Beyond James Bond
Morality and Ethics in Spy Fiction
Although spy novels can be pure entertainment, professor and intelligence office Jon Wiant argues that espionage fiction can be as literary and rich as the author and reader desire. According to him, such novels can anticipate and cause both societal and technological transformations; these books can change language, inspire inventions, and forecast political revolutions with startling accuracy (Wiant). This analysis looks at the ethical questions asked in spy novels covering subjects ranging from pre-World War I English literature to autobiographical stories of Cold War spies.
The Secret Agent
Joseph Conrad
The Man Who Was Thursday
G. K. Chesterton
A Perfect Spy
John le Carre
My Silent War
Kim Philby
Beyond James Bond:
Chapter 1 uses Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent and G. K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday to explore the morality of spies. These novels, written during a time of concern about anarchy in Great Britain, do not focus on the fear of political violence. They instead choose to use this worry as a backdrop to examine the ethics of spies. In particular, the authors argue that morality is inherently flexible because it is governed by the competing human desires to belong and to rebel.
Chapter 2 looks at spies as individuals. Specifically, it uses Kim Philby's autobiography, My Silent War, and John le Carre's A Perfect Spy to study how spies' character traits influence the efficacy of spying. According to these authors, spies are sums of their past experiences, which means that espionage is less meaningful than it may appear. Through narrative structure and metaphor, the texts demonstrate that personal history is more important than ideology for the most effective spies.