Sea, sex, and spies: on Gérard de Villiers’ relations with the covert world

ABSTRACT This article is concerned with the links between intelligence professionals and spy novelists in France. It focuses on the prolific, popular pulp writer Gérard de Villiers, and his numerous links with intelligence services. The prominence and significance of these are often overshadowed by his racist and misogynistic writing, and the trashy quality of his books. This article documents the multifaceted relationships between Gérard de Villiers and the covert world, from long-lasting friendships between top intelligence officials and the writer, to de Villiers’ personal involvement in intelligence work as an honorable correspondant, for the SDECE and the DGSE.


Introduction
In February 2013, New York Times journalist Robert Worth dedicated a very long piece to a rather obscure spy novelist. 1His name?Gérard de Villiers.While certainly extremely famous to the French public -his trashy bestseller series SAS, which comprises 200 books, dominated the Francophone version of the genre since 1965 -he was less known internationally.Only a few books had been translated into English.And contrary to Ian Fleming's James Bond, SAS's protagonist, Malko Linge's adventures had rarely been adapted for the silver screen.Yet Gérard de Villiers managed to capture the attention of the famous American daily.Notwithstanding the relative obscurity of the novels to their regular readership, the series enjoyed exceptional longevity, and attracted a hugely diverse readership, right up to the very highest levels of government.
Often strongly condemned, due to their blatant racism, sexism and poor literary quality, SAS novels were extremely popular.At the height of the series, each volume would sell at 200,000 copies. 2 And given that Gérard de Villiers published between four to five volumes a year, total sales were absolutely staggering: at least 100 million copies sold worldwide. 3But more than this impressive mass of readers, the sociology of de Villiers' fandom is intriguing.Former French presidents, ministers, or top intelligence professionals have never hidden their taste for SAS novels, even when their political opinions did not exactly align with those of the novelist.The example of Hubert Védrine, member of the socialist party and former Minister of Foreign Affairs under Jacques Chirac, is undoubtedly one of the most striking.
How can we understand such success?Beyond the poor quality of the novels, which promises an easy, and (depending on one's taste) possibly an entertaining read, the high quality of the geopolitical intrigues is frequently offered as being a key factor.Gérard de Villiers was indeed considered one of the finest experts of international politics, and particularly of intelligence, a milieu he has always admired.Hidden somewhere between two absurdities thus lies the promise of a realistic narrative, which frequently anticipated reality.This capacity, this attraction, arguably, can be explained by the novelist's working methods, inherited from his journalistic past: extremely thorough preliminary research, one or more trips to the most remote and dangerous parts of the world, along with a network of informants that would be the envy of national intelligence services: arms dealers, warlords, politicians of all stripes, but also intelligence professionals, particularly on the French side, whom he counted among his dearest friends until his death.As such, Gérard de Villiers joins in his own way the pantheon of spies-turned-writers, who have had a first-hand experience of the world of intelligence, before devoting themselves to fiction. 4 Drawing on a wide variety of sources, including biographies, memoirs, press articles and interviews, this article will document the multifaceted relationships between Gérard de Villiers and the covert world, from his long-lasting friendships with top intelligence professionals, to de Villiers' sometimes more active role in the great game.It argues that, although certainly particular in some respect, Gérard de Villiers' trajectory constitutes yet another example of the numerous gateways between intelligence and entertainment that are present in most democratic societies.From the spyturned-writer to the writer-turned-spy, the network of connections between spies and professional entertainers is many-sided, thus, perhaps more frequently than generally acknowledged, increasingly blurring the line between fiction and reality. 5Only by grasping the scope of this 'intelligencecreator nexus' can we understand the importance of fiction for intelligence from a practical and theoretical perspective. 6he article will be structured as follows.The first section provides some general information about Gérard de Villiers' life, career, and political opinions.The second section dives into the SAS series, by locating it within the spy genre and giving a sense of its reception by the public and policymakers alike.The third section looks at de Villiers' connections with the secret world and the way they have impacted the perception of his novels.The last section looks at the way in which Gérard de Villiers has, throughout his life, lent a hand to French intelligence services as an informant, an honorable correspondent as well as a disinformation agent.

