Last night I presented a paper at the weekly graduate seminar series I attend and it went surprisingly well. ‘Blots, Others and Desire: The dossier of the anxious spy’ This paper navigates the development of the spy genre, beginning with the genre’s revolutionary roots, using Lacanian psychoanalysis as its compass. From the troubling blot of [...]
Archive for January, 2010
‘Blots, Others and Desire: The dossier of the anxious spy’
Posted in daily blurb, tagged delivering papers, development of the spy-hero, good studenting on 22/01/2010 | Leave a Comment »
lacanian ink
Posted in daily blurb, tagged lacan's seminars, lacanian ink, thwarted desire, time suck on 22/01/2010 | Leave a Comment »
I stumbled across Lacan dot com again recently and it left me wondering why I don’t spend more time there. It’s full of interesting articles by notable contemporary thinkers and is home not just to a very useful rundown of Lacan’s seminars, but also Lacanian Ink. I’m fascinated by this magazine. I’ve never seen a [...]
space/s
Posted in academic news, daily blurb, tagged 2010, academic call for papers, forum on 13/01/2010 | Leave a Comment »
Bit last minute, but I reckon this round’s Forum topic could be rather interesting. With the invention of the internet – that infinite cyber space – our world has both radically expanded and contracted. Opened up, as our practice of interacting with others has been drastically changed; but contracted, as this freedom has altered our [...]
the mystery of dr fu manchu, sax rohmer (1913)
Posted in daily blurb, review, spy thrillers, tagged 1913, genre fringe, inspynomo, pre-WW1, sax rohmer, the mystery of dr fu manchu on 12/01/2010 | Leave a Comment »
This post was originally part of InSpyNoMo. Some people might be wondering why I’ve chosen The Mystery of Dr Fu Manchu (1913) by Sax Rohmer as a text for InSpyNoMo. Basically, if you at all consider Ian Fleming’s 007 series to be a major influence in the genre (like it or loathe it), then you [...]
the phantom spy, max brand (1937)
Posted in daily blurb, review, spy thrillers, tagged 1937, inspynomo, max brand, pre-WW2, the phantom spy on 12/01/2010 | Leave a Comment »
This post was originally part of InSpyNoMo. Max Brand‘s The Phantom Spy (1937) is almost spookily predictive of the events that were to occur in the years that followed its release. It is very topical, featuring mentions of most of Germany’s higher politicians, speculations on British defence capabilities and considers the necessity of spies in [...]
modesty blaise, peter o’donnell (1965)
Posted in daily blurb, review, spy thrillers, tagged 1965, cold war, female spy-hero, genre fringe, inspynomo, modesty blaise, peter o'donnell on 12/01/2010 | Leave a Comment »
This was originally part of InSpyNoMo. Strictly speaking, Peter O’Donnell‘s Modesty Blaise is not a spy, and indeed the book that bears her name isn’t really spy fiction. Much like Ian Fleming’s middle 007 series, this is the stuff of proper adventure stories, with capers and pranks and lots of bloodshed, but little actual espionage. [...]
dark wanton, peter cheyney (1948)
Posted in daily blurb, review, spy thrillers, tagged 1948, dark wanton, early cold war, inspynomo, peter cheyney, post-WW2 on 12/01/2010 | Leave a Comment »
This was originally part of InSpyNoMo. Peter Cheyney is probably best known for his hard-boiled detective novels starring Lemmy Caution, but Dark Wanton (1948) is part of his ‘dark’ series of spy novels. His brief foray into espionage fiction was to be fairly influential. Many writers, such as Ian Fleming and Len Deighton, would go [...]
various, sir arthur conan doyle (1893-1917)
Posted in daily blurb, review, spy thrillers, tagged genre fringe, inspynomo, pre-genre, pre-WW1, sir arthur conan doyle, various on 12/01/2010 | Leave a Comment »
This was originally part of InSpyNoMo. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best known as one of the founding fathers of detective fiction. Sherlock Holmes is practically synonymous with Detective, Watson with side-kick. However, there are a fair handful of their adventures that are actually early examples of the spy genre. In particular, ‘The Naval Treaty’ [...]
the riddle of the sands, erskine childers (1903)
Posted in daily blurb, review, spy thrillers, tagged 1903, erskine childers, genre inauguration, inspynomo, pre-WW1, the riddle of the sands on 12/01/2010 | 1 Comment »
The Riddle of the Sands (1903) was pretty much an immediate sensation when it first came out and propelled its author, Erskine Childers, to fame. It’s widely considered the first true spy novel, though there’s a surprising degree of debate surrounding that claim. (You could argue that Caleb Williams (1794) by William Godwin should really [...]
the great spy race, adam diment (1968)
Posted in daily blurb, review, spy thrillers, tagged 1968, adam diment, cold war, inspynomo, the great spy race on 12/01/2010 | Leave a Comment »
This post was originally a part of InSpyNoMo. Adam Diment wrote four novels featuring Philip MacAlpine between 1967 and 1971. He was only 23 when the first novel came out and very much a part of London’s Swinging Sixties scene, which makes his novels quite perfectly situated for studying the Cold War through somewhat unbiased [...]
