Evolution of the Modern American Spy Novel

Abstract

Detente had little effect upon the secret war between the superpowers, in either the real operations of the CIA or in the adventures of the spy novel. However, there was a noticeable thaw in the relationship between the superpowers, and in this atmosphere the shape of spy fiction also changed. In the modern American spy novel the enemy remained the same to a great extent, but the plots and the characters became more sophisticated. In the 1970s and 1980s, incidents which provoked hostility between America and the USSR took place in isolated areas of the world, and did not threaten nuclear holocaust. The location in these spy adventures changed from the exotic settings of Europe and the richer Far East, to the Third World areas of Asia and Africa. While in Britain the James Bond stories began to be satirized, and authors like John le Carre injected a cold dose of cynicism into their spy novels, in America this form of literature was turning towards a similar trend in realism not only were the authors making their characters more human, and the plots more credible, they were also portraying the world of espionage with greater seriousness. The sophistication of the modern spy novel was achieved by the use of real events and historical characters as well as the exploration of contemporary themes such as terrorism. Another factor which contributed to the rise of the modern spy novel was that an increasing number of CIA veterans had written spy fiction. Two members of this group, William F. Buckley and Charles McCarry, will be discussed later. As the number of these authors appears to be growing, we may be able to expect a greater degree of authenticity in the portrayal of the intelligence world.' To understand how the modern spy novel evolved, it is necessary to return to the cold war spy novel of the 1960s. One author writing spy fiction at this time, who also had experience in intelligence, was E. Howard Hunt. He wrote a series of novels depicting the adventures of