The man behind the legend
Gérard de Villiers could have been a character from one of his novels.Son of the famous playwright Jacques Deval, who was more interested in women than in the children born of his numerous conquests, de Villiers finds himself almost orphaned at birth.His mother, who did not know what to do with this child she had to bring up alone, would not officially recognize him until he turned three.Raised on a shoestring, with no support or contact with his father (he would not meet him until he was seventeen), de Villiers spent his teenage years in the town of Pau.His mother had taken refuge there at the beginning of the war, as the town was still in the Free Zone.They would remain in Pau after the war as she was convinced that a sizeable town would be good for the boy.It was there, however, that he was drawn into the orbit of the local thugs and their life of crime: he later explained that he had escaped a thug's destiny by a whisker. 7fter graduating from high school, he moved back to Paris at the turn of the 1950s, where he studied political science and journalism.Almost concurrently, De Villiers began his career as a freelance journalist in the newly founded far right and antisemitic newspaper Rivarol.In addition to dubious political opinions, personal ambition certainly played a role in this choice: such newspapers, often in their early stages, offered a golden bridge to determined, ambitious young people, and de Villiers was certainly one of them.He was then called up for military service in 1952 and joined the Armored and Cavalry Training School in Saumur, from which he graduated as a second lieutenant.Despite his training and strong political views about the French colonial empire, he never served in Algeria and would eventually go back to journalism. 8n addition to his contributions to Rivarol, from 1954 de Villiers published a few pieces in the pro French colonial empire publication Combattant d'Indochine.He then wrote a series of articles for the weekly magazine Paris Presse, in which he defended France's continued hold over Tunisia.This lengthy plea, based on a very long field trip, led him to being spotted by France Dimanche's new director, the most successful tabloid at the time.De Villiers worked at France Dimanche from 1955 to 1965, alongside a not insubstantial number of colleagues nostalgic for the Vichy regime.9 His particularly aggressive methods quickly made his reputation.So much so that his former colleague at France Dimance, Hugues Vassal, described him as a 'kamikaze' who 'who would have killed father and mother for a scoop' and who 'went out to report like a bank robber'.10 Even after becoming a full-time writer, he maintained links with the very right-wing press, penning regular columns on geopolitics or national security for the ultra-conservative news website Atlantico.
It took the publication and huge success of his first novel in 1965, SAS in Istanbul, to shape de Villiers into the personality popularly remembered today.His novels brought him fame, extreme wealth, and an extravagant lifestyle: a huge house on Avenue Foch in the very chic 8th arrondissement of Paris, a butler, the most expensive cars, hotels, and restaurants.Always keen to maintain his lavish routine, he even tried his hands at business a few times, often flirting with illegality.Several trials later, notably for tax fraud, the bestselling author died in 2013, evidently ruined, and leaving in his wake a trail of affairs and indiscretions.
This picture would not be complete without mentioning his numerous and tumultuous relationships with women, who grew younger as the novelist aged.Married four times, father of two children, he has never hidden his taste for 'beautiful' women or extramarital affairs.As he stated very bluntly to the New York Times, 'I've had a lot of sex in my life', before continuing 'That's why I have so much trouble with wives.In America they would say I am a "womanizer" '. 11 This provocative attitude echoes the omnipresence of sex in his novels, along with the appalling way women are constantly objectified, hypersexualized, brutalized, if not raped.
To this misogyny, add xenophobia, which is a consistent feature of his work.Gérard de Villiers was indeed regularly accused of racism in his writings, both journalistic and fictional.Reading his novels leaves, indeed, little room for doubt.Absolute contempt for local populations mingles with the most offensive language describing local customs or habits.The man, who described himself as having, a 'right-wing tropism', never concealed his nostalgia for the colonial empire. 12When asked about shocking passages in his memoirs: 'You know, colonialism wasn't all bad, it's just the way it is ' . 13Outrageous statements were commonplace for de Villiers, but they also went hand in hand with unsavory friendships.It is no secret that Jean-Marie Le Pen, the former president of the French Front National (FN), were among his closest friends.Le Pen's daughter, Marine, who is one of the most popular representatives of far-right politics in today's France, leading the successor to the FN, the Rassemblement National, also attended de Villiers' funeral in 2013.But so did a range of former presidents and civil servants, not all of whom shared the same political inclination, such as former President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. 14hen questioned about his political views, de Villiers always used the same line of defense: his praise for liberalism and detestation of communism.In the first episode of the renowned talkshow 'Droits de réponse', broadcasted on France 2 on 12 December 1981, de Villiers justified himself as follows: 'First of all I'm not a Nazi.I'm not a fascist either, I'm a liberal, which means I don't like communists.So obviously now it's frowned upon'. 15His response should be seen in the context of the recent election of François Mitterrand, France's first socialist president.But his views remained controversial, and despite his efforts to dispel them they were to dog him for the rest of his life.A few months before his death, de Villiers gave another interview to the weekly magazine Jeune Afrique in which he reiterated the same ideas: 'Politically, I am resolutely on the right, liberal, anti-communist, anti-Islamist, anti-communitarian, anti-socialist, and that's about it!I've been accused of racism, but it's not true, I love Africa.In fact, I'm welcomed there with open arms, and my books sell like hotcakes'. 16Although this political stance, typical of the unabashedly far-right Poujadism, is particularly nauseating, there can be no denying the broad appeal of his novels, his success, or that they merit study as particularly significant examples of the genre outside the Anglosphere.It is to these issues, the novels, and their success, that this article now turns.

