The Secret Agent (1907) by Joseph Conrad examines the psychology and ideology motivating the socially marginal men and women of a revolutionary cell. Kim (1901) by Rudyard Kipling concerns the Anglo– Russian ' Great Game', which consisted of a geopolitical rivalry and strategic warfare for supremacy in Central Asia, usually in Afghanistan. The major themes of a spy in the lead-up to the First World War were the continuing rivalry between the European colonial powers for dominance in Asia, the growing threat of conflict in Europe, the domestic threat of revolutionaries and anarchists, and historical romance. In His Last Bow, Holmes himself acts as a double agent, providing Germany with a lot of false information on the eve of WWI. In The Adventure of the Naval Treaty, Holmes recovers the text of a secret Naval Treaty between Britain and Italy, stolen by a daring spy. Īt least two Sherlock Holmes stories have clear espionage themes. The details were reported by the world press: an Imperial German penetration agent betraying to Germany the secrets of the General Staff of the French Army the French counter-intelligence riposte of sending a charwoman to rifle the trash in the German Embassy in Paris, were news that inspired successful spy fiction. 1894–1906), the Affair, which involved elements of international espionage, treason, and antisemitism, dominated French politics. In nineteenth-century France, the Dreyfus Affair (1894–99) contributed much to public interest in espionage. The Bravo attacks European anti- republicanism, by depicting Venice as a city-state where a ruthless oligarchy wears the mask of the 'serene republic'. Early examples of the espionage novel are The Spy (1821) and The Bravo (1831), by American novelist James Fenimore Cooper. Spy fiction as a genre started to emerge during the 19th Century. (.) Three thousand years before James Bond seduced Pussy Galore and turned her into his ally against Goldfinger, the spies sent by General Joshua into the city of Jericho did much the same with Rahab the Harlot. 5 Video games, tabletop roleplaying games and theme parksĬommentator William Bendler noted that 'Chapter 2 of the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua might count as the first Spy Story in world literature.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). 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.

It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligence agencies. Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. JSTOR ( January 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).

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