British Spy Fiction and the End of Empire
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British Spy Fiction and the End of Empire The position of spy fiction is largely synonymous in popular cul- ture with ideas of patriotism and national security, with the spy himself indicative of the defence of British interests and the pre- servation of British power around the globe. This book reveals a more complicated side to these assumptions than typically per- ceived, arguing that the representation of space and power within spy fiction is more complex than commonly assumed. Instead of the British spy tirelessly maintaining the integrity of Empire, this volume illustrates how spy fiction contains disunities and dis- junctions in its representation of space, and the relationship between the individual and the state in an era of declining British power. Focusing primarily on the work of Graham Greene, Ian Flem- ing, Len Deighton, and John le Carré, the volume brings a fresh methodological approach to the study of spy fiction and Cold War culture. It presents close textual analysis within a framework of spatial and sovereign theory as a means of examining the cultural impact of decolonization and the shifting geopolitics of the Cold 3/331 War. Adopting a thematic approach to the analysis of space in spy fiction, the text explores the reciprocal process by which con- textual history intersects with literature throughout the period in question, arguing that spy fiction is responsible for reflecting, strengthening and, in some cases, precipitating cultural anxieties over decolonization and the end of Empire. This study promises to be a welcome addition to the develop- ing field of spy fiction criticism and popular culture studies. Both engaging and original in its approach, it will be important read- ing for students and academics engaged in the study of Cold War culture, popular literature, and the changing state of British iden- tity over the course of the latter twentieth century. Sam Goodman is Lecturer in English and Communication at Bournemouth University, UK. His primary research interests include twentieth-century fiction and medical humanities. He is also the editor of Medicine, Health & the Arts: Approaches to the Medical Humanities (Routledge, 2013) with Victoria Bates (Bris- tol) and Alan Bleakley (Plymouth). Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature 1 Modernism and the Crisis of Sovereignty Andrew John Miller 2 Cartographic Strategies of Postmodernity The Figure of the Map in Contemporary Theory and Fiction Peta Mitchell 3 Food, Poetry, and the Aesthetics of Consumption Eating the Avant-Garde Michel Delville 4 Latin American Writers and the Rise of Hollywood Cinema Jason Borge 5 Gay Male Fiction Since Stonewall Ideology, Conflict, and Aesthetics Les Brookes 5/331 6 Anglophone Jewish Literature Axel Stähler 7 Before Auschwitz Irène Némirovsky and the Cultural Landscape of Inter-war France Angela Kershaw 8 Travel and Drugs in Twentieth-Century Literature Lindsey Michael Banco 9 Diary Poetics Form and Style in Writers’ Diaries, 1915–1962 Anna Jackson 10 Gender, Ireland and Cultural Change Race, Sex and Nation Gerardine Meaney 11 Jewishness and Masculinity from the Modern to the Postmodern Neil R. Davison 12 Travel and Modernist Literature Sacred and Ethical Journeys Alexandra Peat 13 Primo Levi’s Narratives of Embodiment Containing the Human Charlotte Ross 6/331 14 Italo Calvino’s Architecture of Lightness The Utopian Imagination in an Age of Urban Crisis Letizia Modena 15 Aesthetic Pleasure in Twentieth-Century Women’s Food Writing The Innovative Appetites of M.F.K. Fisher, Alice B. Toklas, and Elizabeth David Alice L. McLean 16 Making Space in the Works of James Joyce Edited by Valérie Bénéjam and John Bishop 17 Critical Approaches to American Working-Class Lit- erature Edited by Michelle M. Tokarczyk 18 Salman Rushdie and Visual Culture Celebrating Impurity, Disrupting Borders Edited by Ana Cristina Mendes 19 Global Cold War Literature Western, Eastern and Postcolonial Perspectives Edited by Andrew Hammond 20 Exploring Magic Realism in Salman Rushdie’s Fic- tion Ursula Kluwick 21 Wallace Stevens, New York, and Modernism Edited by Lisa Goldfarb and Bart Eeckhout 7/331 22 Locating Gender in Modernism The Outsider Female Geetha Ramanathan 23 Autobiographies of Others Historical Subjects and Literary Fiction Lucia Boldrini 24 Literary Ghosts from the Victorians to Modernism The Haunting Interval Luke Thurston 25 Contemporary Reconfigurations of American Liter- ary Classics The Origin and Evolution of American Stories Betina Entzminger 26 AIDS Literature and Gay Identity The Literature of Loss Monica B. Pearl 27 The Epic Trickster in American Literature From Sunjata to S(o)ul Gregory Rutledge 28 Charles Bukowski, Outsider Literature, and the Beat Movement Paul Clements 29 Sound and Aural Media in Postmodern Literature Novel Listening Justin St. Clair 