The SAS series and the spy genre
With more than 100 million copies sold worldwide, novels rather journalism are really what made de Villiers famous.Between the 1970s and the 1990s, generally considered to be the golden age of the SAS series, de Villiers sold about 500 000 copies per year.This roaring success occurred at a particular point in the history of publishing espionage fiction.SAS was created in 1965, at the invitation of Philippe Daudy, then literary director at the renowned publishing house Plon. 17audy was looking for a replacement for James Bond.Ian Fleming had died prematurely the previous year, just as the film adaptation of Goldfinger (1964) had made espionage the king of popular fiction.Concurrently, Plon had been in competition with two publishing houses that specialized in popular fiction, and particularly espionage fiction, Fleuve Noir and Presses de la Cité.Their flagship collections, such as 'Coplan' ran by Paul Kenny at Fleuve Noir, and 'OSS 177' ran by Jean and Josette Bruce at Presses de la Cité, had a print run of over 200,000 copies.And while the accidental death of OSS' creator, Jean Bruce in March 1963, did not sign the end of the series (quite the opposite) it surely left a void in the literary landscape that Gérard de Villiers would attempt to fill in his own way. 18ll SAS novels are centered on a fictitious Austrian Prince called Malko Linge, his 'Serene Highness' (Son Altesse Sérénissime), a reined Alpha male, who carries out missions around the world for the CIA to finance repairs in his castle in Austria.Malko is tall and blond, he wears alpaca suits, carries an extra-flat gun, and is highly intelligent.He speaks several languages and is gifted with an extraordinary memory, as highlighted in the first novels.An original synthesis between the hero of reason and the henchman, Malko does not particularly like getting his hands soiled: he often relies on third parties to do the dirty work.
Malko's relationship with women is complicated, to say the least.He is engaged to the 'very luscious' Alexandra Vogel, but this 'natural seducer' remains a free spirit who frequently finds time for sex during his espionage missions.This is often violent and not necessarily consensual, this even to the point of murdering his victims after his desires have been satisfied, should this be necessary. 19he various intercourses of this 'womanizer' (others would say 'predator') are always described in very crude terms. 20Such language adds to the pulp and trashy dimension of the novels, setting the SAS series apart from competing ones, such as OSS, which are considered rather 'restricted in terms of eroticism' in comparison. 21This overrepresentation of sex, has often been seen as a kind of extension of the author's real life and provocative side, though he denied it: when questioned about Malko's sexuality, de Villiers simply noted that it is 'fulfilled'. 22But the frequency and depiction of sex in the novels clearly also serves an agenda, even a political purpose, and very much at the expense of women.
Malko's political views are unclear, but they are very conservative, to say the least.Standing up to the Left and the hypocrisy of 'the Good it supposedly embodies', Malko embodies 'a form of freedom, liberalism, the fight for liberty, for the right to do what you want'. 23While his creator explains that he has changed over time, Malko appears to be the archetype of the fascist, racist and sexist hero. 24He is opposed to denazification and pays his respects to the body of a Nazi who stole his identity in Samba for SAS (1966). 25His surname is, after all, curiously reminiscent of Heinz Linge, a German SS officer and Hitler's valet.Malko is also opposed to decolonization.To this add a pattern of using shocking, racist language -the N-word appears on several occasions, especially in the first novels.Although he is a mercenary, he works for the CIA out of conviction, not out of love for the Americans -he is even rather critical of them -but because of his detestation of everything 'red'.Cold War novels see him opposing the KGB and Communists around the world, sometimes motivated by very personal drives: 'he [Malko] hated everything Communist because the Russians had annexed his castle park, driving the Iron Curtain through it'. 26His foes develop in the more recent novels, from the 1990s or the 2000s.Mirroring the evolving security challenges of the time, Russia is demoted, and Malko is repeatedly called upon to fight radical Islam, particularly that of Al-Qaeda.This 'obscurantist' threat, which does not eliminate the one posed by post-Soviet Russia, is, in de Villiers' words, the ultimate manifestation of the 'clash of civilizations' opposing 'Islam and Christian civilization'. 27ollowing the success of the first novel in 1965, SAS in Istanbul, de Villiers would publish at the frenetic pace of four to five novels per year.Contrary to popular belief, he wrote all his two hundred novels alone, until his death in 2013, with the sole help of his secretary who sometimes assisted in typing handwritten notes.To meet his tight deadlines, de Villiers worked like clockwork.He started with a preliminary research phase of two to three weeks, during which he would do readings or meetings with people.He would then go on research trips, a crucial step from which he would not waver until his death.His preference was to stay in the finest hotels, but sometimes he would brave rather harsh conditions in the most dangerous corners of the world.In 2011, De Villiers did not hesitate to go to the Pakistani tribal areas with his walker, after an accident that left him partially paralyzed.Finally, he would write the first draft of each series in three to four weeks.Once the text was finished, he also supervised the brand design of each book, always, of course, attending the infamous photo shoot that would be used for the cover of each book: a hyper-sexualized woman in a lascivious pause, armed with a weapon of various sizes.A particularly scandalous and kitsch aesthetic choice that de Villiers justifies as follows: 'It's true that a beautiful woman is more eyecatching than an ugly one, than a tuna'. 28hen asked about possible inspirations for his character, de Villiers explained that Malko is the result of a collage between three real people: a head of mission from the SDECE (Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage, the forerunner of the DGSE), a German baron who had a castle in Swabia, and an Austrian arms dealer called Ottenbach. 29hether true or not, such information inscribes Malko and the entire SAS series in a regime of pseudo-factuality, one where real information and fantastical elements are constantly interacting and melded.This hybridization of an apparent reality and a fantastical dimension, which is also that of the entire espionage genre, would become SAS' trademark. 30While on missions, Prince Malko saves or crosses paths with a wide variety of real people, including Henry Kissinger, the Shah of Iran, the King of Jordan, Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela.Real-life geopolitical events also provide a constant backdrop to the hero's adventures: Pinochet's coup in Chile, the Yugoslav wars and their aftermath, or the global War on Terror. 31This constant invocation of reality gives the SAS series a 'realistic' dimension despite its classic airport novels feel. 32It also establishes a particularly catchy reading pact by inviting readers to distinguish truth from falsehood.
