The origins of the spy novel were firmly in “God and Empire” narratives. The progenitor of the modern spy novel was William Le Queux. He churned out novels originally warning of the menace of French spies, quickly changing it to German spies. His novels were serialised in the Daily Mail, told over-ripe tales of Prussian spies. It could be claimed that the hysteria he promoted paved the way for the launch of MI5 and MI6.
The hero in Le Queux’s books is the improbably named Duckworth Drew. I have never met anyone called Duckworth, and I doubt I ever will.
Probably the most influential figure at this time was, of course, John Buchan. For many, he defined the spy novel of the time. It was unquestionably pro-imperialist, racist, and had the prejudices of the establishment. Frequently, the novels had some athletic upper-class man being called to defend his country, or more commonly, the British Empire. The briefing of the spy at some Whitehall office, by the powers that be, has become set in stone in spy fiction. With the opening of practically every single Bond movie you can think of, for example, You Only Live Twice, where M says, “This is the big one 007…”, that is where the basic plot is laid out, and we’re informed which (usually foreign) megalomaniac he has to deal with. There was never any question of any criticism of the British Empire or the British ruling class in any of these novels. There was the assumed moral rectitude of the British establishment, and as a matter of course, foreigners were by nature regarded as suspicious and untrustworthy.
Antisemitism was de rigueur in practically all thrillers of that period. This was thankfully absent from Ambler’s novels. Eric Ambler broke that mould. The protagonists in his novels were frequently not professional spies and were caught up in events beyond their control. Eric Ambler’s early novels, written in the 1930s, were clearly antifascist. Not only was he an antifascist, but he also clearly identified with communist characters in his novels. Remember, this was when many members of the British establishment spied for the Soviet Union because they saw it as a bulwark against fascism. The Hitler-Stalin Pact in 1939 horrified Ambler, as it did many on the left.
In 1951, he wrote Judgment on Deltchev. The book is a courtroom drama based on the show trial of Bulgarian politician Nikola Petrov. It provoked a hostile reception from some of Ambler’s friends who still had illusions about Stalinism.
Eric Ambler completely reinvented the modern spy novel. In his novels, he introduced a level of realism that had been absent beforehand. There was moral complexity and ambiguity with ordinary protagonists caught up in terrifying circumstances. His influence on spy fiction is immeasurable. He prepared the ground for John le Carré and Len Deighton.
Graham Greene also cited him as a major influence on his work in the spy thriller genre. Greene acknowledged his debt to him, saying he was “the greatest living writer of the novel of suspense”. Everybody from Ian Fleming to Frederick Forsyth has credited him with inventing the modern spy novel. In From Russia with Love, Fleming paid homage to him by having a copy of Ambler’s Mask of Dimitrios save James Bond’s life during his fight with Red Grant. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré owes much to Eric Ambler. He established a level of literacy and realism in the spy novel and is now perhaps neglected. For those who have not read his novels, they have a treat ahead of them.