The Neo-Imperialism of Decolonisation: John le Carré and Cold War India

Paul McGarr

doi:10.1080/02684527.2022.2151759

The Neo-Imperialism of Decolonisation: John le Carré and Cold War India

Paul McGarr

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

35 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This article interrogates representations of Cold War India in John le Carré’s work. India’s preoccupation with secrecy and subversion provided fertile literary terrain for le Carré’s critiques of intelligence agencies. Engaging with debates surrounding the fact/fiction dichotomy in intelligence studies, the article argues that detaching academic explorations of intelligence from cultural representations of the secret world is reductive. It suggests that le Carré’s interaction with India mattered because it met a demand in the subcontinent to know more about intelligence. In turn, le Carré’s writing impacted intelligence practice in India and influenced popular perceptions of intelligence services, foreign and domestic.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	271-284
Number of pages	14
Journal	Intelligence and National Security
Volume	38
Issue number	2
Early online date	4 Dec 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2022.2151759
Publication status	Published - 2023

Keywords

le Carre
India
Cold War

Access to Document

10.1080/02684527.2022.2151759

The Neo-Imperialism of_MCGARR_Accepted26October2022_GREEN AAMAccepted author manuscript, 333 KB

Cite this

@article{560c456ae2094a39a05ad91df2e12b12,

title = "The Neo-Imperialism of Decolonisation: John le Carr{\'e} and Cold War India",

abstract = "This article interrogates representations of Cold War India in John le Carr{\'e}{\textquoteright}s work. India{\textquoteright}s preoccupation with secrecy and subversion provided fertile literary terrain for le Carr{\'e}{\textquoteright}s critiques of intelligence agencies. Engaging with debates surrounding the fact/fiction dichotomy in intelligence studies, the article argues that detaching academic explorations of intelligence from cultural representations of the secret world is reductive. It suggests that le Carr{\'e}{\textquoteright}s interaction with India mattered because it met a demand in the subcontinent to know more about intelligence. In turn, le Carr{\'e}{\textquoteright}s writing impacted intelligence practice in India and influenced popular perceptions of intelligence services, foreign and domestic.",

keywords = "le Carre, India, Cold War",

author = "Paul McGarr",

note = "Funding Information: I am grateful to Pauline Blist{\`e}ne, Damien Van Puyvelde, and the anonymous reviewers for INS for their comments on earlier versions of this article. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.",

year = "2023",

doi = "10.1080/02684527.2022.2151759",

language = "English",

volume = "38",

pages = "271--284",

journal = "Intelligence and National Security",

issn = "0268-4527",

publisher = "Routledge",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Neo-Imperialism of Decolonisation

T2 - John le Carré and Cold War India

AU - McGarr, Paul

N1 - Funding Information: I am grateful to Pauline Blistène, Damien Van Puyvelde, and the anonymous reviewers for INS for their comments on earlier versions of this article. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - This article interrogates representations of Cold War India in John le Carré’s work. India’s preoccupation with secrecy and subversion provided fertile literary terrain for le Carré’s critiques of intelligence agencies. Engaging with debates surrounding the fact/fiction dichotomy in intelligence studies, the article argues that detaching academic explorations of intelligence from cultural representations of the secret world is reductive. It suggests that le Carré’s interaction with India mattered because it met a demand in the subcontinent to know more about intelligence. In turn, le Carré’s writing impacted intelligence practice in India and influenced popular perceptions of intelligence services, foreign and domestic.

AB - This article interrogates representations of Cold War India in John le Carré’s work. India’s preoccupation with secrecy and subversion provided fertile literary terrain for le Carré’s critiques of intelligence agencies. Engaging with debates surrounding the fact/fiction dichotomy in intelligence studies, the article argues that detaching academic explorations of intelligence from cultural representations of the secret world is reductive. It suggests that le Carré’s interaction with India mattered because it met a demand in the subcontinent to know more about intelligence. In turn, le Carré’s writing impacted intelligence practice in India and influenced popular perceptions of intelligence services, foreign and domestic.

KW - le Carre

KW - India

KW - Cold War

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85144228956&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/02684527.2022.2151759

DO - 10.1080/02684527.2022.2151759

M3 - Article

SN - 0268-4527

VL - 38

SP - 271

EP - 284

JO - Intelligence and National Security

JF - Intelligence and National Security

IS - 2

ER -

The Neo-Imperialism of Decolonisation: John le Carré and Cold War India

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this