Death of the Perfect Spy
December 13, 2020 7:28 PM Subscribe
John le Carré, pen name of David Cornwell, writer of spy novels for over 50 years, has passed away at the age of 89. HE is probably best known for the character of George Smiley, who was the protagonist of many of his Cold War novels. HE also wrote The Constant Gardener, among several other stories set closer to the present.
The Guardian conducted A recent interview with him around the publication of his latest book.
The Guardian conducted A recent interview with him around the publication of his latest book.
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“It's the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies? Who can smell out the fox without running with him?”
posted by ageispolis at 7:35 PM on December 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
“It's the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies? Who can smell out the fox without running with him?”
posted by ageispolis at 7:35 PM on December 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
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Brilliant writer. Transcended his chosen genre.
posted by awfurby at 7:39 PM on December 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
Brilliant writer. Transcended his chosen genre.
posted by awfurby at 7:39 PM on December 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
If you have not read A Perfect Spy do yourself a favor and read it. Semi autobiographical and an amazing read.
posted by nestor_makhno at 7:42 PM on December 13, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by nestor_makhno at 7:42 PM on December 13, 2020 [6 favorites]
Nooooo
posted by hototogisu at 7:43 PM on December 13, 2020
posted by hototogisu at 7:43 PM on December 13, 2020
I've enjoyed his books (and the often surprisingly good adaptations of them) most of my life.
There's still something a bit depressing about all that skill and insight being used to describe a set of posh boys exploring the phase space of betrayal though. Smiley gets a bit too wise and all-knowing in the later books as well - almost superhero like - George Smiley is Declineman! Cower before his unsettlingly precise knowledge of Chinese navy frigate tonnages!
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posted by thatwhichfalls at 7:44 PM on December 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
There's still something a bit depressing about all that skill and insight being used to describe a set of posh boys exploring the phase space of betrayal though. Smiley gets a bit too wise and all-knowing in the later books as well - almost superhero like - George Smiley is Declineman! Cower before his unsettlingly precise knowledge of Chinese navy frigate tonnages!
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posted by thatwhichfalls at 7:44 PM on December 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
Oh I just love le Carre. I envy his life: he truly lived a full one, and will live on for generations through his writing.
posted by latkes at 7:47 PM on December 13, 2020
posted by latkes at 7:47 PM on December 13, 2020
If you have not read A Perfect Spy do yourself a favor and read it. Semi autobiographical and an amazing read.
I just read it about a month ago and had an incredibly vivid vision of Michael Caine portraying the protagonist throughout the novel.
posted by NoMich at 7:51 PM on December 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
I just read it about a month ago and had an incredibly vivid vision of Michael Caine portraying the protagonist throughout the novel.
posted by NoMich at 7:51 PM on December 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
Simply the best. His last novel, Agent Running in the Field" was a fine way to go out. Took a few jabs at Trump and had a sweetness to it, a rank romanticism.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:54 PM on December 13, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:54 PM on December 13, 2020 [5 favorites]
To expand, I placed him above Cormac McCarthy as the greatest living writer.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:55 PM on December 13, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:55 PM on December 13, 2020 [3 favorites]
Yes Agent Running had a funny sentimentality I didn't expect from him... left me with the feeling he was optimistic at the end
posted by latkes at 8:00 PM on December 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by latkes at 8:00 PM on December 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
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I've been reading Tinker, Tailor lately and it's extremely good.
posted by joannemerriam at 8:09 PM on December 13, 2020 [3 favorites]
I've been reading Tinker, Tailor lately and it's extremely good.
posted by joannemerriam at 8:09 PM on December 13, 2020 [3 favorites]
I love Le Carré. Such a perfect creation of a genre, the miserable spy. And his books were remarkably well adapted to film and TV. Spy Who Came Into the Cold will forever be one of the best cold war movies ever. And Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the original BBC miniseries, is a masterpiece of television.
