Through a series of improbable coincidences in the early 1970s, Harry Mathews was widely rumored to be a CIA agent. Unable to make anyone believe him, he decided to act the part.
An unimpeachable classic of American literature, My Life in CIA was the last book published in Harry Mathews' lifetime: a maybe-autofictional, page-turning romp through 1970s Paris. At loose ends and struggling to publish his latest novel, our fictional Mathews gets hung up on three misunderstandings repeatedly made by his social set: that he’s gay, that he’s rich, and that he’s a spy. He decides to lean into the spy rumor—until the situation spirals out of control.
In a charged year for global politics—the coup in Chile, Watergate, and the ending of the Vietnam War—Mathews finds himself entangled in a host of misadventures and precarious situations. He eventually catches the eye of the real CIA, which tries to recruit him, and receives warning of a plan for his assassination. Whether fact or fiction, My Life in CIA is a spellbinding thriller that cements Mathews’ legacy as a generational storyteller.
