Double Agents: Espionage, Literature, and Liminal Citizens

353 Pages·2013·8.97 MB·English

by  Erin G. Carlston

Double Agents

Double Agents
EspionagE, LitEraturE, and LiminaL CitizEns
Erin G. Carlston
columbia university press new york
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2013 Columbia University Press
Cover design: Noah Arlow
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Carlston, Erin G., 1962–
Double agents : espionage, literature, and liminal citizens / Erin G. Carlston.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-13672-3 (cloth : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978 -0-231-13673-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-231-51009-7 (ebook)
1. Literature and society. 2. Treason in literature. 3. Espionage—History.
4. Liminality in literature. 5. Homosexuality and literature. 6. Jews in literature.
7. Communists in literature. I. Title.
PN51.C337 2013
809'.93358—dc23 2012039622
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper.
This book is printed on paper with recycled content.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the
author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or
changed since the manuscript was prepared.
“August for the people,” from On This Island by W. H. Auden, copyright © 1937 and renewed 1962
by Random House, Inc. Used by permission of Random House, Inc., and Curtis Brown, Ltd.
“Letter to Lord Byron,” copyright © 1937 and renewed 1962 by W. H. Auden; “The Secret Agent,”
copyright © 1934 and renewed 1962 by W. H. Auden; “On Sunday Walks,” from Collected Poems
of W. H. Auden by W. H. Auden, copyright © 1976 Edward Mendelson, William Meredith, and
Monroe K. Spears, Executors of the Estate of W. H. Auden. Used by permission of
Random House, Inc., and Curtis Brown, Ltd.
The Orators: An English Study, by W. H. Auden, copyright © 1967 W. H. Auden. Used by
permission of Random House, Inc., and Curtis Brown, Ltd.
Quotations from the unpublished letters of W. H. Auden used by permission of
Edward Mendelson. Copyright © The Estate of W. H. Auden.
Quotations from the unpublished letters of Christopher Isherwood used by permission
of Don Bachardy.
Some of this material appeared previously in Modern Fiction Studies 48.4 (December 2002).
Some of this material appeared previously in, and is reprinted with permission from, the Romanic
Review 100.3 (May 2009). Copyright © the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York.
For Charles and Alice Carlston
and for
Carisa R. Showden

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. Citizens, Aliens, and Traitors 11
2. The Dreyfus Affair 49
3. Secret Dossiers 93
4. Truth Breathing Down the Neck of Fiction 141
5. The Ganelon Type 176
6. Strictly a Jewish Show 215
Conclusion 272
List of Abbreviations 283
Notes 285
Bibliography 301
Index 315

illustrations
Figure 1.1 How We May Know Him 27
Figure 1.2 Whoever Assists the Jew in His Work 42
Figure 2.1 Calendrier des Youtres 51
Figure 2.2 Head of Alfred Dreyfus 59
Figure 2.3 Le bon exemple 63
Figure 5.1 Look Here Old Chap 211
Figure 6.1 Ethel Rosenberg washing dishes 239
Figure 6.2 Ethel and Julius Rosenberg 245