Research Thursday - Counterfeit Spies: The Arts of Deception in Wartime Espionage and Post-war Spy Fiction

English Professor Oliver Buckton recently received a Fulbright Fellowship for his research and teaching project titled “Counterfeit Spies: The Arts of Deception in Wartime Espionage and Post-war Spy Fiction.” This project examines the central role of creative fiction-making in actual intelligence operations, as well as the pervasive influence of real intelligence operations on spy fiction after World War II. A key concern in this project is the technique of “faction,” a hybrid of fact and fiction, identified by intelligence scholar Nigel West as a recurring feature of spy novels written by former intelligence agents. Buckton will conduct his Fulbright research project and teaching at the Universidad de Málaga, Spain. The “Counterfeit Spies” project focuses on the crucial role of deception and international collaboration in such Allied wartime operations as “Mincemeat,” “Goldeneye,” and the fictional spy networks created by Spanish double-agent Juan Pujol García (code name Agent GARBO) and his British MI5 handler, Tomás Harris. The project explores the impact of World War II deception operations on espionage fiction by Ian Fleming, Graham Greene, John le Carré, and Helen MacInnes, among others.

Image(l/r): Graham Greene; Ian Fleming; From Russia With Love (1st edition, 1957); Helen MacInnes