John le Carre, Author of Spy Novels, Dies at Age 89 (nbcnewyork.com) 29
"This terrible year has claimed a literary giant and a humanitarian spirit," tweeted novelist Stephen King, adding later that "The Little Drummer Girl was one of the best novels I've ever read." Margaret Atwood tweeted "His Smiley novels are key to understanding the mid-20th century."
And the Associated Press tells the story of how spy-novel writer John le Carré was "drawn to espionage by an upbringing that was superficially conventional but secretly tumultuous." Born David John Moore Cornwell in Poole, southwest England on Oct. 19, 1931, he appeared to have a standard upper-middle-class education: the private Sherborne School, a year studying German literature at the University of Bern, compulsory military service in Austria — where he interrogated Eastern Bloc defectors — and a degree in modern languages at Oxford University. But his ostensibly ordinary upbringing was an illusion. His father, Ronnie Cornwell, was a con man who was an associate of gangsters and spent time in jail for insurance fraud. His mother left the family when David was 5; he didn't meet her again until he was 21.
It was a childhood of uncertainty and extremes: one minute limousines and champagne, the next eviction from the family's latest accommodation. It bred insecurity, an acute awareness of the gap between surface and reality — and a familiarity with secrecy that would serve him well in his future profession. "These were very early experiences, actually, of clandestine survival," le Carré said in 1996. "The whole world was enemy territory."
After university, which was interrupted by his father's bankruptcy, he taught at the prestigious boarding school Eton before joining the foreign service. Officially a diplomat, he was in fact a "lowly" operative with the domestic intelligence service MI5 — he'd started as a student at Oxford — and then its overseas counterpart MI6, serving in Germany, on the Cold War front line, under the cover of second secretary at the British Embassy. His first three novels were written while he was a spy, and his employers required him to publish under a pseudonym. He remained "le Carré" for his entire career. He said he chose the name — square in French — simply because he liked the vaguely mysterious, European sound of it...
Le Carré said in 1990 that the fall of the Berlin Wall had come as a relief. "For me, it was absolutely wonderful. I was sick of writing about the Cold War."
His 1963 novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold "was immediately hailed as a classic and allowed him to quit the intelligence service to become a full-time writer," the AP writes, adding that he ultimately won a critical respect that "eluded" James Bond's creator Ian Fleming.
And they note that le Carré ultimately described himself as a not-particularly-optimistic believer in humanity. "If only we could see it expressed in our institutional forms, we would have hope then," he told the AP. "I think the humanity will always be there. I think it will always be defeated."
And the Associated Press tells the story of how spy-novel writer John le Carré was "drawn to espionage by an upbringing that was superficially conventional but secretly tumultuous." Born David John Moore Cornwell in Poole, southwest England on Oct. 19, 1931, he appeared to have a standard upper-middle-class education: the private Sherborne School, a year studying German literature at the University of Bern, compulsory military service in Austria — where he interrogated Eastern Bloc defectors — and a degree in modern languages at Oxford University. But his ostensibly ordinary upbringing was an illusion. His father, Ronnie Cornwell, was a con man who was an associate of gangsters and spent time in jail for insurance fraud. His mother left the family when David was 5; he didn't meet her again until he was 21.
It was a childhood of uncertainty and extremes: one minute limousines and champagne, the next eviction from the family's latest accommodation. It bred insecurity, an acute awareness of the gap between surface and reality — and a familiarity with secrecy that would serve him well in his future profession. "These were very early experiences, actually, of clandestine survival," le Carré said in 1996. "The whole world was enemy territory."
After university, which was interrupted by his father's bankruptcy, he taught at the prestigious boarding school Eton before joining the foreign service. Officially a diplomat, he was in fact a "lowly" operative with the domestic intelligence service MI5 — he'd started as a student at Oxford — and then its overseas counterpart MI6, serving in Germany, on the Cold War front line, under the cover of second secretary at the British Embassy. His first three novels were written while he was a spy, and his employers required him to publish under a pseudonym. He remained "le Carré" for his entire career. He said he chose the name — square in French — simply because he liked the vaguely mysterious, European sound of it...
Le Carré said in 1990 that the fall of the Berlin Wall had come as a relief. "For me, it was absolutely wonderful. I was sick of writing about the Cold War."
His 1963 novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold "was immediately hailed as a classic and allowed him to quit the intelligence service to become a full-time writer," the AP writes, adding that he ultimately won a critical respect that "eluded" James Bond's creator Ian Fleming.
And they note that le Carré ultimately described himself as a not-particularly-optimistic believer in humanity. "If only we could see it expressed in our institutional forms, we would have hope then," he told the AP. "I think the humanity will always be there. I think it will always be defeated."
words... (Score:5, Insightful)
“A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world"
Re: words... (Score:2)
The desk ain't got nothing on social media[imagine an obligatory excess amount of exclamation marks in this place]
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The major university I work at uses gmail for all accounts - are all of us here without brains?
And he died of (Score:1)
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Process killed.
It has been a while since I read his Smiley books (Score:3)
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I felt that he lost his edge a bit after the Cold War - Our Game, The Tailor of Panama, and The Constant Gardener all disappointed me. But I picked up Single & Single, Absolute Friends, and The Mission Song secondhand about a year ago and thought they were quite good. The latter two in particular really showcase his cynicism.
The constant gardener (Score:2)
I haven't ready any of his books since his early 80's novels (Little Drummer Girl maybe?) but The Constant Gardener was a pretty good movie.
