The course reads key texts in the British Cold-War novel, and traces the defining themes, formal characteristics and historical contexts that contributed to the emergence of this narrative tradition from a popular entertainment genre to a literary form that engages with the preoccupations and the moral quandaries of an empire grown painfully aware of its dissolution.

Syllabus

• Len Deighton, Berlin Game
• John le Carrē, The Spy who Came in from the Cold
• John le Carrē, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
• Graham Greene, The Quiet American

Recommended extra reading

• Ian Fleming, From Russia with Love
• Graham Greene, The Third Man
• Graham Greene, Our Man in Havana
• John le Carrē, Smiley’s People
• John le Carrē, The Russia House