Masaryk university

126 Ousby, Ian.: Op.cit.,p.649

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127Fleming copied in the James Bond novels, of referring to the head of British Intelligence only by an initial” .

128 I have never pretended to be anything but a story teller. It has amused me to tell stories and I have told a great many. It is a misfortune for me that the telling of a story just for the sake of the story is not an activity that is in favor with the intelligentsia. In endeavor to bear my misfortunes with fortitude." (from Creatures of Circumstance, 1947)

129 As an agent and writer Maugham can be considered as a link in the long tradition from Christopher Marlowe, Ben Johnson or Daniel Defoe to the modern period spy fiction writers like Graham Greene, John le Carr é , etc. who all have worked for the secret services. “ It is said that the modern spy story began with Maugha m´s As hendan , which is a collection of 6 stories set in Switzerland, France, Russia and Italy.” 130 “His life was summar iz ed as if he had the most ordinary job in the world: Ashenden´s official existence was as orderly and monotonous as a clerk. He saw his spies at stated intervals and paid them their wages, when he could get hold of a new one he engaged him, gave him instructions and sent him off to Germany. This deglamorising of espionage was quite new and made a big impression on John le Carr é who praised Maugham for being the first who “wri te about espionage in a mood of disenchantment and almost prosaic realistic.” 131 Since the first half of the twentieth century people not only in England and United were slowly becoming aware of international politics. With the approaching threat of WWII, a great number of writers changed the theme of their writing and started featuring international issues. Afterwards these writers returned to their usual themes. Before the outbreak of WWII two important authors of the spy fiction genre emerged. Geoffrey Household with his outstanding Rough Male 132 and Eric Ambler with series of books with spy elements, especially The Mask of Demetrios (1939) . In his stories,

127 128 Ashenden or the British Agent. Wikipedia Free Encyklopedia. 8 November 2009 129 William Somerset Maugham. Kirjasto Web. 7 November 2009. William Somerset Maugham. Kirjasto Web. 10 November 2009

130 Priestman, Martin. The Cambridge Companion to Crime Fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.2003. p..122.

131132 Ousby, Ian.: Op.cit.,p479 Ousby, Ian.: Op.cit.,p24

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the agents and spies were not splendid patriots, but hired killers. 133134 He wrote six classic political novels like The Dark Frontier (1936), Uncommon Danger (1937), Epitath for a Spy ( 1938), Cause for Alarm (1938), The Mask of Demetrios (1939) and Journey into Fear (1940).

135 But to me the most important thing to know about an assassination is not who fired a shot but who paid for the bullit. (Eric Ambler, The Mask of Demetrios, 1939)

136 In the novel The Mask of Demetrios one British academic found himself on holiday in Turkey where he met one man from the Turkish police, Demetrios. The British academic has no official connection with the intelligence agencies. Demetrios is presented as a morally degenerated individual,immoral human being, but also as the symptom of a diseased society based on capitalist exploitation, one that prioritizes money and property at the expense of moral and spiritual values. “ Upon closer inspection can be said that there may have been Mein Kampf at the back of Amb le r´s mind. There are some reasons for it. Like Hitler, Demetrios was born in 1889, began to at tract attenti on in early 1920´s, wa s invol ved in a poli tical coup in 1923, achieved outward respectability and a position of power in the earl y 1930´s, and int erfe red in the affai rs of othe r countries in the la te 1930´s. From thi s point of view, there is a certain similarity.” 137 A well-known author who also produced some fine spy novels, is Graham Greene (1904-1991). Among them are The Third Man and Our Man in Havana. The Third Man is a story of social, economic and moral corruption in a post-war Vienna. In this novel, Graham Greene shows a parody of the Cold War. Like The Third Man also Our Man in Havana was intended for entertainment. Our Man in Havana is a novel set in Cuba during the regime of Batista and tells the story of a British spy in the time of the Cold War, who collects information of political or military importance in Havana and

133 134 Woods, F.Brett. Beyound the Balkans – Eric Ambler and the British Espionage Novel, 1936-1940 10 November 2009 135 Ousby, Ian.: Op.cit.,p24 136 Woods, F.Brett. Beyound the Balkans – Eric Ambler and the British Espionage Novel, 1936-1940 10 November 2009 137 Woods, F.Brett. Beyound the Balkans – Eric Ambler and the British Espionage Novel, 1936-1940 10 November 2009 Sanders, Andrew.:Op.cit.,p.583

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passes it along for British intelligence.138139 It is a satirical Cuban tale of espionage and intrigue of Jim Wormold who run a small vacuum cleaner business in Havana and he was always short of money. In need he accepted the offer to become agent of MI6 (the big similarity with le Carr é´s The Tailor of Panama). He had no qualification, he was foreign, he was British which should give him a real guarantee. He had no experience in espionage and no knowledge to do such a job, but to keep this job, he filed false reports and sent them as required. Finally he was caught and departed from Cuba. In Great Britain he started to work for the British Secret service. The story satirized the British espionage and absurd British bureaucracy. In his life Graham Greene dealt with counterespionage in the Iberian Peninsula during the World War II where he learnt how the Nazi Secret Service sent home false reports and he used, it can be assumed that the author reflected this experience in some of his novels. 140 Another Greene ´s novel with spy elements is The Ministry of Fear (1943) . In this novel Greene depicted the fact that wartime does not ask if killing is according to the law and justified.

138 139 Drabble, Margareth. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1997. p. 420-421. 140 Ousby, Ian.: Op.cit.,p. 413 Sanders, Andrew.:Op.cit.,p.583

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5.The Postwar Period of Spy Novel

World War II made great advances in both espionage, intelligence, security counterintelligence and counter-espionage, giving many a first-hand experience of that world. The years after the second world war are associated also with The Cold War, a competition between different ideologies, democratic capitalism and Soviet totalitarian socialism, which dominated the whole politics for the second half of the twentieth century. The Cold War provided authors with unlimited material to work on. Post-war spy fiction has been dominated by the James Bond novels. Stories of the secret service therefore had to be either incredible of farcical. Fleming wrote basically incredible stories.

5.1. Ian Fleming

Ian Fleming (1908-1964)141142 was a man of variety experience and talents. He is the author of 14 ori ginal books of Ja mes Bond, the world´s best -loved spy which plays a very important role in spy fiction. “ Ian Fleming was born in 1908 as the second son of Valentine and Eve Fleming. Valentine Fleming was elected as Member of Parliament for South Oxfordshire in 1910 and the family moved to Pitt House on Hampstead Heath. Valentine Fleming joined the Oxfordshire Yeomanery in August 1914, and was soon promoted to major. He was killed in action in 1917” .143 “ Winston Churchill wrote an appreciation of his friend to the Times. Ian Fleming would always keep this in his mind for the rest of his life.” 144 “ Along with his three brothers Ian Fleming was educated in Eton. He was not a very good pupil, but he was excellent at sports. After leaving Eaton, he spent some time in the Austrian Tyrol and went on study in Germany and Switzerland. He attended the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst for a short period of time.” At the outbreak of WWII he was active as a lieutenant Commander of Naval Intelligence and during the war he

141 142 Ousby, Ian.: Op.cit.,p. 356 Ian Fleming. Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia. 2 December 2009 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian _Fleming

143 Ian Fleming. Official Web Site of Ian Fleming. 14 April 2009