Indeed, the mythology of the SAS series is derived from its curious blend of outrageousness, real people in fictional circumstances, and, also, its accuracy regarding geopolitics.Nonsense notwithstanding, they are well researched.Often de Villiers' ability to render reality is attributed to his talent as a reporter.But whatever its origin each of his book was the work of thorough preparation.In his fascinating work on de Villiers' archive boxes, literary scholar Matthieu Letourneux sheds light on the SAS creation process: Each preparatory file was kept in a standardized archive box.These boxes were stored on shelves in the same room in Gérard de Villiers' flat, arranged in the order in which the books were published.(. ..) Inch file, we find a largely reworked version of the manuscript, as well as documentation, including press cuttings, handwritten notes, maps, plans, memos, and leaflets.33 Letourneux's analysis also confirms the solid documentation work carried out before writing, as well as the importance of the author's trip to future action sites: The systematic presence of city maps, often printed in the country visited, hotel prospectuses, restaurant bills and tourist brochures show that the author is preparing his expedition on the ground.There are also signs that the trip was far from strictly professional. 34his attention to detail, is part of a reading pact in which the author becomes just as much a spy as his hero, reinforcing the readers' impression of glimpsing the world from a point of view that is usually forbidden or reserved to a very small élite.
More than an arbitrary choice, this realism of the SAS series -in the sense of a literary technique -can also be explained by the conventions of the spy genre.As Matthieu Letourneux argues: This concern for realism was linked to the fact that the series was part of a genre whose conventions had been defined by others before it (Claude Rank and Paul Kenny, rather than Jean Bruce and Ian Fleming).From the 1950s onwards, the vogue for the spy novel (which became one of the main popular genres in the 1960s) was largely based on its ability to describe a disturbing geopolitical reality in a realistic way. 35 this way, de Villiers joins a certain tradition of the spy novel which, despite the presence of phantasmagorical elements, never completely dispenses with reality.
Another quality of the SAS novels, also found in many spy thrillers, is their ability to anticipate real world events.As former foreign minister Hubert Védrine explains, the SAS novels 'were in tune with current events or even ahead of them!' 36 For instance, in Le Complot du Caire published on 1 January 1981, de Villiers foresees Sadat's assassination nine months before it happened on 1 October 1981.Similarly, in Putsch à Ougadougou (1984), de Villiers anticipates Sankara's downfall three years before it occurs.Conversely, Admiral Pierre Lacoste revealed in his memoirs how a de Villiers' novel had helped decision-makers to highlight weaknesses in the Ariane aerospace rocket program in French Guiana, leading to a change in safety protocols. 37Thus, the author contributed (probably, this time, in spite of himself) to reinforcing the security of one of France's most secret operations.
As his friends Jean-Louis Gergorin, former head of the Centre for Analysis and Prevention at the Foreign Office, and Renaud Girard, a journalist, declared: 'He's got an incredible intuition.He predicts events three months in advance'. 38An ability to foresee the future that has earned him the admiration of strategic foresight professionals.For instance, Jean-Louis Gergorin, explains that he uses de Villiers' books when teaching strategy: A report, to be credible, must avoid the administrative reading grid, challenge conventional thinking, cross its sources, have different points of view, to offer a global vision to the decision-maker.This is exactly what he [de Villiers] does in his books.I recommend reading them in my seminar on strategy at Sciences Po. 39 That one of the most senior figures in strategic anticipation should use the sulphureous SAS novels in his seminars, and moreover at one of France's most prestigious universities, is something of a surprise.But it says something about de Villiers' importance in the French cultural and political landscape, as well offering an interesting insight into the variety of unsuspected resources sometimes used in the field of strategic anticipation. 40Clearly, de Villiers' work transcended the fictional space.Its pre-eminent position in the French psyche can also be measured in terms of the breadth and seniority of his readership.Besides his traditional audience, which consists mainly of executives under forty, 35 per cent of whom were women, 41 de Villiers was a big hit with civil servants, politicians, and statesmen.According to former foreign minister Hubert Védrine: Gérard de Villiers was certainly read by his friends in the Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE), who must have loved deciphering the keys to the SAS and recognizing characters in them, by the military, also by people in the field, and even by members of NGOs, although they rejected the man because he was a scandal for the modern humanitarian and right-thinking mindset. 42 de Villiers told the New York Times, 'Chirac used to read me.Giscard read me, too'. 43One can imagine the temptation to show off to an American reporter, but Giscard's notable presence at de Villiers' funeral seems to confirm his claims.As Hubert Védrine summarised it 'The French elite pretend not to read him, but they all do'. 44The former foreign minister is one of the few that has never hidden his taste for the SAS series.In the special issue of La Revue des Deux Mondes devoted to de Villiers after his death, Védrine explains: I enjoyed his well-crafted stories, his effective writing, his geopolitical intrigues (. ..), with constant plot twists and even, in the last few years, second thoughts within the 'services' (. ..), less and less 'tropical sluts', more and more intelligent, cerebral, and manipulative women. 45drine even invited de Villiers at the Ministry for lunch while he was still in office, much to the surprise of the novelist himself, 'especially because Védrine is a leftist, and I am not at all'.46 As Védrine explained: He [de Villiers] was proud of it.No minister or official in office had ever reached out to him (except perhaps the DGSE?), including on the right.At the time he was much less 'reactionary' than when he started out.(. ..) I ted to meet him to find out about his sources and his methods.47 A few months earlier, the former minister had justified his gesture by saying that 'I wanted to talk, because I've found out you [de Villiers] and I have the same sources'. 48Gérard de Villiers was indeed one of the best-informed novelists on the French literary scene.His incredible network of informants and relations, including with the covert world, contributed both to his skill in reflecting and anticipating reality, and to his capacity to publish so much so quickly.This will be the focus of the next section.

