Spy fiction
Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligence agencies. It was given new impetus by the development of fascism and communism in the lead-up to World War II, continued to develop during the Cold War, and received a fresh impetus from the emergence of rogue states, international criminal organizations, global terrorist networks, maritime piracy and technological sabotage and espionage as potent threats to Western societies.[1] As a genre, spy fiction is thematically related to the novel of adventure (The Prisoner of Zenda, 1894, The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1905), the thriller (such as the works of Edgar Wallace) and the politico-military thriller (The Schirmer Inheritance, 1953, The Quiet American, 1955).[2][3]
For the Len Deighton novel, see Spy Story (novel). For the video game, see Spy Fiction. For the subgenre that includes elements of science fiction, see Spy-Fi (subgenre).Insider spy fiction[edit]
Many authors of spy fiction have themselves been intelligence officers working for British agencies such as MI5 or MI6, or American agencies such as the OSS or its successor, the CIA. 'Insider' spy fiction has a special claim to authenticity and overlaps with biographical and other documentary accounts of secret service.
The first insider fiction emerged after World War 1 as the thinly disguised reminiscences of former British intelligence officers such as W. Somerset Maugham, Alexander Wilson, and Compton Mackenzie. The tradition continued during World War II with Helen MacInnes and Manning Coles.
Notable British examples from the Cold War period and beyond include Ian Fleming, John le Carré, Graham Greene, Brian Cleeve, Ian Mackintosh, Kenneth Benton, Bryan Forbes, Andy McNab and Chris Ryan. Notable American examples include Charles McCarry, William F. Buckley Jr., W. E. B. Griffin and David Hagberg.
Many post-9/11 period novels are written by insiders.[46] At the CIA, the number of manuscripts submitted for pre-publication vetting doubled between 1998 and 2005.[47] American examples include Barry Eisler, A Clean Kill in Tokyo (2002); Charles Gillen, Saigon Station (2003); R J Hillhouse, Rift Zone (2004); Gene Coyle, The Dream Merchant of Lisbon (2004) and No Game For Amateurs (2009); Thomas F. Murphy, Edge of Allegiance (2005); Mike Ramsdell, A Train to Potevka (2005); T. H. E. Hill, Voices Under Berlin (2008); Duane Evans, North from Calcutta (2009); Jason Matthews, Red Sparrow (2013).;[46][48] and T.L. Williams, Zero Day: China's Cyber Wars (2017).
British examples include The Code Snatch (2001) by Alan Stripp, formerly a cryptographer at Bletchley Park; At Risk (2004), Secret Asset (2006), Illegal Action (2007), and Dead Line (2008), by Dame Stella Rimington (Director General of MI5 from 1992 to 1996); and Matthew Dunn's Spycatcher (2011) and sequels.
Spy television and cinema[edit]
Cinema[edit]
Much spy fiction was adapted as spy films in the 1960s, ranging from the fantastical James Bond series to the realistic The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), and the hybrid The Quiller Memorandum (1966). While Hamilton's Matt Helm novels were adult and well written, their cinematic interpretations were adolescent parody. This phenomenon spread widely in Europe in the 1960s and is known as the Eurospy genre.
English-language spy films of the 2000s include The Bourne Identity (2002), Mission: Impossible (1996); Munich (2005), Syriana (2005), and The Constant Gardener (2005).
Among the comedy films focusing on espionage are 1974's S*P*Y*S, 1985's Spies Like Us, and the Austin Powers film series starring Mike Myers.
Television[edit]
The American adaptation of Casino Royale (1954) featured Jimmy Bond in an episode of the Climax! anthology series. The narrative tone of television espionage ranged from the drama of Danger Man (1960–68) to the sardonicism of The Man from U.N.C.L.E (1964–68) and the flippancy of I Spy (1965–68) until the exaggeration, akin to that of William Le Queux and E. Phillips Oppenheim before the First World War (1914–18), degenerated to the parody of Get Smart (1965–70).
In 1973, Semyonov's novel Seventeen Moments of Spring (1968) was adapted to television as a twelve-part mini-series about the Soviet spy Maksim Isaev operating in wartime Nazi Germany as Max Otto von Stierlitz, charged with preventing a separate peace between Nazi Germany and America which would exclude the USSR. The programme TASS Is Authorized to Declare... also derives from his work.
However, the circle closed in the late 1970s when The Sandbaggers (1978–80) presented the grit and bureaucracy of espionage.
