AN OFFICER AND A SPY – ROBERT HARRIS

SUMMARY WRITTEN BY-SURYA PRAKASH PATTANAYAK

This novel was written by Robert Harris. It has won the Walter Scott Prize and the American Library in Paris Book Award in 2014. And a French feature film is being made on the same storyline and having the same title by director Roman Polanski and produced by Alain Goldman.

Georges Picquart is the narrator of Harris’s fiction, which, as he writes in his note, “aims to use the techniques of a novel to retell the true story of the Dreyfus affair, perhaps the greatest political scandal and miscarriage of justice in history”.

The Franco-Prussian conflict had resulted in mortification for France; Paris fell in 1871, and the territories of Alsace and Lorraine were captured by Germany. Over the following decades, many French officials and elites were convicted of spying and espionage for the enemies, especially Germans. Then, in 1894, came the news of the arrest of Alfred Dreyfus, a captain in the French artillery division. Dreyfus was Jewish by religion; his ancestors ware from Alsace. He was accused of passing secret information to the Germans. He was convicted, “degraded” – stripped of his rank and position, his rank sword was broken in two before the army’s massed ranks – and sent to solitary confinement on Devil’s Island. In the meantime, Georges Picquart was positioned at the topnotch position of the French military intelligence service at a secret location.

Initially, Picquart had hatred and revengeful opinions regarding Dreyfus. Picquart doesn’t approve of the ritual ‘degradation’ of the ceremony, but at this early point, he is utterly certain of Dreyfus’s guilt. But later on, this man becomes the mastermind in the investigation of Dreyfus’s case and which will lead to the real culprit and reinstatement of Dreyfus.

As the story proceeds Picquart working environment was full of chaos and confusion and equally complicated. But his expert instinct for management solves all the problems. A minor investigation by Piquart of his predecessor officer Esterhazy, in the backwater of Rouen, shows links with German embassy diplomats. On further inquiry, he ends up with dept ridden finances of Esterhazy. His suspicion confirms as he gets clues regarding the regular timed drop of drafts and its contents. Now slowly Piquart who used to be an intelligence officer completely turned into an undercover agent. He starts vigilance and procedure for picking pieces of evidence and other tactics to reach the snooping base of the German base. 

As time goes by Piquart goes by new incites by Dreyfus his investigation added up heavenly censored, undelivered letters Dreyfus to his wife. Though his initial skepticism towards Dreyfus and prisoner’s denial he slowly develops a soft corner for the prisoner.

After sometime Piquart gets some irrefutable and undeniable evidence against Esterhazy the real spy and other pieces of evidence that prove Dreyfus's false conviction. He presents all these documents to his superiors but he gets a stark refusal for case reopening. He received a severe rebuke from his seniors and forced to drop the case. Meanwhile, several newspapers and journals started mass campaigns in support of Dreyfus and get him released.

Commendable clever detective work is done by Picquart in subsequent chapters which include photographs of Esterhazy entering the German embassy and leaving empty hand, spying coup, secret apartment spyhole and listening tube surveillance. All these were done by Picquart, to arrange undeniable evidence against reluctant Esterhazy and get him behind the bars. He was successful in his endeavor and arranged him with two important pieces of documents. The first one is secret dossier evidence sent to the judge during court-martial proceedings kept by his predecessor and the second one is application Esterhazy to the ministry, having identical handwriting to that of the list passed to Germans. That supposed to be written by Dreyfus. Suddenly Picquart feels insinuated into whole shabby business, as he the man who passed the dossier for the trial.

Here comes the first flashback in the story from the Dreyfus. Picquart used to be Dreyfus's professor at the military academy and it was his job before he moved into army intelligence ministry. He used to be a mentor inside the ministry for ex-students doing the internship. A small incident has been described. Dreyfus being unpopular upper class tried to hike his marks. But Piquart stood firm on his stand and Dreyfus got the lowest in all discipline. Another flashback erupts ministry informs that there is a spy among them it took no time to name Dreyfus as the main suspect all due to his inquisitive nature and easy access to all the departments. Nobody liked him overall, he was a Jew. All had serious doubts about his loyalty towards his country. A proper trap was led for Dreyfus with little publicity and Piquart finds himself involved. Though he knew nothing behind scenes work, he was the one who ushered Dreyfus to the trap. Also, he was the one who handed over the dossier to the jury. Which ultimately led to the fatal conviction of Dreyfus.

