Spy fiction: then and now: Paul O'Sullivan reflects on writings that shape public perceptions of the world of espionage.

• Author: O'Sullivan, Paul
• Position: Viewpoint essay

My interest in spy fiction predates my previous role as the Director-General of Australia's Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). In saying that, however, working within an intelligence agency gives you a greater appreciation of the role the agents play. During my time at ASIO, my interest grew in how intelligence agents were represented in spy fiction, as I saw how they operated day-to-day in real life.

Why is spy fiction so popular? How did it emerge as a genre? I will identify the different varieties of spy fiction, and take a look at perhaps the most famous and recognisable spy fiction charter, Ian Fleming's James Bond 007. I will also address the pessimistic approach that marks some works of spy fiction, and discuss how spy fiction has changed since the end of the Cold War.

Why spy fiction? It goes without saying that a lot of what goes on in intelligence is kept secret for reasons of national security. Identities need to be protected and information needs to be kept secret. Strategic and commercial interests, as well as the safety of people, are at stake. There is the need to protect information, whether it concerns persons, companies, states or international negotiations. Protecting the identity of sources, making sure government and private information is secure, and safeguarding interests are all important. The reasons why are pretty self-evident. If you cannot protect your sources, they will not continue to talk to you. If you cannot stop your own information being hacked or pinched, your competitors or even foes know what you are doing. And if you cannot safeguard your interests, you cannot play a role in the world in the way you might like.

So there is necessarily a limit on the amount of information available on what actually goes on in intelligence organisations. Employees are sworn to secrecy, documents are classified and decisions are made behind closed doors or out of the public eye. As a result, in the absence of other detailed information, many impressions that the general public have of the work of intelligence agencies are drawn from the genre of spy fiction.

Intelligence agencies often advertise on the theme of a career 'less ordinary' or 'different to the daily grind'. It is certainly not a job of 'nine to five', nor is it one that you can come home to discuss with your nearest and dearest. In some cases, your nearest and dearest will only have the slightest inclination about what you do.

Popular fascination

Accordingly, spy fiction appeals to the public, because in many ways it is the only way they get a sense of what spies do. The popular fascination with espionage and counter-espionage is borne out in films, especially television series such as The Avengers, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and, more recently, Spooks. In addition, a range of comics and, more recently, video and computer games are available.

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One good measure of the popularity of a genre is the emergence of satire within it. In this case, the spoof television series Get Smart and the Austin Powers movie series are both good examples of sending up spying, spy fiction, and our fascination with it.

Contemporary spy fiction, like all genres, has its own origins and history. It emerged around the turn of the last century, about the same time that spying began to be professionally organised in the form that we know it today. Some excerpts from these early spy stories can be found in Hugh and Graham Greene's The Spy's Bedside Book, or in Alan Furst's anthology of literary espionage, The Book of Spies.

As with early crime fiction, and its part-time sleuths, early spy fiction was the province of the amateur. These were the remarkable 'gentlemen' of William Le Queux's stories, who, as patriots, protected their compatriots, drawing in large measure on their reserves of raw courage and native intellect.

Readers of Phillip Knightley's book The Second Oldest Profession will recall he argues in fact that early spy fiction, particularly Le Queux's writings, had some influence on the British decision to establish its first formal civilian intelligence service.

With the institutionalisation of espionage and counter-espionage as aspects of modern statecraft during the 20th century, the exploration of the relationship between individual, organisation and society has been grist for the mill in this genre.

Varying plots

Plots and situations vary in spy fiction. Some are vehicles for the heroic individual to save the day, just in time, once again, against the odds. But more sinisterly, there is a sub-genre of spy fiction that embodies deep-seated suspicions about the corruptibility of power. This is a world where the enemy is within; a world where nasty organisations, or a cabal within, turn on the individual--wantonly and without prejudice, as with the Jason Bourne series.

Some works of spy fiction, like Greene's Our Man in Havana or Rush's Mortals, find comedy or irony in the discordance between context and purpose, leaving...