ABSTRACT
It is no ‘idle’ Englishness which is at stake in the spy story, no mending of chairs or speculation about dialect words, but a heavy-duty patriotism more preoccupied with empire than with leafy Berkshire. The genre established itself as a market leader in Britain at the turn of the century, gradually displacing the imperial adventure story, as the focus of anxiety shifted from frontier wars to Great Power rivalry. It offers a perfect opportunity to examine the interconnections of ideological and narrative renewal.
