ABSTRACT
Like many texts that have become canonical across genres, eras, and languages, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy requires hybrid analysis, both textual and historical. Following some thoughts on the novel's generic background, this chapter works through its travels along the road of history in the light of two conjunctures: Machiavelli's 16th-century Realpolitik and life in 1970s Britain. The idea is to explain the backdrop to the story's print, television, radio, and film incarnations by addressing espionage as a putatively pragmatic, legitimate element of statecraft that is, inter alia, a sign of split subjectivity.
