Spies in Literature

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From the trailer for 1959’s film version of Our Man in Havana.

I should have posted this “Spies in Literature” piece last Sunday the 7th in honor of Agent 007 James Bond, but I hadn’t yet finished the novel that inspired what you’re about to read.

That interesting 1958 book is Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana, and while its protagonist James Wormold is not a typical spy (he’s a vacuum-cleaner salesperson who reluctantly accepts recruitment as an agent), he nonetheless ends up in espionage.

Wormold is a satirical creation — the reports he submits to headquarters are pure fiction — but many other spies in literature are quite serious characters even if some humor might occasionally enter the mix. These secret agents can make for compelling reading as they get into adventures, risk their lives, save lives, end lives, do undercover work for good or evil patrons, inhabit a milieu of geopolitical machinations, etc.

I initially mentioned James Bond, and have seen a couple of movies starring him, but must admit I’ve never read any of the Ian Fleming novels that inspired the long-running 007 film franchise.

But I have enjoyed a handful of other books with spy characters. One author quite famous for that genre is John le Carré, whose The Russia House (1989) is the only novel of his I’ve read. It unfolds near the end of the Cold War — just before the breakup of the Soviet Union — and is pretty absorbing.

The Cold War of course has inspired many a spy novel, which could include Viet Tranh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer if the Vietnam War is considered partly a manifestation of that era’s United States/Soviet Union tensions. His seriocomic 2015 novel — set in 1975 and subsequent years — is told by an unnamed North Vietnamese mole in the South Vietnamese army who remains embedded in a South Vietnamese immigrant community in the U.S. Its sequel, The Committed, was published in 2021.

Obviously, not all espionage novels have a Cold War connection. For instance, James Fenimore Cooper’s 1821-released The Spy (hmm…I wonder what its title character is 🙂 ) takes place during the American Revolutionary War of several decades earlier.

And in the Harry Potter series, Severus Snape is a spy of sorts — and the most complex and morally ambivalent character in those seven J.K. Rowling novels.

I’ve barely touched the surface here, as I haven’t read that many books with secret-agent characters. Any thoughts on spies in literature? Your favorite characters and novels in this realm?

Misty the cat says: “I see thorns but not birds, so ‘The Thorn Birds’ novel doesn’t exist.”

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This 90-second promo video for the book features a talking cat: 🙂

I’m also the author of a 2017 literary-trivia book…

…and a 2012 memoir that focuses on cartooning and more.

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130 thoughts on “Spies in Literature”

      • Pity that he took his retirement already a decade ago. Al this expertise about cold war perils would probably very useful for Whitehall in the light of the current Russian attitude towards Europe (although the British famously bailed out of that adventure). Do you think there is a chance that they will recall him a second time back out of his retirement?

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    • Thank you, Dawn! That’s one more Bond novel than I’ve read. 🙂 I’ve gotten to two Graham Greene novels — “Our Man in Havana” and “The Power and the Glory” — and found both of them to be pretty good. Plus Greene’s very brief short story “Proof Positive,” which is as powerful and macabre as an Edgar Allan Poe tale.

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  4. Thanks for the reminder of “Our Man in Havana”… I read it a while ago and really enjoyed the part of the character being a salesman of vacuum cleaners and how he drew images of what the bosses thought were a weapon. Such cleverness in the writing! 🌞

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  5. Hi Dave, this topic is certainly popular. I got a scroll ache trying to find the end of the comments – haha! I have read all the Bond books and I bought Greg the entire collection when he was reading fiction. I also have most of the Agatha Christie books which I enjoyed very much. I’ve never read Sherlock Holmes but I have visited his house in London. Are they spies? I suppose not really although they do some spying to catch the baddie. I read a number of books by author, Daniel Kemp, which were about espionage and which I enjoyed very much.

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    • Ha, Robbie! 😂 (Your reference to “scroll ache.” 🙂 )This subject was definitely more popular than I thought it would be, even if some people (including myself) just wanted to say that they’re not huge fans of most spy novels. 🙂 Impressive that you’ve read all the Bond books, and I think you’re in for a treat if you ever get to the Sherlock Holmes stories and novels. Yes, detectives are spies of a sort. And glad you mentioned Daniel Kemp’s work!

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  6. Battalions of spies already, including Marlowe , Walsingham, the Babingtons and all Jesuits., not forgetting the traditional job description of an ambassador – a man who lies abroad for his country..

