Intrigue : espionage and culture / Allan Hepburn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hepburn, Allan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Spy stories, English--History and criticism.

Spy stories, English.

American fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

American fiction.

English fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

English fiction.

Spy stories, American--History and criticism.

Spy stories, American.

Espionage, American--History--20th century.

Espionage, American.

Espionage, British--History--20th century.

Espionage, British.

Spy films--History and criticism.

Spy films.

Espionage in literature.

Spies in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 online resource (xvii, 327 p.))

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Why do spies have such cachet in the twentieth century? Why do they keep reinventing themselves? What do they mean in a political process? This book examines the tradition of the spy narrative from its inception in the late nineteenth century through the present day. Ranging from John le Carré's bestsellers to Elizabeth Bowen's novels, from James Bond to John Banville's contemporary narratives, Allan Hepburn sets the historical contexts of these fictions: the Cambridge spy ring; the Profumo Affair; the witch-hunts against gay men in the civil service and diplomatic corps in the 1950s.Instead of focusing on the formulaic nature of the genre, Intrigue emphasizes the responsiveness of spy stories to particular historical contingencies. Hepburn begins by offering a systematic theory of the conventions and attractions of espionage fiction and then examines the British and Irish tradition of spy novels. A final section considers the particular form that American spy narratives have taken as they have cross-fertilized with the tradition of American romance in works such as Joan Didion's Democracy and John Barth's Sabbatical.

Contents:

Spies : a theory of intrigue

Thrills : fear and catharsis as ideological effects

Codes : self-evident meaning in narratives of intrigue

Ghosts : illegitimacy and commitment in Under western eyes

Sewers : fantasies of death and disgust in The third man

Collaborations : love and war in The heat of the day

Walls : The spy who came in from the cold as allegory

Leaks : fighting the queer cold war in The untouchable

Disappearances : missing bodies in Sabbatical

Democracy : the death of a spy.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 303-321) and index.

ISBN:

1-282-43752-6

9786612437526

0-300-14848-8

OCLC:

748209327