8/331 30 Poetry as Testimony Witnessing and Memory in Twentieth-Century Poems Antony Rowland 31 Dramatizing Time in Twentieth-Century Fiction William Vesterman 32 James Joyce, Science, and Modernist Print Culture “The Einstein of English Fiction” Jeffrey S. Drouin 33 British Spy Fiction and the End of Empire Sam Goodman British Spy Fiction and the End of Empire Sam Goodman First published 2016 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an in- forma business © 2016 Taylor & Francis The right of Sam Goodman to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or re- produced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanic- al, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or re- trieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trade- marks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifica- tion and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Goodman, Sam, 1980- British spy fiction and the end of empire / By Sam Goodman pages cm.—(Routledge studies in twentieth-century 11/331 literature; 36) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Spy stories, English—History and criticism. 2. Politics and literature—Great Britain—History—20th century. 3. Imperi- alism in literature. 4. National characteristics in literature. 5. World politics in literature. 6. Espionage in literature. 7. Spies in literature. I. Title. PR830.S65G66 2015 823’.087209—dc23 2015004928 ISBN: 978-1-138-77746-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-77261-5 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by codeMantra To VB, PG and GWG, with love and thanks. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Hiding in Plain Sight: Locating the Spy in the British Cultural Imaginary 1 Divided States: Space, Power and Occupied Territory in Post- War Europe 2 Between Battleground and Fairground: British Espionage Fic- tion and the Post-War City 3 Safe as Houses: The Spy and Domestic Space 4 One-Way Ticket: Travel, Identity and Espionage 5 Winds of Change: Colonial Space and Clandestinity Conclusion: British Spy Fiction: The End of Empire & The End of an Era Select Bibliography Index Acknowledgments Whilst my name may be the only one on the cover, this book could not have been written without the kindness, generosity of time and spirit, patience, and help of a very long list of people. In particular, I am grateful to Alex Murray and Gerald MacLean, as well as all my colleagues and friends both past and present at Bournemouth University and the University of Exeter, for their advice and encouragement. I am grateful too for the support of BU’s Journalism & Communication Centre/Narrative Research Group that has enabled the various archival research trips and conference presentations that have informed the development of this project. I would like to thank David K. Fraser and the team at the Lilly Library, University of Indiana, for their hospitality and interest in my research, and for permitting me to inspect their Ian Fleming collection. Similarly, thanks go to the Fleming Estate, and Lisa Babalis and Kirsten Foster at Curtis Brown UK for their help with permissions, and to the editorial team at Rout- ledge for their guidance and assistance. Lastly, thank you to Emma Grundy-Haigh, Brittain Bright, and Matt Hayler for our conversations literary, cultural and critical, and, of course, espe- cially to Victoria Bates for being a constant source of inspiration and welcome distraction in equal measure. Introduction Hiding in Plain Sight: Locating the Spy in the British Cultural Imaginary The figure of the spy has always been bound up with nationhood and the idea of what it means to be British. For evidence of this relationship, we need not look further than the opening cere- mony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Within Danny Boyle’s visually stunning representation of British history and culture nestled a short film that encapsulates the link between the spy and the nation, as well as illustrating spy fiction’s central place within the British cultural imaginary. Entitled Happy and Glorious, directed by Boyle, and starring Queen Elizabeth II as herself alongside Daniel Craig as James Bond, the film places the spy in the midst of signifiers of quintessentially British, and in- deed English, identity, connecting the genre and its arguably most well-known character with spaces of privilege and power. Beginning at Buckingham Palace, Bond escorts the Queen to a waiting helicopter due to fly them to the Olympic stadium in Stratford, East London. Set to Eric Coates’ The Dam Busters March (1955), Bond and the Queen fly past the Houses of Parlia- ment and a suddenly mobile statue of Winston Churchill, above Nelson’s Column, over the City and the financial heart of London, along the Thames and through Tower Bridge before reaching 16/331 Stratford and parachuting into the arena to the strains of Monty Norman’s James Bond theme music.