    In this turbulent world, may I have a spy who reforms and is penitent, Mr Tumnus, ?

    –

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  7. Hi Dave,

    I’ll join in on the chorus of I don’t really read spy novels. I’ve read one James Bond book but all I can remember is thinking it was really sexist. I’ve read one Jason Bourne book and don’t remember anything at all.

    I’ve also never read Graham Greene, but I do have him on the TBR at around number 200 something. And yes, all of my counting is in cat time rather than human time ❤

    Sue

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    • Thank you, Sue! You are indeed in “The Not a Big Fan of Spy Novels Club,” where the membership is…secret. 🙂

      The Bond franchise is sexist indeed. Maybe there should be a female Jamie Bond.

      Graham Greene is worth an eventual read, whether he’s on a human or cat TBR list. 🙂

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  8. I was obsessed with James Bond one summer, in my teens. I read every book by Fleming, but refused to read any he did not write. (teenage passions)

    The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy is a fab spy novel. However, I haven’t read any Jack Ryan since, andI have not watched the TV series.

    LOVE James Bond, and watched all the movies.

    Sean Connery was the only Bond for me.

    Had a hard time with the rest, until Daniel Craig.

    However, I will probably re-watch the four Pierce Brosnan was in. I have become fond of him in his later years. He was too, good looking when he was younger.

    MEOW!

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  10. This is an interesting post! I don’t tend to read ‘spy’ novels as such. I did read ‘The Shanghai Factor’ by Charles McCarry, which is classed as an espionage novel, some years back. He has been compared to John le Carre! It was a good book, although I can’t say in all honesty if spy novels are ever going to be my favourite genre. I wonder Dave, if it’s a genre that is as popular as it was say, fifty years ago! Thanks Dave, your post has got me thinking as they always do. 😊

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  13. This is Kim Hays; I’m not sure my phone will identify me. I’m just beginning the most recent of Mick Herron’s superb series of nine (so far) English spy novels. Called the Slough House series, they are full of black humor, political machinations, violence, and underdogs who somehow manage to save the day but never get rewarded. I’m addicted to them. The first of them have also been turned into a superb TV series starring Gary Oldham. The first book in the series is SLOW HORSES.

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    • Thank you, Kim! (I suppose “Anonymous” would make a good spy name. 🙂 )

      I appreciate the mention of Mick Herron, who I had not heard of until seeing your comment. His series sounds fantastic! And Gary Oldham is a GREAT actor.

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  14. Not the biggest James Bond fan, but I’ve always wanted to read John le Carré, whose The Russia House (1989). I also think this is a book my husband would enjoy, as he enjoys espionage stories. We play the word game “Codenames” where we are both pretending to be spies, so I think spy novels would appeal to us both!

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    • Thank you, Ada! I’m not a James Bond fan, either; the whole Bond milieu seemed kind of sexist, among other things. John le Carré is an excellent writer when it comes to prose and dialogue. The “Codenames” game sounds like fun!

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  16. So glad that you read that book, Dave. Good, eh? I don’t remember that film though. Hmm. But never mind. Here’s another book set in Cuba: Havana Bay by Martin Cruz Smith. It’s pretty good, a mystery/thriller, with a Russian spy… Bet it’s in your library!

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  18. Thank you, Dave. Your post brought back such vivid memories for me — I don’t usually read spy novels, and I’ve never picked up a 007 book, but I did read and enjoy the Mrs. Pollifax series years ago. She’s such an unlikely but delightful spy (she lives in New Jersey) — a widow and senior citizen who suddenly finds herself in the CIA and the Cold War. Your reflections have prompted me to revisit her adventures, and I think it may be time to reconnect with her. Isn’t it wonderful how certain characters stay with us across the years and return at just the right moment?

    Mrs. Pollifax reminds me that creativity, courage, and new beginnings can happen at any stage of life. As always, I must leave a quote that resonated with me: “It’s terribly important for everyone, at any age, to live to his full potential. Otherwise a kind of dry rot sets in, a rust, a disintegration of personality.” Dorothy Gilman, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

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  20. The comments reminded me of some spy fiction I’ve actually read: le Carré’s Spy Who Came in From the Cold and something similar by an indie author too. I have to admit I got lost in all the twists and found the cynical tone somewhat wearying. I read a couple of Ludlum’s Jason Bourne books too. The first one was interesting and thrilling, but also enough for me. I did read Conrad’s The Secret Agent quite recently. I would call it sort of an anti-spy novel, though; sad and disillusioning.