De Villiers' relations with the covert world
To say that Gérard de Villiers was very well informed is almost a cliché given the way his connections to secret services around the world are an integral part of the SAS myth.The sci-fi novelist Serge Brussolo, who worked with de Villiers on several occasions, sums it up very well: I won't go back on 'the best-informed man in the world'.It was true.When we worked with him, we were told 'Be careful!From now on you'll hear things that you should never repeat'.It was not far from James Bond's famous 'For your eyes only'. 49et, trying to make sense of his connections with the covert world is no easy task.While the novelist has made little secret of his privileged access, very few information is available regarding the exact nature of these links.Most of those involved are now dead, and French intelligence services are famously opaque. 50However, through careful scrutiny of many biographies, memoirs, press articles and interviews, it is possible to gain an insight into Gérard de Villiers' relations with French and foreign intelligence services.
To reconstruct the links between Gérard de Villiers and the French intelligence services requires to first delve into the history of the infamous SDECE, an organization synonymous with secrecy, covert actions, and dirty tricks. 51It was in 1978, in Zaire, during one of his research trips, that de Villiers met a certain 'Lionel', at the Intercontinental bar in Kinshasa.Nothing is known about exactly what de Villiers knew about Lionel's activities and employment before the meeting.But he was in fact an officer within the SDECE's clandestine paramilitary unit, the notorious Action Service (Service Action), and the two quickly became friends.So much so that 'Lionel', whose real name was Ivan de Lignières, introduced de Villiers to two of the SDECE's key figures, Philippe Rondot, then an Action Service officer operating under the pseudonym 'Max', and Alexandre de Marenches, the legendary SDECE's director.In turn, friendships were rapidly forged between the novelist and intelligence professionals, and other key personalities would gradually join the list of de Villiers' friends or acquaintances, including: SDECE's Action Service director Alain Gaigneron de Marolles; INTERPOL's first French director Ivan Barbot; and the first director of the newly created DGSE, Admiral Pierre Lacoste, 'with whom [he dined] at his home on the eve of his resignation during the Greenpeace affair'. 52ne can easily see in these interactions the continuity of an urban form of socialization, where political, social, and intellectual élites mingle at social dinners.But the relationship that links the novelist to all these intelligence figures seems to go well beyond mere worldliness: many described the novelist as a 'friend'.Nevertheless, friendships generally did not lead to indiscretion.Whilst the many intelligence professionals with whom he dined and liaised may have shared ample contextual elements with the journalist-turned-novelist, it is difficult to imagine them offering detailed operational information.Indeed, de Villiers emphasizes the professionalism of his contacts in his memoirs, protecting them, stressing that 'No spy has ever told me a secret'. 53his relationship of trust was no doubt facilitated by de Villiers' immense respect for the profession, as well as his self-imposed rule in his writing: to never speak of French intelligence in his novels, and to always adopt an international perspective that would justify the involvement of the CIA and its hero contractor.He explains: 'I've never said anything I shouldn't have said.That's been my rule of thumb for forty years and my mates know it'. 54And to continue: I always try to tell a story that everyone has already heard of, like the polonium affair or the North Korean nuclear test.Besides, it must have international implications for the US, and therefore the CIA, to be involved.As a result, there are some great stories, like the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka or the Basque ETA, that I would never use for a novel because they don't really have international implications. 55Among his illustrious contacts, his lifelong friendship with Philippe Rondot stands out.Rondot even inspired one of the SAS novels, Le Dossier K, published in 2007.In 2005, shortly before his retirement, Rondot coordinated within the French Ministry of Defense the hunt for Radovan Karadzic, 'K', the infamous president of the so-called Serbian republic of Bosnia, accused of ethnic cleansing and genocide, most notably for his key role in the Srebrenica massacre. 56Always looking for inspiration for his next book, Gérard de Villiers explains that 'Philippe [Rondot] gave me contacts, told me things and I got back on the trail'. 57He started with with the trail leading to an Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos, in Greece.There former Serbian war criminal sought refuge for a time; de Villiers immediately sought inspiration.Rondot would not deny prompting de Villiers' enquiries, and they remained close.Hounded by journalists during the Clearstream affair, Philippe Rondot took refuge at Gérard de Villiers' home. 58And breaking the generally held rule of silence concerning the relationship between an intelligence officer and his contacts, 59 Rondot paid tribute to his novelist friend after his death (though, in so doing, taking care to distance himself from the novelist's political opinions that he always considered 'extreme'). 60érard de Villiers' connections with the covert world also include numerous foreign intelligence agencies, starting with the Americans.According to his friend Patrick Chauvel, the war photographer, whom de Villiers joined in 1980 in an El Salvador turned upside down after the start of the civil war a year earlier: 'He [de Villiers] stunned me.In El Salvador, nobody knew the guy from the CIA.He was eating with him at noon'. 