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Nora Fernandez Fernandez
On September 13 and 14, the Second Conference on "Letters and Spies" will take place on the Vicálvaro campus of the URJC. Its main objective is to publicize the espionage novel written in Spanish and contribute to the dissemination of "Intelligence culture".
The event, which will begin at 10:00 tomorrow, is organized by the Chair in Intelligence Services and Democratic Systems, with the collaboration of the Rey Juan Carlos University, the AEMSIE (Association of Former Members of the Spanish Intelligence Service) , the CNI (National Intelligence Center) and the Club Le Carré.
The full program of the meeting can be found at the following link: Letters and Spies Conference.
With these conferences, according to Fernando Velasco, organizer of the event and professor of Moral Philosophy at the URJC, "it is about getting closer to the world of Intelligence Services to see and discuss whether what is reflected in the so-called 'spy literature' is a faithful portrayal of the world of intelligence services or is it pure fantasy”.
“Although it is true that fiction is not the opposite of the truth, the problem may be that this fiction is superficial and bland,” Velasco comments. "Reality and fiction share in spy literature the narrative construction of the world of intelligence services, and the objective of these conferences is to see how this imaginary has been built in the novel."
The general approach is the following: “has spy literature been able to convert the information that exists about the intelligence services, the rumor mill that circulates, the topics that are projected, the experiences that the “substitutes” of spies tell, the information that leaks, etc. in knowledge about the intelligence services?, how to talk about what is secret?, can what 'spy literature' tells us be taken as reality? “, points out Fernando Velasco.
In short, during the event an attempt will be made to see if espionage literature captures that slippery reality that intelligence services are and how it manages or fails to do so through narrative.
As Fernando Velasco indicates, 'spy literature' “must continue to invite us to discover this world that is so interesting, exciting and necessary, such as that of intelligence services, for the defense of democracy”.
All this subject will be addressed during the conference thanks to the interventions of top-level writers and specialists, among whom are renowned professionals such as Vicente Vallés, director of the 21:3 p.m. News (AntenaXNUMX) and writer of spy novels, or Fátima Lianes , director of The Iraq 8.