Marathon Man (novel)

Plot synopsis

A former Nazi SS dentist at Auschwitz, Dr. Christian Szell, now residing in Paraguay, aims to smuggle many diamonds out of the United States after the accidental death of his father (in the movie version, it's his brother) in New York City. This involves a secret intelligence agency named "The Division".

Meanwhile, at Columbia University, Thomas Babington "Babe" Levy (the first and middle names are a reference to Thomas Babington Macaulay, and the nickname is a reference to Babe Ruth) is a postgraduate student in history and an aspiring marathon runner. He is haunted by the suicide of his brilliant academic father, H.V. Levy, provoked by the activities of Senator McCarthy when Tom/Babe was ten. Tom's PhD dissertation aims to clear his father's name of alleged Communist affiliations. Unbeknownst to Babe, his elder brother by ten years (and best friend), 'Doc', works in The Division.

Doc, who operates under the alias "Scylla", is murdered by Dr. Szell. Before he dies, Doc goes to Babe and dies in his brother's arms. Szell believes that Doc had told Babe about whether the diamonds he was planning to take are "safe" to take, so Szell tortures Babe by drilling into his teeth, without anesthetic, and repeatedly asks the question, "Is it safe?" Babe does not know what the question means, nor the interrogator's identity. In the course of torturing him, Szell offers him the analgesic clove oil as inducement to cooperate.

At the end of the story Babe kills the conspirators in the plot against him, including Dr. Szell.

Background

Goldman says he was inspired by the idea of bringing a major Nazi to the biggest Jewish city in the world. He wrote the book after the death of his beloved editor Hiram Haydn, who had edited all of his books from 1960 to 1974, and feels he never would have written something as commercial as Marathon Man had Haydn been alive.

Goldman later expressed dissatisfaction with the novel, but it went on to be his most successful book to that date.

Development

Goldman wrote the novel in 1973 while living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. His concept began with the antagonist. Initially he wanted to write a story about Josef Mengele needing to travel to the United States for medical care, but he realized that he did not want to write a villain character who had frail health. After reading articles about Nazis stealing golden teeth from prisoners and accumulating wealth, Goldman created a villain who came to the United States to get his diamonds. He named the character after George Szell, a conductor. Goldman made Szell a dentist after considering memories of negative dental experiences as a child. Because Goldman was an American, he chose New York City as the setting of his work.

He decided to make the hero "a total innocent" who would be "as virginal as [he] could". Goldman's concept behind Babe was "what if someone close to you was something totally different from what you thought?" This refers to Babe's relationship with Doc/Scylla. He wanted Babe to be weaker than Szell. Goldman created a weaker hero because "If the worst guy in the world gets in the ring with the toughest guy in the world, that's Stallone territory, and I can't write that. I don't mean I am pristine and above it all—obviously I could write it—anyone can write it—because anyone can write anything badly."

Goldman stated that once he had the basic concept behind the story, he was "essentially mixing and matching, figuring out the surprises, hoping they would work". Goldman developed the idea of Babe having a toothache and Szell drilling into that tooth. When he discussed the scene with a periodontist, the periodontist told him that it would be more painful if the torturer drilled into a healthy tooth.