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I enjoyed A Legacy of Spies quite a lot as a coda to the Smiley material, and I'm halfway through what is very likely to turn out to be his last (unless there are manuscripts still with his editor), Agent Running in the Field, and I'm enjoying it quite a lot. (It's been either lauded or excoriated as "his Brexit novel," but those pieces of the puzzle have yet to come together in my reading).
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I have enjoyed The Constant Gardener very much.
Re:It has been a while since I read his Smiley boo (Score:5, Insightful)
I heartily recommend his recent biography [amazon.com] by Adam Sisman.
By far the most interesting character in Le Carre's life story was his father, Ronnie, who was a confidence trickster of the highest order. Ronnie would think nothing of conning his closest friends. Inexplicably, all of these friends continued to love him long after his deceit had become obvious and sometimes became his victims again. It's this slippery character as much as his time at British Intelligence that was his inspiration for his stories.
After leaving MI5, Le Carre regarded the Intelligence Agencies in general with deep distrust. He warns us to beware of people who would have us believe one narrative when all the facts support another, whether that person is Ronnie or the CIA.
The Spy's Willy Ley (Score:3)
Re:The Spy's Willy Ley (Score:5, Interesting)
It's interesting. On the one hand you had Ian Fleming, who made spies into glamorous martini-sipping socialites more at home at elegant dinner parties than in the seedy back alleys in crumbling Eastern European cities. Le Carre, on the other hand, showed them as the opposite. The aging, tired and cynical George Smiley was the polar opposite of James Bond. While le Carre never claimed his spies were more realistic than Fleming's, I always got the sense that the drudgery and moral murkiness of le Carre's world was far closer to how espionage; whether by state actors or by private corporations, is much closer to the reality than a Bugs Bunny-like superspy with pockets full of gadgets and cars that could turn into submarines.
That being said, there's nothing quite like a well done Bond film, but watching Alec Guinness's Smiley on the wonderful BBC miniseries, or Richard Burton's Leamas, you get some sense of the real world; tedious, ugly and utterly amoral.
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It's interesting. On the one hand you had Ian Fleming, who made spies into glamorous martini-sipping socialites more at home at elegant dinner parties than in the seedy back alleys in crumbling Eastern European cities. Le Carre, on the other hand, showed them as the opposite. The aging, tired and cynical George Smiley was the polar opposite of James Bond. While le Carre never claimed his spies were more realistic than Fleming's, I always got the sense that the drudgery and moral murkiness of le Carre's world was far closer to how espionage; whether by state actors or by private corporations, is much closer to the reality than a Bugs Bunny-like superspy with pockets full of gadgets and cars that could turn into submarines.
That being said, there's nothing quite like a well done Bond film, but watching Alec Guinness's Smiley on the wonderful BBC miniseries, or Richard Burton's Leamas, you get some sense of the real world; tedious, ugly and utterly amoral.
Exactly. The LAST thing any operative wants is to stand out in any way from the background of whatever environment that he or she is operating in. Yes the Bond films (and books) were fun, but the others you mentioned are much closer to reality. Thanks for the response.
TL;DR (Score:5, Informative)
For those who'd rather watch the movies, I'd recommend the Alec Guinness staring tv series Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Smiley's People also the Richard Burton starring movie The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. After that the BBC series A Perfect Spy and the Thomas Alfredsson directed movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy staring Gary Oldman. I'll just note that the tv series The Night Manager got good reviews.
Re:TL;DR (Score:4, Informative)
I agree. Guinnesses's turn as Smiley and Burton's turn as Leamas are incredible adaptations of the novels. The Night Manager was awfully good, and I liked Oldman's turn as Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as well, though I still prefer the BBC adaptation.
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I had forgotten about it but I think The Deadly Affair with James Mason directed by Sidney Lumet should at least be mentioned.
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The BBC adaptation of The Perfect Spy is also very good.
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Username checks out! Last 10 min was brilliant.
Downer (Score:3)
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The cheery trustful sort probably aren't the type drawn to spycraft in the first place an
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I recently rewatched the BBC versions of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People and one of the things that struck me as being so powerful about Alec Guinness' performance was how he was able to convey that cold and calculating aspect of Smiley's character. Here was Guinness, a great and celebrated actor, playing Smiley, ostensibly the "hero" of our stories ... but as much as Smiley could be charming and relatable, Guinness was able to convey how, at the blink of an eye, he could also flatter, diss
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And yet, reflecting the quote about Le Carré's belief in humanity at the end of the summary, Smiley had an element of humanity as well, exemplified in the incident (I think in one of the short stories) where a mother whose son died in prison tries to verify his claim to have been an agent for the intelligence services, and Smiley tells her quite truthfully that there's no evidence that this was the case while simultaneously strongly hinting that he's covering it up, and gives her some Union flag cuff
Who is as good as Le Carre? (Score:1)
I thoroughly enjoyed The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer. I need to get some more of his books. Ludlum wrote some great ones, too, but he's gone now.
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Len Deighton (Game, Set, and Match trilogy) and the better Frederick Forsyth novels (The Day of the Jackal, The Dogs of War) are certainly in the same ballpark. Deighton, like Le Carré, takes a realistic view of espionage which is more about files than action; Forsyth is more towards the Ian Fleming end of the scale, but unlike Fleming stays on the right side of plausible (in the aforementioned novels; The Odessa File is just as ridiculous as Bond).
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I find Len's output rather variable - Game, Set and Match do stand out though as does Bomber : his WW2 books are very good.
Forsyth swings between genius (undoubtedly Day of the Jackal and Dogs of War which lent themselves to film adaptation - the former still an absolute stand out film) and pedestrian - his latter books are not exactly literary greats.
Fleming ironically, whilst outlandish, wrote from first-hand and direct experience of the espionage and what we would now call black-ops world - in WW2 some o