61Such incredible access was also confirmed by Robert Worth in his New York Times piece, who recalls the unfortunate time de Villiers used the real name of the CIA station chief in Mauritania in one of his novels.Weakened by a dramatic car accident that had almost cost him his life, de Villiers forgot to change it in the manuscript.And it was not just Langley's representatives in El Salvador or Mauritania with whom de Villiers consorted, as Worth went on to note: 'In the United States, I spoke to a former CIA operative who has known de Villiers for decades.'I recommend to our analysts to read his books, because there's a lot of real information in there', he told me.He's tuned into all the security services, and he knows all the players'. 62he 'players' he knew were everywhere.While his friends certainly opened many doors for him, the novelist also developed his own network of intelligence practitioners.In Soviet-occupied Afghanistan, de Villiers reportedly managed to meet the head of the intelligence services in Kabul.In Colombia, his fixer recounts that the novelist arrived at the headquarters of the services asking to meet the director whose name, undoubtedly one of the country's best-kept secrets, he already knew.The Colombians refused, astonished by the aplomb and knowledge of this French writer. 63ccording to Alla Shevelkina, a journalist who has worked as a fixer for de Villiers on several of his Russian trips, 'De Villiers has had close friends in Russian intelligence over the years.He gets interviews that no one else gets -not journalists, no one.The people that don't talk, talk to him'. 64All these encounters subsequently fed into his novels.Like this Colombian intelligence official, who became the villain in one of his books.Or this Swiss diplomat based in Islamabad, easily identifiable because of a problem with his eye -in real life as in the novel, and whose wife of Rwandan origin, whom de Villiers has met during his visit in Pakistan, later falls victim to Malko Linge's charms. 65One might understand, henceforth, why the release of each new book represented an event for the intelligence milieu, curious to guess who would make it to the pages, to see their secret work immortalised for the masses in print.
Two possible hypotheses can be put forward to understand the willingness of spies throughout the world to open their doors to the novelist.The first one, suggested by the author himself, is political: the use of de Villiers by intelligence services throughout the world to obtain, leak or manipulate information.On the one hand, this allows the novelist to feed his creative process: 'To write my books, I need to rub shoulders with the world of intelligence.I see a lot of people in a private capacity'. 66On the other hand, services around the world are trying to take advantage of the novelist, using him as an informant or a whistle-blower.As the novelist explained in the New York Times, 'They always have a motive.(. ..)They want the information to go out.And they know a lot of people read my books, all the intelligence agencies'. 67This very utilitarian vision, in which the novelist willingly accepts to be instrumentalized in exchange of useful information or tips, recalls the special relationship between journalists and national security professionals described by some scholars: a mutually beneficial instrumentalization that contributes, ultimately, to an informal form of oversight. 68ut the potential gains for intelligence agencies go far beyond strategic leaking.While intelligence professionals first lose control over what this piece of information becomes in an SAS novel, or the way it will be perceived or interpreted by readers, they eventually regain control of their public image.By openly interacting with popular novelists such as de Villiers, intelligence agencies project an image of hipness and openness, enhancing their credibility in democracies.The details of such interactions do not even need to be known by the public: the secrecy surrounding them often gives rise to powerful fantasies regarding the secret knowledge potentially accessible in simple novels.By putting forward his special relationship with the secret world, the novelist thus boosts his credibility as an author 'in the know' and the alleged authenticity of his books.This quest for authenticity is precisely how de Villiers justifies his interactions with the secret world: With them [spies], I nevertheless learned their language, their codes, their habits, everything that constitutes an environment.Each milieu has its particularities.If I had to write a book on monks, I would go to a monastery.By rubbing shoulders with spies, I immerse myself in a culture that I try to restore in my books.The stamp of authenticity.Readers feel very well what is true.Even those who are light years away from this universe. 69 associating with spies, de Villiers seeks to achieve what might be called a realism of atmosphere, an intention that places his work in the continuity of the great realist tradition of the nineteenth and twentieth century, which seeks to recreate a milieu as accurately as possible. 70So access and cultivation becomes authenticity, which, in turn, becomes a powerful marketing argument, one that largely contributed to the popular and commercial success of de Villiers' novels over the years.
The second explanation for this paradoxical inclination of secrecy professionals to speak to the novelist is more sociological, and relates to the 'secret' nature of intelligence.For those who have kept secrets all their lives, confiding to a fiction writer, and a well-known one on top of it, represents a welcome form of therapy, which arises from the tension between the professional constraint of discretion and the very human yearning for recognition, primarily by others, but also by oneself.Such need, which echoes the dynamic of the spy-turned-writer, who also seeks a certain form of 'recognition' in writing, is further reinforced by two elements. 71On the one hand, many national security professionals have already achieved fame through fiction, by using their experience to write or consult with the entertainment world.On the other hand, this engagement with a novelist does not necessarily contradict spies' professional ethics.Contrary to journalism, which seeks to unearth the truth, a novel establishes a certain distance with reality.As such, fiction seems rather inoffensive, even though it can have just as much impact on reality as non-fiction.
