The Secret Agent and Maintaining National and Social Concepts in Great Britain In Selected Fiction of Ian Fleming

Abstract

During the unstable era that followed the devastating Second World War, known as the Cold War era, a particular genre of literature stood out as a significantly popular literary witness and commentary on the happenings of that turbulent epoch: the spy thriller. The most remarkable writer in this genre was, and interestingly remains, undisputedly Scottish author Ian Fleming, the creator of the legendary British Secret Service agent, James Bond. The thesis aims at examining how Ian Fleming managed to project, comment on, and alter the prominent anxieties of Cold War Britain, namely the reinstatement of the notion of nationhood, the preservation of the British imperial and racial codes, and the maintenance of the codes of gender and the definition of masculinity and femininity. The thesis is, accordingly, divided into four chapters and a conclusion. Respective critical works of Michel Foucault, among other critical views, are used to examine the James Bond canon. Chapter I: “The Cold War and the Rise of the ‘Ace of Spies’, James Bond: An Overview”, traces the beginnings and development of the spy fiction and its significance to the Cold War era. The chapter also introduces the writing career of Ian Fleming, and emphasises the rise of the iconic British agent, James Bond; along with reasons for his immense popularity and manifestation in the British society, as well as his endurance worldwide, in comparison to other fictional spy figures.