Monday 29 January 2018

Two Kinds Of Spy Fiction

I am starting to reread The Spy Who Came In From The Cold in preparation for reading le Carre's recently published sequel. There are two kinds of spy fiction:

realistic;
action-adventure fiction with secret agents as the protagonists.

Poul Anderson's Dominic Flandry is science fiction and also action-adventure spy fiction. As such, Flandry is comparable to Ian Fleming's James Bond but contrasts with le Carre's Smiley, Leamas etc. My reading schedule will shortly alternate between The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and Anderson's early Technic History where the trader team is still on the planet Ikrananka.

1 comment:

S.M. Stirling said...

It also depends on what period you're talking about. Espionage is ancient, but the professional organizations we associate it with and the methodologies they've worked out are quite recent.

As recently as just before WW1, the head of the percusor of MI5/6 -- which had about a dozen employees total -- was personally sneaking around Germany with a false mustache plastered to his upper lip, trying to suss out the German navy.