Just like every spy and mystery thriller story author incorporates minute detail to increase the reader's excitement and association with the novel. Like Piquart used a little key to access the ministry office to get more relevant findings behind his seniors’ attention. But his troubles and official pressure hiked day by day due to unwelcome publicity in high profile newspapers about the case. His seniors informed him that they are not interested in Dreyfus's innocence. When they realized that he was carrying out his investigation in forced and ruthless attitude they forced him to stop. First of all, his key stopped working, he had to use a lock-picking tool to case material. When he put all these testimonials together, he discovered that all seniors including Mercier perfectly knew that ‘D’ mention in an enemy keyword does not refer Dreyfus but to another spy Dubois. Now the whole picture was clear Piquart that Dreyfus is innocent and prosecutors knew it perfectly.

Multiple handwriting experts were called to testify the Dreyfus handwriting until one of them agreed willingly. Also, Piquart now found a coded message that Germans never knew Dreyfus, but he returned it to the coder to get a proper translation fitting prosecutor’s stand. On multiple occasions, Piquart was constantly reminded to withdraw from his investigations, but he continued his endeavor.

Day by day Dreyfus was life in prison was turned into hell. Also, seniors’ military officials wanted him dead as it would save them from defamation. Leg irons were fitted to him to cut his ankles leading to life-threating infections.

As time passed on ministry and Piquart seniors tried multiple conspiracies and fabrications to avoid the unrevealing of truth. Piquart Paris tour, seven-month exile, and the act of implication into treason were part of their modus operandi. Piquart was strongly determined and faced every adversary with great strength. He has now become a whistleblower. He gets permission for a week's leave to Paris; he was sticking to the official protocol as far as he could. At Paris, he met with old friend Lebloys, who is a lawyer he handed over his 16-paragraph summary of his investigation. Lebloys forwards them to vice president of France and Piquart returns them.

As expected, even after 4 months nothing substantial happened from government authorities. But public pressure and Dreyfus story pilling on day by day. Suddenly Piquart starts seeing his name associated with the case in the newspaper’s headline. He received a summon from Paris. Later on, he realized that summon was a trap and he faced investigation at Paris under General Pellieux. Picquart insinuated that the army will adopt anything, including the releasing of a spy, to ratify the verdict stated against Dreyfus. Unfortunately, Piquart was sent to prison. Picquart's lawyer discovers a great loop in the army’s statement. Even though successful attempts of Picquart’s lawyer, the court supported the army’s opinion. The Piquart was removed from the army.

Meanwhile, advertising and propaganda about the state of Dreyfus at Devil’s Island kept the case in the public eye afresh. A prominent anti-Dreyfus speech in parliament backfired. The jury decides to bring back Dreyfus for the re-run of his court-martial in public. Now Picquart is free to assist with the investigation, and the army officials are on the back foot. Boisdeffre, one was the first to resign, and Henry was apprehended as he has done a serious forgery. But he silted his throat in prison cell.

The court-martial took place at Rennes, and it became a popular press event. Dreyfus senescence horribly in his imprisonment. But evidence that has been collected for years is now admissible, and it’s easy for the army to prove that Dreyfus has no case against him to answer.

But on Saturday court, Mercier made a dramatic act. He has politically ambitious and was willing to lie to serve his purpose. He did a great show of pain and outrage felt by a wronged man, he pretended that any harm to the army would be an advantage to Germany. He further adds that victory for Dreyfus would be a defeat. The court was adjourned till Monday. Meanwhile, the lawyer was shot and wounded badly.

At that moment Mercier was off the clutches of law Dreyfus was still guilty as per major verdict. But public opinion and support for Dreyfus rose day by day and demand for political pardon was proliferated. The campaign in support of Dreyfus and Picquart was at its peak. All newspapers, journals, and magazines devoted their headlines for this cause. All these incident’s briefing reached the senate and government adhered to public demand.

Down the line, as the years passed, everything was brought back to normalcy. Mercier later returned to the army as Major. Dreyfus was reinstated with all honor and reputation. Piquart was positioned at a much higher rank than earlier and later on went to become minister of war for France.

In epilogue fast forwards 7 years after reinstatement of Dreyfus. Dreyfus comes to visit Picquart and complains about his rank and requests a promotion. Picquart replies negatively and adds that politically at this moment it would be impossible to be done. Picquart says that he wouldn’t have to attend such a high position without him. But Dreyfus replies “No my General, you attend it because you did your duty”.

Overall this contemporary mystery thriller novel establishes on a scandalous testimonial of government and military atrocities. Dreyfus and Piquart won their individual cases in the military court in the end but lost precious years and faced mental and physical tortures. Justice always triumphs but it takes a lot of time and sacrifices. This whole story is a true depiction of it.