Wednesday 16 May 2012

Character Thursday: Thomas Lieven


This person is not from any classic literature. He's a character in a book I found on a sale, with a title that aroused my curiosity. I'd never heard about him or this novel before I bought it. I thought it must be something unpopular, although the cover said that it's a bestseller. So I read it anyway, and the main character proved to be someone very, very interesting.

Thomas Lieven in J M Simmel's book The Monte Cristo Cover Up was a normal banker, living in London, having a club, loving beautiful women, good food and nice life. Then after unpredicted turn of events, was forced to become the most dangerous secret agent and later, most wanted fugitive in all Europe. His crime: betraying every nation he worked for.

Along his work, Lieven had considerable number of passports and false identity. Once he was a German, another time, a French, then American, then Englishman. You cannot predict who he would be next.What's interesting, though, he had never intended to cause anyone harm. In fact, he took all the trouble to save people's life – in a way that might not be acceptable at that time.

“How easy it is to betray and kill people. And how laborious and troublesome it is to rescue and protect them from torment, persecution, and death..”

The book was set in WWII's era, when Europe was in war. The spirit of patriotism filled the air, everywhere in Europe. Thomas Lieven, had no trace of patriotism even just a little bit. On the other hand, he believed in a different way of thinking. He believed that human beings must view them self as human beings, not just as a part of a nation. As he stated in the epilogue of the book:

“All my life I have distrusted grand phrases and grand heroes. Nor did I ever care for national anthems, uniforms and so-called strong man... We are all endowed by nature with the ability to think. If only we could believe less and think more for just a little while! The consequences would be marvelous. There would never be any wars then.”

This is my character for this Tuesday – the brilliant, daring, and adventurous Mr. Thomas Lieven.

---------------------------------

Character Thursday
Adalah book blog hop di mana setiap blog memposting tokoh pilihan dalam buku yang sedang atau telah dibaca selama seminggu terakhir (judul atau genre buku bebas).- Kalian bisa menjelaskan mengapa kalian suka/benci tokoh itu, sekilas kepribadian si tokoh, atau peranannya dalam keseluruhan kisah.- Jangan lupa mencantumkan juga cover buku yang tokohnya kalian ambil.- Kalau buku itu sudah difilmkan, kalian juga bisa mencantumkan foto si tokoh dalam film, atau foto aktor/aktris yang kalian anggap cocok dengan kepribadian si tokoh.

Syarat Mengikuti :
  1. Follow blog Fanda Classiclit sebagai host, bisa lewat Google Friend Connect (GFC) atau sign up via e-mail (ada di sidebar paling kanan). Dengan follow blog ini, kalian akan selalu tahu setiap kali blog ini mengadakan Character Thursday Blog Hop.
  2. Letakkan button Character Thursday Blog Hop di posting kalian atau di sidebar blog, supaya follower kalian juga bisa menemukan blog hop ini. Kodenya bisa diambil di kotak di button.
  3. Buat posting dengan menyertakan copy-paste “Character Thursday” dan “Syarat Mengikuti” ke dalam postingmu.
  4. Isikan link (URL) posting kalian ke Linky di bawah ini. Cantumkan nama dengan format: Nama blogger @ nama blog, misalnya: Fanda @ Fanda Classiclit.
  5. Jangan lupa kunjungi blog-blog peserta lain, dan temukan tokoh-tokoh pilihan mereka. Dengan begini, wawasan kita akan bertambah juga dengan buku-buku baru yang menarik


2 comments:

  1. Reminds me of Jason Bourne, who also possesses numbers of passport..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmmm, this one has no less thrilling adventure, but he's perfectly aware of who he is, and quite annoying for any patriotic agent. But he's brilliant.

      Delete