Fictional urban heroes remain real as aspirational models urbanites emulate

Evidence

The urbane hero is, of course, a fiction. But to say that he is a fiction is not quite the same as saying that he is unreal. If no actual human being is quite like him, there are, nevertheless, undoubtedly many human beings who approximate him or who emulate him or who admire him. He embodies the characteristics, the know-how, the command over his complex environment that many urbanites would like to possess; for he is the man who walks with ease through the world of strangers. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 941

Categorization

• XREF: Frames the urbane hero as a real sociological force via emulation — echoes the aspirational urban persona against Cole’s failed observers.
• SEED: Potential essay: how the ‘walks with ease’ archetype — Bond, Marlowe, Poirot — fails conspicuously in serious contemporary urban fiction, and what that failure says about anonymity.