The neo-imperialism of decolonisation: John le Carre and Cold War India

This article interrogates representations of Cold War India in John le Carre's work. India's preoccupation with secrecy and subversion provided fertile literary terrain for le Carre's critiques of intelligence agencies. Engaging with debates surrounding the fact/fiction dichotomy in intelligence studies, the article argues that detaching academic explorations of intelligence from cultural representations of the secret world is reductive. It suggests that le Carre's interaction with India mattered because it met a demand in the subcontinent to know more about intelligence. In turn, le Carre's writing impacted intelligence practice in India and influenced popular perceptions of intelligence services, foreign and domestic.