very plain. These things, in creating Kuryakin's moods, also serve to express them to us, the readers.

Most of all, Po shows an intimate, almost un bearable knowledge of her character's soul—and of ours. The theme, home, combined with autumn, the decline of the year symbolizing also the autumn of Kuryakin's life), produce such an infinitely sad thrill—that is not sad because it is inevitable. It is a surrender to fate that is bittersweet. It is in Kuryakin's character to long for Russia even while sitting in Central Park, to be exasperated with Solo even as he dreads offending him by leaving, to fear U.N.C.L.E.'s wrath, though he knows nothing will happen to him, though he tempts that feared wrath almost defiantly. No man is consistent; but it is by knowing what conflicts he carries within him that the writer builds believable, fully human characters.

Paula understands and Paula cares. That's how a good story is written. It is necessary to know the writer's craft—the technical things like plot and theme, etc.—but even lacking the first understanding of those, a writer must seek to understand and to care for her people, her characters. A story that trivializes or ignores its characters' humanity will fail.

One that examines them with love, with dignity, with respect and acceptance, will succeed— cannot fail—and will grant both the writer and the reader greater knowledge and unending satisfaction.

... P. Block is one of fandom's truly professional writers, when she is not whimsy-ing along with the LP6—I hope in spite of the title that this is only a beginning of her U.N.C.L.E. story. The aura of stealth and secrecy, the firmly authoritative quotations, the authentic feel about the dialogue, the beautiful art of Gordon, Joni and Marty—all blend in to make this one of the best pieces you have ever used. HOWEVER—(and lest P. Smith say sarcastically like she did in an earlier issue that all the sweetness and light of your lettercols made her upchuck; never mind, this is honest opinion)—Paula's story ends abruptly with no ending. A contest to see who can come up with his likely reception in Moscow? If he could dream of gettinq that far? Surely no one could believe THRUSH or the GPU (or whatever Russia calls it these days would permit an ex- (supposedly) CIA or U.N.C...E. spy to innocently repatriate himself? His life would be constantly on the line from the time he left the protection of his agency. Or did Paula run out of ideas at that point? Anyway, I hope this is Chapter One, and I will be eagerly looking forward to more of the adventure.

You finally proved you are human. In other words, you goofed. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE WS and I think Paula Block is a fantastic writer, but devoting half your ST 'zine to a MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. story was a mistake; a good sf story I could understand. With a story like Paula's, you have to know something about the show. I NEVER watched U.N.C.L.E.

I really tried to get into Paula's story, but I didn't know who was who, just faces. The problem is that I buy WS to read ST fanfiction. So in that vein I was disappointed. You saved yourself by having a lot of LoCs.

Paula Block's writing has such clarity and depth. Even though I don't know very much about the characters and story of THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. I enjoyed her story, "The Final Affair." Her sensitivity to and perception of emotions and motivations make her work such a pleasure to read ...

... "The Final Affair" ... sad, bitter-sweet story ... That was an awfullv hard decision to make, and we're really not completely sure he's gonna be happy with it. Paula Block really knows how to get into a character's heart and head ... that imagery in that room-- the 'mirror image' that was Napoleon. One really can feel the weariness in the man, the need to break out of it, to go home, to be himself. When I heard that there was an U.N.C.L.E. story in WS18, I was afraid of finding it something rather childish, a fantasy indulgent. It was not, and I'm glad. My congratulations to Paula on a lovely, sad story, but one that was right in its way. (If David McCallum somehow got a chance to read it, I think he would like it very much ... a wry smile on his lips ... ) ...

What have they done to my 'zine, Ma? What happened to the Trekzine I used to know and love? Someone has been watchinq those 1 a.m. reruns aqain. Paula Block's story was as mysterious as Prisoner and as convoluted as some of the worst episodes of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." -- although I love both shows. I just don't see why that particular story got into WARPED SPACE. I sincerely hope WS19 gets back into the groove ...

All right, well, yes, I'll admit it—I used to like "Man From U.N.C.L.E." too. Especially Illya. It always seemed to me that he got the worst of most cases. I mean. Napoleon would be off trying to get the information from the ambassador's beautiful, sexy daughter by seducing her, and meanwhile Illya would be drowning in a room of soap bubbles or something—In any case, I always enjoyed it, and of course never took it seriously. So I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality, of Paula Block's story. Although for the first page or so I was wondering what sort of temporal mix-up would occur this time to get the men from U.N.C.L.E. involved with the Big E, the story quickly caught and kept my interest. Even in such an apparently simple story Paula has managed to show her talent and skill. Especially insightful was the feeling of numbness, confusion and surprise at having won instead of relief and/or happiness. The emotional tone and overall mood with which the story concludes just somehow feels so right, so true. The ending is beautifully inconclusive. (There are no affairs which end neatly and leave you "satisfied"—except in mediocre fiction. A good ending doesn't really end—it gives enough information to allow the reader to continue in his/her mind, then when enough has been said, it stops.) I find myself wondering and speculating what happens to Illya in Russia ... Poor Illya—still suffocating in soap bubbles. How can you fight against something you can't even grab hold of?

The Final Affair

I've outgrown the game, need to rest— age stills the fun of quixotic quest.

You fight THRUSH tyranny;

"Let me be, let me be."

Let me feel all I have suppressed.