Furthermore, recognition is also preponderant in the relationship that de Villiers developed with professional spies.In numerous instances, the novelist is also recognised (in the sense of identification this time) by intelligence professionals as one of them.His life-long friend, the former counter-terrorism judge, Jean-Louis Bruguière, witnessed this first-hand: He had established an exceptional relationship of trust with foreign intelligence services.But it is impossible if you are not a veteran yourself.He had succeeded, and it snowballed.He knew the rules and respected them, that's why he had such an impressive network.They knew that he would reveal only what had to be revealed. 72 a world where suspicion and mistrust are paramount, Gérard de Villiers struck an extremely fine balance: to be trusted by a range of rival players.But if spies around the world recognised a certain professional ethics in de Villiers, it may also be because the novelist has been more than just a passive consumer of information.

The writer-turned-spy
It is no secret that Gérard de Villiers was more than just a well-connected novelist.Even SDECE's former director, Alexandre de Marenches, never hid this fact: 'Gérard de Villiers has always been an excellent HC [honorable correspondant], he has done us great service'. 73According to official terminology, an 'honorable correspondant' is 'a person who does not belong to an intelligence service, but who renders occasional services to it free of charge [or not . ..] by transmitting information, facilitating discreet access to certain places, providing various logistical services, all this on national soil or abroad'. 74His old friend, the journalist and TV presenter Philippe Bouvard, confirmed de Villiers' status with the following anecdote: I was good friend with Alexandre de Marenches under Giscard.One day, he invited me to the 'Swimming pool' [one of the SDECE's/DGSE's nicknames].There was a large room with a planisphere spiked with little flags that represented all honourable correspondents.He [Alexandre de Marenches] spoke of Gérard as someone who would bring him back information after each trip.Gérard didn't hide it, not from me anyway.I spoke to him about it.He was quite proud to have a place in an official organisation chart.Very early on, he was obliged to forge privileged links with French embassies abroad to be able to move around and get accredited.I think he was told that in return he would have to provide some information. 75is amounted to an exchange of courtesies that greatly facilitated the novelist's career.Considering the incredibly perilous travels de Villiers often undertook, along with his unprecedented list of contacts in official or criminal circles, the value of such an asset is clearly significant.For the novelist did not just rub shoulders with intelligence professionals from around the world, he also built up an impressive network of contacts with warlords, arms dealers, and politicians of all stripes, in some of the most dangerous places on the planet.As his friend Philippe Rondot explains full of admiration, 'this man with physical courage on the verge of unconsciousness, whom I often asked information because he was going to countries that were difficult to access and which interested me'.In turn, this information was often very useful to the veteran-spy, as he recalled: 'He helped me quite effectively [during my time at the DST and COS]. 76Through his contacts, his understanding of situations, his precise descriptions of different terrains, he avoided a few pitfalls and a few hazardous encounters for me'. 77And all this, Rondot underlined, for practically no tangible compensation: 'I never spoke to him about my activities.And he never asked for money or decorations.Nothing!He only wanted to get a sense of what it was like, of the atmosphere'. 78xamples of 'services' that de Villiers' rendered to French intelligence can also be found in his career before he became a novelist.In 1954, just as de Villiers was about to leave for Tunisia to write his long plea for the French protectorate, Colonel Lemire, a high-ranking officer whom he met at the Ministry of Defence, suggested the following: 'We know that some colonisers are very hostile to the end of the protectorate.We'd like to know how to convince them.Can you try to get in touch with them?You will take their identity and pass it on to the person I will appoint for you in Tunis'. 79Although he himself was hostile to the end of the protectorate, he complied.In his memoirs, the journalist-writer recounts how he ended up meeting certain members of a group known as the 'Red Hand', and how he passed on their names to his contact in Tunis so that they could be 'eliminated'. 80Such an episode is telling, both for underlining his penchant for danger, but also because of what it underlines about his conviction that intelligence methods, the kinds of operations practices by the SDECE or DGSE and others was an honourable and necessary profession, and one with which he identified.He later dwelt on this point, stressing the honour of intelligence work: I believe that 'renseignement', what we call intelligence in English, is the most. . .intelligent form of warfare.It's less brutal, much more subtle, and involves much more interesting mechanisms.(. ..)You shouldn't hesitate to do things that are against the law or even morality.Like killing people, staging coups, doing vicious things.(. ..)The great spies are all nationalists, people who love their country.These are people who don't mind having a double or triple life.They don't mind not telling their friends, their wives, what they're doing, and so on.And they're all deeply honest people, with great rectitude of mind.They are brave people, they are selfless people.It's a job I would have been very happy to take on. 81s enthusiasm for his work as an HC should, in view of his beliefs, not be surprising.
As well as joining the long list of writers or cultural figures who have acted as informants, Gérard de Villiers is also said to have contributed to disinformation operations. 82According to Michel Roussin, Alexandre de Marenches' former Chief of Staff, 'De Villiers' case officer was Colonel de Lignières.The SDECE used SAS novels to spread disinformation, it was fashionable at the time.Through him, messages were passed on.Marenches [SDECE's director] loved it'. 83In the absence of access to the SDECE's or the DGSE's archives, it is difficult to substantiate such a remark.It does, however, contribute to the hypothesis of a more substantial involvement of the author in the world of secrecy, whether unwittingly or not.