In the 1980s, US television featured the light espionage programmes Airwolf (1984–87) and MacGyver (1985–92), each rooted in the Cold War yet reflecting American citizens' distrust of their government, after the crimes of the Nixon Government (the internal, political espionage of the Watergate Scandal and the Vietnam War) were exposed. The spy heroes were independent of government; MacGyver, in later episodes and post-DXS employment, works for a non-profit, private think tank, and aviator Hawke and two friends work free-lance adventures. Although each series features an intelligence agency, the DXS in MacGyver, and the FIRM, in Airwolf, its agents could alternately serve as adversaries as well as allies for the heroes.
Television espionage programmes of the late 1990s to the early 2010s include La Femme Nikita (1997–2001), Alias (2001–2006), 24 (2001–2010, 2014), Spooks in the UK (release as MI-5 in the US and Canada) (2002-2011), NCIS (2003–present), CBBC's The Secret Show (2006-2011), NBC's Chuck (2007-2012), FX's Archer (2009–2023), Burn Notice, Covert Affairs, Homeland, The Americans and ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013-2020).
In 2015, Deutschland 83 is a German television series starring a 24-year-old native of East Germany who is sent to the West as an undercover spy for the HVA, the foreign intelligence agency of the Stasi.
For children and adolescents[edit]
Books and novels[edit]
In every medium, spy thrillers introduce children and adolescents to deception and espionage at earlier ages. The genre ranges from action-adventure, such as Chris Ryan's Alpha Force series, through the historical espionage dramas of Y. S. Lee, to the girl orientation of Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls series, beginning with I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You.
Leading examples include the Agent Cody Banks film, the Alex Rider adventure novels by Anthony Horowitz, and the CHERUB series, by Robert Muchamore. Ben Allsop, one of England's youngest novelists, also writes spy fiction. His titles include Sharp and The Perfect Kill.
Other authors writing for adolescents include A. J. Butcher, Joe Craig, Charlie Higson, Andy McNab and Francine Pascal.
Films and shows[edit]
Spy-related films that are aimed towards younger audiences include movies such as the Spy Kids series of films and The Spy Next Door. Shows and series in this category also include a subplot of Phineas and Ferb following Perry the Platypus in his attempt to sabotage Doofenshmirtz's plans to take over the geographically ambiguous Tri-state area. However, the Cartoon Network show Codename: Kids Next Door is solely focused on the eponymous Kids Next Door organization, consisting of child spies and child soldiers fighting and spying on adult and teenage villains, who are personifications of the things children dislike while growing up (e.g. bullying, grounding, homework, going to the dentist, going to school, being force-fed vegetables, getting banned from drinking soda, helicopter parenting, piano lessons, and spanking), and whilst not being traditional government sponsored intelligence, the Kids Next Door market themselves as so. Another example of a kids' show in the spy genre is Disney's Kim Possible, which centers on the eponymous protagonist as she fights megalomaniac villains in a similar manner to James Bond, while foiling the evil plans of the main antagonist of the show, Dr. Drakken.
Video games, tabletop roleplaying games and theme parks[edit]
In contemporary digital video games, the player can be a vicarious spy, as in Team Fortress 2 and the Metal Gear series, especially in the series' third installment, Metal Gear Solid, unlike the games of the third-person shooter genre, Syphon Filter, and Splinter Cell. The games feature complex stories and cinematic images. Games such as No One Lives Forever and the sequel No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way humorously combine espionage and 1960s design. Evil Genius, a real-time strategy game and contemporary of the No One Lives Forever series, allows the player to take on the role of the villain in a setting heavily influenced by spy thriller fiction like the James Bond series.
The Deus Ex series, particularly Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, are also examples of spy fiction. Protagonist Adam Jensen must frequently use spycraft and stealth to obtain sensitive information for a variety of clients and associates.
Top Secret, TSR, Inc., (1980) is a contemporary espionage-themed tabletop role-playing game[49]
James Bond 007: Role-Playing In Her Majesty's Secret Service, Victory Games (1983), is a tabletop roleplaying game based on Flemming's 007 novels.[50]
Activision published Spycraft: The Great Game (1996), notable for the collaboration with former CIA director William Colby and former KGB Major-General Oleg Kalugin, who also appear in the game as themselves.
Namco Bandai's Time Crisis series of light gun shooters centers on the exploits of a fictional multinational intelligence agency called the VSSE (Vital Situation, Swift Elimination), whose agents, armed with a license to kill, must stop terrorists and megalomaniac villains in a similar manner to Mission: Impossible and the James Bond movies.
The Spyland espionage theme park, in the Gran Scala pleasure dome, in Zaragoza province, Spain, opened in 2012.