The Art of Espionage from Reality towards Fiction (Revue Doc.Eu)

The Art of Espionage from Reality towards Fiction

Practiced by women and men alike, by common people, adventurers, writers/ artists or politicians, the art of espionage was born in Ancient times when they used to gather confidential economic or military information; ever since it has stimulated the imagination of many because of the legends woven around several famous spies. For a long time, the intelligence agencies were highly classified, thus, not regulated by the national law and the agents were attracted by “the secret front” for various reasons: some got involved in these dangerous activities for the adventure, others for the financial benefits or for pure patriotism.

The pinnacle of this phenomenon was reached during the Second World War. The battle was carried not only on the frontline between the two belligerent armies but also on the intelligence services front. In this context, they became vital. They create real espionage networks which gather economic, technical and strategic information or conduct companies of deliberately fabricating and spreading fake news; this was the case before the landings in Normandy when the British secret services designed the operation Fortitude in order to mislead the Germans regarding the place where the troops were supposed to disembarked.

At present, the intelligence services’ activity is regulated by law and it works with real information professionals. A major breakthrough has been achieved once the archives were opened and digitised because this gave the historians and the researchers the opportunity to unravel several mysteries.

As for a long time, the general public did not have access to the official documents, the mysteries around some actions or famous spies stirred the writers’ and the film directors’ imagination who for this reason, created an unique cultural production with and about spies. Correspondingly, to justify their behaviour or to embellish their social image, many spies felt the need to write their memoirs or to publish memoirs about the intelligence services to which they once belonged.

Number 6 of the academic journal Doc.Eu aims to discuss this highly topical issue in research articles with aspects that include, but are not limited to:

1. Representations of espionage in literature and art: thematic literary productions, famous personalities involved in spy activities, authenticity papers (memoirs, journals, letters), iconography, clothing symbols;
2. Man versus woman: the ability to disguise and dramatize, cognitive and emotional competencies;
3. A history of espionage: chronological perspective, espionage between myth and reality; espionage folders, famous intelligence agencies, national/ international espionage operations;
4. Espionage – a moral dilemma, mindsets, ideological/ religious reflections;
5. The specialized discourse: spies’ and counter-spies’ secret codes/ encrypted language, idioms, the codes’ syntactic features;
6. Psychoanalytic approaches: work-related diseases, mania, paranoia.

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The deadline for receipt of articles is 01/07/2020.

Romanian authors are requested to submit their papers electronically to the following addresses: doc.eu2018@gmail.com, articole@doc-eu.com.

Foreign authors are requested to submit their papers electronically to the following addresses:

doc.eu2018@gmail.com, articles@doc-eu.com.

Number 6 of the academic journal Doc.Eu will be published in December 2020.