    It seems that spying does bad things to the people that do it.

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    • Thanks, Audrey, for the follow-up comment and the additional book mentions! Yes, being a spy doesn’t seem like an ideal profession. And, yes again, some spy novels (from my limited experience with them) can be rather cynical and/or convoluted.

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      • Yeah his father was pretty generous to the poor here –okay he could afford to be. But having risen from poverty himself he could just as easily have forgotten them. Quite a co-coincidence here’s you doing this post since we covered Ian Fleming, his father and James Bond in my hubby’s play on Fri night, where a grand impromptu discussion started with the audience when this woman said she lived in the Fleming Gardens Estate and had no idea that was the connection. .My hubby is big on spy novels and has quite a collection of them.

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        • Nice that Ian Fleming’s father was charitable; not all rich people are like that, of course, as you note, Shehanne. And that IS a big coincidence that the Flemings and James Bond came up in relation to your husband’s play, and that he’s an avid spy novel reader!

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          • It was his grandad Dave…. stupid me. I have had such a dreadful week in terms of business… even yesterday was full on,, that here I am just packing for going away for 3 days to Edinburgh, and I had posted the comment before I thought, ‘I am sure Ian Fleming’s father lived in Newport On Tay. not far from where we lived you dork and was killed in WW1. Robert was his grandad.’ And Yeah my Mr was briefly doing the shaken and sH)tirred bit like S(H)Ir Sean on Friday night.

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  23. I enjoy reading spy thriller novels. In the 1980s, I read every Robert Ludlum (1927-2001) novel in my father’s book collection. I don’t recall reading any of his Jason Bourne novels but I’ve watched all the movie adaptations. I also recall reading “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” by John le Carré.

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  24. Not a fan of spy lit, other than Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King, but I did like the cartoons Spy vs Spy in Mad Magazine and Boris and Natasha from the Rocky and Bullwinkle show, ha. Sorry I don’t have more to offer. Great post Dave. Susi

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    • Thank you, Susi! I share your not-a-big-fan-of-spy-lit sentiments, but, yes, “Spy vs. Spy” in Mad magazine was great! I think I watched “Rocky and Bullwinkle” here and there, but have no specific memories of it. 🙂

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  26. A great and interesting post, as always, Dave, although my reading of spy stories is thin. By a strange coincidence I read ‘Our Man in Havana’ earlier this year – hysterically funny, I loved it. I haven’t read any of the James Bond books, although like many others I’ve seen the films. I also read Le Carre’s ‘The Spy Who Came in from the Cold’ and ‘Our Game’ last year, although I can’t remember too much about them. For classics, however, Dinenom Potter in the comments below beat me to to Conrad’s ‘The Secret Agent’; but up there has to be Kipling’s ‘Kim’ and his recruitment into ‘The Great Game’. M.M.Kaye did something similar with the character Ash in ‘The Far Pavilions’, although the book received a lot of negative reviews as a pale copy of ‘Kim’. Then there are the two dramas by Alan Bennett, ‘An Englishman Abroad’ and ‘A Question of Attribution’, which deal with the real-life spies Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt respectively. They’re usually played together under the title ‘Single Spies’, and I had the pleasure of seeing them performed many years ago in London.

    How about a bit of Shakespeare? Not espionage as such, but Rosencrantz and Guilderstern were sent by Claudius to spy on Hamlet; it didn’t end well for them. Polonius hides in the arras to do the same in the same play, and his outcome is similarly negative. The Duke in ‘Measure for Measure’ disguises himself as a friar in order to observe his deputy Angelo.

    It’s interesting that there were real-life writers who were–or were thought to be–spies; Christopher Marlowe and Aphra Behn in the late 17th century, and Goethe in the 18th; he was detained in the town of Malcesine on Lake Garda on suspicion of espionage, although the mistake was quickly realised and he was released. They still remember him, and name businesses after him; and I only know about this because we go there for holidays most years.

    Enough for now, I think, and thanks for another brain-teaser. If I find any more I’ll be back, but in the meantime I’ll be watching … 🙂

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    • Thank you, Laura, for naming all those spy-related titles, including plays! Nice that you read “Our Man in Havana”; it IS quite funny.

      After reading “The Russia House,” I tried what is one of John le Carré’s most famous novels — “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” — and just couldn’t get into it. I abandoned it after a few-dozen pages.

      As for authors who were secret agents sometime in their lives, le Carré and W. Somerset Vaughn fit that bill, too.

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