Such connections with the real world of intelligence inevitably have certain effects.On the SAS novels first, which despite their dubious political tone and poor literary quality, are thus catapulted into an intermediate zone between fiction and reality. 84Hidden somewhere between the novelist's trashy lines, the possibility of true information emerges, just like the possibility of having in your hands something more than a pulp novel.Conversely, public perceptions of intelligence services are also changed.If we imagine a certain reputational gain, especially for French intelligence services, who are thus adorned with a cooler image, the opposite may also be true.To partner with sulphureous writers like Gérard de Villiers can indeed contribute to reinforcing the very image they want to change: that of anti-democratic propagandists, who are not only conservative, but also misogynistic and racist.
If Gérard de Villiers appears more like an exception at first, his involvement with the secret world seems less of an anomaly considering the history of the spy genre.De Villiers trod in the footprints of Somerset Maugham, Graham Greene, Pierre Nord, Ian Fleming, John le Carré, Len Deighton: all writers who have had a (sometimes brief) career in intelligence before taking up the pen.Such people comprise a good part of the pantheon of spy novelists.This tradition continues to this day, as examples of former professionals turned writers or consultants for the entertainment industry, have multiplied: Jason Matthews; Joe Weisberg; Jonna & Tony Mendez; John Sipher; Stella Rimington.For professionals who have kept secrets all their lives, to reinvent oneself in the entertainment world promises many benefits from a legal, financial, and symbolic standpoint.Interestingly though, entertainers have also constituted valuable resources for the intelligence world as informants, propagandists, or more recently, as resources for strategic anticipation, such people include Tom Clancy, Howard Gordon, and Eric Rochant.It is to this second category that Gérard de Villiers belongs, making him yet another emanation of the 'intelligence-creator nexus', characteristic of the genre, and the visibility of intelligence in the public sphere.Only by grasping the scope of this nexus do we understand the importance of fiction for intelligence from a practical and theoretical perspective.

Conclusion
Adulated by some and despised by others, Gérard de Villiers is an extremely divisive figure in France.Far from his British rivals, rather known for their phlegmatic or reserved writing, de Villiers has made a name for himself with a series of trashy pulp novels, in the image of a man who lived a ridiculously lavish life.Yet, whatever one thinks of the SAS series, it has definitely placed France on the map of espionage fiction.
In addition to the accessibility of his novels, and the publication logic of the time, another important element explains the success of the series: the author's proximity to the world of intelligence.Despite their dubious political tone or poor literary quality, the possibility of glimpsing an otherwise forbidden world emerges, hidden somewhere between the novelist's lines.A fantasy even more nourished by the realism of his novels.More than duplicating a certain geopolitical reality, they have often, to the great astonishment of political and security professionals, anticipated it, thus contributing to the myth of the best-informed novelist in the world.
A closer look at Gérard de Villiers' life, however, reveals that he did not just frequent the intelligence milieu to draw inspiration from it: on numerous occasions he did not hesitate to take part in the great game.While we now know that he was a valuable informant for French intelligence, proudly wearing his honorable correspondant's cap, his role as a disinformation agent remains more uncertain.Regardless of the specifics, his involvement in the world of intelligence makes him yet another example of the numerous links that unite two universes with seemingly opposing rationales: that of the shadows and anonymity on the one hand, and that of the light and celebrity on the other.The spy-turned-writer to the writer-turned-spy could exist in both, trading in real secrets whilst selling books feted for their authenticity by the thousand and yet compromising neither.Perhaps this was possible because his belief in the honour of intelligence work was a constant, and this made him an attractive conduit for those firmly entrenched in the secret world, unable to publicize their secrets but rather keen on hinting at their cunning.The novel offered everyone a winning proposition in this situation.If spying is a matter of discretion, rather than invisibility, what better place to hide than in plain sight?
74.Moutouh& Poirot, Dictionnaire du renseignement, 451-3.75.Philippe Bouvard in Franquebalme, Gérard de Villiers, 136.76.The acronym 'DST' refers to the Direction de la Sécurité et du Territoire (Directorate of Territorial Surveillance), which is one of the two domestic intelligence services in France, created in 1944 and dissolved in 2008.The 'COS' refers to the Commandement des Opérations Spéciales, or Special Operations Command, which oversees the various special forces in the French army, Air, Navy and Space force.77.See Note 60 above.78.Ibid.79.Franquebalme, Gérard de Villierse, 42. 80. De Villiers, Sabre au clair et pied au Plancher, 829.81.Franquebalme, Gérard de Villiers, 137.82.On the role of writers, see Smith, British Writers and MI5 Surveillance.On the more generic topic of the cultural Cold War, see Saunders, Who paid the pipers?; Wilford, The Mighty Wurlitzer; and Willmetts, In Secrecy's Shadow.For the post-Cold War period, see also Jenkins, The CIA in Hollywood.83.Franquebalme, Gérard de Villiers, 136.84.On the fragile boundary between fact and fiction, see McCrisken and Moran, "James Bond'; Willmetts, "Reconceiving Realism."