LEADER 05321nam 2200865Ia 450 001 9910786363903321 005 20230126205850.0 010 $a0-8014-6547-8 010 $a1-322-50414-8 010 $a0-8014-6591-5 024 7 $a10.7591/9780801465918 035 $a(CKB)2670000000276221 035 $a(OCoLC)818143179 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary10618073 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000755381 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11463304 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000755381 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10730681 035 $a(PQKB)11146686 035 $a(StDuBDS)EDZ0001503453 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3138392 035 $a(OCoLC)966819170 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse51938 035 $a(DE-B1597)478249 035 $a(OCoLC)961606249 035 $a(OCoLC)979627848 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780801465918 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3138392 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10618073 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL681696 035 $a(EXLCZ)992670000000276221 100 $a20120627d2012 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur||||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 14$aThe covert sphere$b[electronic resource] $esecrecy, fiction, and the national security state /$fTimothy Melley 210 $aIthaca $cCornell University Press$d2012 215 $a1 online resource (302 p.) 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 0 $a0-8014-5123-X 311 0 $a0-8014-7853-7 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $tFront matter --$tContents --$tPreface --$tIntroduction: The Postmodern Public Sphere --$t1. Brainwashed! --$t2. Spectacles of Secrecy --$t3. False Documents --$t4. The Work of Art in the Age of Plausible Deniability --$t5. Postmodern Amnesia --$t6. The Geopolitical Melodrama --$tNotes --$tWorks Cited --$tIndex 330 $aIn December 2010 the U.S. Embassy in Kabul acknowledged that it was providing major funding for thirteen episodes of Eagle Four-a new Afghani television melodrama based loosely on the blockbuster U.S. series 24. According to an embassy spokesperson, Eagle Four was part of a strategy aimed at transforming public suspicion of security forces into something like awed respect. Why would a wartime government spend valuable resources on a melodrama of covert operations? The answer, according to Timothy Melley, is not simply that fiction has real political effects but that, since the Cold War, fiction has become integral to the growth of national security as a concept and a transformation of democracy. In The Covert Sphere, Melley links this cultural shift to the birth of the national security state in 1947. As the United States developed a vast infrastructure of clandestine organizations, it shielded policy from the public sphere and gave rise to a new cultural imaginary, "the covert sphere." One of the surprising consequences of state secrecy is that citizens must rely substantially on fiction to "know," or imagine, their nation's foreign policy. The potent combination of institutional secrecy and public fascination with the secret work of the state was instrumental in fostering the culture of suspicion and uncertainty that has plagued American society ever since-and, Melley argues, that would eventually find its fullest expression in postmodernism. The Covert Sphere traces these consequences from the Korean War through the War on Terror, examining how a regime of psychological operations and covert action has made the conflation of reality and fiction a central feature of both U.S. foreign policy and American culture. Melley interweaves Cold War history with political theory and original readings of films, television dramas, and popular entertainments-from The Manchurian Candidate through 24-as well as influential writing by Margaret Atwood, Robert Coover, Don DeLillo, Joan Didion, E. L. Doctorow, Michael Herr, Denis Johnson, Norman Mailer, Tim O'Brien, and many others. 606 $aAmerican fiction$y20th century$xHistory and criticism 606 $aEspionage in literature 606 $aLiterature and history$zUnited States 606 $aNational security$xSocial aspects$zUnited States 606 $aPopular culture$xPolitical aspects$zUnited States$xHistory$y20th century 606 $aPopular culture$xPolitical aspects$zUnited States$xHistory$y21st century 606 $aSecrecy in literature 606 $aSpy stories, American$xHistory and criticism 606 $aTerrorism in literature 606 $aWorld politics in literature 615 0$aAmerican fiction$xHistory and criticism. 615 0$aEspionage in literature. 615 0$aLiterature and history 615 0$aNational security$xSocial aspects 615 0$aPopular culture$xPolitical aspects$xHistory 615 0$aPopular culture$xPolitical aspects$xHistory 615 0$aSecrecy in literature. 615 0$aSpy stories, American$xHistory and criticism. 615 0$aTerrorism in literature. 615 0$aWorld politics in literature. 676 $a813/.087209 700 $aMelley$b Timothy$f1963-$01537575 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910786363903321 996 $aThe covert sphere$93786955 997 $aUNINA