Still writing after all these years.

• Author: Mitgang, Herberg
• Position: Eric Ambler - Interview

Eric Ambler is hard at work on his next book. Repeat: that's Eric Ambler, who, beginning in the mid-1930s, wrote a succession of classic thrillers that blazed a trail for two generations of writers of political-suspense novels.

"Not long ago, while I was doing a program for the BBC overseas service," he said, "one of the bright young broadcasters mentioned my writing, and then he said, `That book is by Mr. Eric Ambler and, incredible as it may seem, he's still alive.'"

Recalling the remark, Ambler cocked an eyebrow above his pale-blue eyes, looking more amused than chagrined that anyone seemed surprised at the news he was still above ground. "I suppose there are some young people around . . . " he began to say, but didn't bother to finish the thought.

Ambler makes you realize that a seasoned writer doesn't retire; he continues to write, in his head if not on paper, even if he's in his eighty-sixth year.

We were dining in a pricey restaurant five minutes by taxi from his London home. Rather than talk about longevity, Ambler preferred to take a tour d'horizon of his career, with emphasis on the future: his novel in progress. He appeared elegant in a blazer, white shirt with widespread collar, pink-and-blue striped tie, brown suede shoes. A walking stick ("it was the arthritis thing that got me"), parked next to our banquette, was his only visible concession to age.

Obviously, the young broadcaster was unfamiliar with the internal combustion engine that drives a professional writer's life. And he probably didn't know much about Ambler's score of books, including--to name only a handful--Background for Danger, Epitaph for a Spy, A Coffin for Dimitrios, The Intercom Conspiracy, and Doctor Frigo. These thrillers led the late Graham Greene to call himself one of Ambler's "disciples" and John Le Carre to say that Ambler's novels were "the well into which everybody had dipped."

In a changing world, was the thriller a thing of the past or could it still tell us something the news reports omitted?

"There's plenty of room for thrillers because there aren't too many serious novels written now," he said. "There are some bad good novels, and a few good bads. Philip Toynbee once said that I was good bad, in danger one day of becoming good good. Perhaps he meant it as a compliment. I believe my books have some relevance in a social context, unlike most serious novels today."

What's the right word for the genre? Thrillers? Intrigue? Suspense?

"I don't like the word suspense as an adjective," he said. "Any novel needs suspense. Graham Greene once labeled his thrillers `entertainments,' as if to tell the reader they weren't as important as his novels. I remember talking with Graham about his invention of the word. He had wanted to write his...