... I have never been an U.N.C.L.E. fan—never watched the show when it was on, and I have only the vaguest idea who Solo and Illya are. In spite of this, I was totally captivated by the story, from page one. The people are real, I didn't need to know anything about them to understand their motivations, their characters and the story as a whole. This is one mark of a great writer—consider, virtually all pro-fiction is published with no background whatsoever. Any details which are necessary to understanding of the story and characters must be incorporated within the story. It is only in the area of ST fanfic that we have a universe ready-made, with all its background in place, all the characters ready for us to do with as we please. Too many writers take full advantage of this, and write something that, while excellent, or at least passable in context, would be totally incomprehensible to someone not intimately familiar with the ST universe. The best writers avoid this— being familiar with the universe enhances one's enjoyment of the story, reveals new depths, but it is not essential to understanding it. This is exactly what Poblocki has done—I understood and enjoyed the story with no effort, if fact, I understood enough that now I want to watch "Man From U.N.C.L.E." and see those hidden depths that I'm sure are there, for those who are familiar with the people. As far as I'm concerned, Poblocki is right up there with Connie Faddis and Jacqueline Lichtenberg as one of the best writers in fandom.

I amcomplaining about your "Prisoner"episode. I persist in identifying it with the "Prisoner" rather than with U.N.C.L.E. because it displays all the ... vagueness of character and motivation and surrealism which characterized the "Prisoner," a show I always detested, while displaying none of the character interactions and characterization details which always attracted me to both U.N.C.L.E. and STAR TREK ... Both Kuryakin/Solo and Spock/Kirk are examples of the heroic dyad which has been standard in Western literature for at least five centuries, the Don Juan/ servant dyad being an early example. The combination of a character who is aggressive, an energetic tomcat type with one who is reserved, foreign, mysterious and efficient ... is extraordinarily effective in popular literature because it permits role identification by

a wide spectrum of personalities (note also that Kirk and Solo are characters more popular with males, McCallum and Nimoy were both mobbed by females). How ever, it is important to note that the characteristic of the secondary character is reserve, not passivity ... Kuryakin, like Spock, possesses many of the characteristics of the black panther.

... I liked Paula Block's "The Final Affair" very much—a beautiful blending of sources, and a terrifying evocation of the end of what had seemed so exciting and delightful ten years ago, when we all were young. More than ten years, isn't it? Paula carries the vision to its ultimate, painful conclusion. Her story took me back to my U.N.C.L.E. days. The first two years of the show I was madly in love with Illya and never missed an episode. And then, for no reason at all, it just died for me. I outgrew it, I guess. Last year,after a lapse of five or six years, I tried to reread GONE

WITH THE WIND, and found that I had outgrown it, too. But ten years later I am still deeply into STAR TREK— perhaps because fandom keeps it growing, refusing to allow it to become static?

I was a bit disappointed in Paula Block's "Final Affair," because it wasn't what I expected. Have you ever read the story by James Thurber about the woman who reads nothing but mystery stories, and when she accidently buys a copy of "MacBeth," she thinks it's another mystery and reads it as such? She puts a really novel interpretation on Shakespeare's play, to say the least. Anyway, I felt a little like that nutty woman. I was expecting something like a tv episode, with lots of action and a nice winding-up conclusion. It wasn't until the end that I realized I was reading a really serious story about a serious subject. I felt kind of cheated somehow, although I realize that's a dumb reaction to have to a good story. Obviously I'm going to have to broaden my expectations regarding fanzine fiction.

1977

May I make a comment on "The Final Affair"? It's not really a criticism, because the story was extremely well-written—right down to the depressing ending (who says reality is fun 'n' games!). My comment is more of a different interpretation, i came to feel that something was missing from the story. In the first place, going from the U.S. to the U.S.S.R. isn't exactly like going from Oklahoma to Michigan, for example. Immigration officials are gonna want to know what a loyal Soviet comrade was doing for so many years in the imperialist, capitalistic U.S. I assume that U.N.C.L.E. has a good alibi prepared for Illya—but nothing about that was mentioned in the story. Also, Paula implies that being in U.N.C.L.E. and living in Russia are mutually exclusive—but surely U.N.C.L.E. has at least one branch in the U.S.S.R., probably headquartered in Moscow, I would think. (It is extremely possible that Illya got out of the U.S.S.R. in the first place through U.N.C.L.E. connections; unless I am mistaken, the U.S.S.R. doesn't readily let go of its citizens—especially citizens with the intelligence that I believe Illya has, assuming that a lot of his very technical intelligence training came from U.N.C.L.E. and not the U.S.S.R.) If he got any of this training in the US.S.R., I don' t think they would have would let him go. Ok. These things behind me I began to wonder about Illya's peculiar paranoia -- if his reactions could be considered normal— in that story. And then there's that problem of the deprogramming not being completely successful. Illya in THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. was always introspective, but not noticeably paranoid—he seemed to have his own brand of very quiet sense of humor. I propose that "The Final Affair"'s Illya is heading for a nervous breakdown—an emotional problem which he is hiding from his coworkers and even himself.

And he becomes obsessed by the idea of returning to RUSSIA, home and country. He doesn't know what is bothering him, so he rationalizes that the problem is that he wants out of U.N.C.L.E. and they won't/don't want him to go. Very con venient: they're the ones to blame, not him. But, why doesn't the deprogramming work? Does he really not want to leave U.N.C.L.E.? Is his subconscious resisting deprogramming— trying to hold on to the memories? Or does U.N.C.L.E. or rather his friends and superiors at U.N.C.L.E. realize he has an emotional problem and are merely setting him up for some thing to get at his emotional problem and relieve It? That's pretty far fetched, but where were retired U.N.C.L.E. agents on the show—so why the elaborate "deprogramming" of just Illya unless it's because he's going to the U.S.S.R.-- but why should they worry so much about one country? The headache, I believe, is a symptom of either his paranoia or his resistance to "deprogramming." At any rate, I foresee only more problems for Illya in the U.S.S.R., because whereas he's been seeing imaginary U.N.C.L.E. spies behind every bush and under every lamp post in New York, he will have real people watching him in Russia-—perhaps some secret police at first or maybe just regular informants to the police. That will be real fuel for his emotional hang-ups.