Special issue on John le Carré to be published in Intelligence and National Security

Damien Van Puyvelde Announcement
Subject Fields
Contemporary History, Diplomacy and International Relations, Film and Film History, Literature, Philosophy

This is a call for submissions for a special issue on John le Carré to be published in Intelligence and National Security and edited by Dr. Pauline Blistène and Dr. Damien Van Puyvelde. This special issue will investigate the historical, political, cultural and philosophical significance of le Carré’s work in relation to intelligence and its fictional representations as a set of activities, an organisation, a profession. We are particularly keen to build on recent efforts to broaden the scope of Intelligence Studies and encourage interdisciplinary work. Submissions can engage with any aspect of John le Carré’s life and work (novels and their adaptations), including:

  • Relationship between le Carré and the intelligence community: le Carré’s experience in intelligence, reception of his work by practitioners, impact of his oeuvre on intelligence concepts and practices and vice versa.
  • Fact, fiction and autofiction in le Carré’s work: realistic, imagined and autobiographical elements, blurring of the fact-fiction divide, self-storytelling (David Cornwell as John le Carré), categorization of his novels (‘spy fiction’, ‘Cold War thrillers’, etc.).
  • Themes, narratives and characters in le Carré’s work: human nature, deception, treason, conspiracy, secrecy, and free-will; Cold War and post-Cold War eras; allies and adversaries, agents and handlers, civil servants and privateers, bureaucrats and spymasters, men and women in intelligence.
  • Legacy: significance of le Carré’s oeuvre in or across a variety of disciplines including history, politics and international relations, philosophy, literature. We would welcome submissions that discuss the significance of le Carré’s oeuvre beyond the Western world and in the Global South.

The special issue will also include an annex providing a complete list of le Carré’s novels and adaptations.

Please submit a paragraph abstract (no more than 250 words) of your paper by Monday, 1 March 2021. The abstract is to be sent to Pauline-Elise.Blistene@univ-paris1.fr. The final deadline for complete papers is Friday, 17 December 2021.

Papers should not exceed 8,000 words inclusive of figure captions and references. Further information for formatting your paper can be found in the journal guidelines here.

Contact Information

Dr Pauline Blistène, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

Contact Email
Pauline-Elise.Blistene@univ-paris1.fr