For recent adaptations The Night Manager is remarkably good, thanks mostly to Tom Hiddleston's performance.
posted by Nelson at 8:10 PM on December 13, 2020 [10 favorites]
For recent adaptations The Night Manager is remarkably good, thanks mostly to Tom Hiddleston's performance.
posted by Nelson at 8:10 PM on December 13, 2020 [10 favorites]
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posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 8:28 PM on December 13, 2020
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 8:28 PM on December 13, 2020
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I first encountered him in a BBC radio drama production of Smiley’s People from back in the 80s or 90s.
I have loved the audiobooks which read himself with better than necessary voice characterization—I listened to and can recommend The Night Manager, Single & Single and Absolute Friends, all of which are stand-alone stories.
posted by rustcellar at 8:39 PM on December 13, 2020
I first encountered him in a BBC radio drama production of Smiley’s People from back in the 80s or 90s.
I have loved the audiobooks which read himself with better than necessary voice characterization—I listened to and can recommend The Night Manager, Single & Single and Absolute Friends, all of which are stand-alone stories.
posted by rustcellar at 8:39 PM on December 13, 2020
Alec Guinness in the TV production of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is the best acting I've ever seen. He made me tremble with a sudden pause or the raising of an eyebrow.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:44 PM on December 13, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:44 PM on December 13, 2020 [4 favorites]
“Now we had defeated communism, we were going to have to set about defeating capitalism,” reflects a character in The Secret Pilgrim. Virtually the same words were used by Le Carré in an interview in America.
Guardian obit
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posted by Mister Bijou at 8:59 PM on December 13, 2020 [7 favorites]
Guardian obit
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posted by Mister Bijou at 8:59 PM on December 13, 2020 [7 favorites]
Just to join the chorus: the BBC productions of Tinker, Tailor and Smiley's People are amazing, and I've never seen a fictional character portrayed as indelibly as Alec Guiness's George Smiley. Almost as good as the books, and that's the highest praise possible.
posted by How the runs scored at 9:30 PM on December 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by How the runs scored at 9:30 PM on December 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
I just read it [A Perfect Spy] about a month ago and had an incredibly vivid vision of Michael Caine portraying the protagonist throughout the novel.
Amazing BBC miniseries.
posted by No Robots at 9:32 PM on December 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
Amazing BBC miniseries.
posted by No Robots at 9:32 PM on December 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
A Legacy of Spies
Has a glimpse of Smiley at the very end, holed away in a library in Heidelsberg. His reflections in those few pages are - surprising. And deeply satisfying.
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posted by From Bklyn at 10:01 PM on December 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
Has a glimpse of Smiley at the very end, holed away in a library in Heidelsberg. His reflections in those few pages are - surprising. And deeply satisfying.
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posted by From Bklyn at 10:01 PM on December 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
“George, you won,” said Guillam, as they walked slowly towards the car.
“Did I?” said Smiley. “Yes. Yes, well I suppose I did.”
posted by kerf at 10:01 PM on December 13, 2020 [4 favorites]
“Did I?” said Smiley. “Yes. Yes, well I suppose I did.”
posted by kerf at 10:01 PM on December 13, 2020 [4 favorites]
Reading the Guardian obit, I regret that I never read his post-Cold-War books. I suppose I, and I suppose others, have a kind of romantic regard for the setting even while reading le Carré who is pointedly anti-romantic about the acts committed. (Though I'd accuse him of a certain kind of romanticized aromanticism in Smiley's character.) I meant to, and now I will.
posted by away for regrooving at 10:27 PM on December 13, 2020 [3 favorites]
A Delicate Truth, Le Carré’s 23rd novel, published in 2013, belongs to the brave new world of outsourcing, extraordinary rendition, and the war on terror. It is written with a ferocious anger. His bitter disappointment at New Labour, and its free market theology, made A Delicate Truth a testament to the continuing power of a writer by then in his 80s.That sounds like a good one among others. On hold probably behind some of you people.
posted by away for regrooving at 10:27 PM on December 13, 2020 [3 favorites]
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posted by Strutter Cane - United Planets Stilt Patrol at 10:39 PM on December 13, 2020
posted by Strutter Cane - United Planets Stilt Patrol at 10:39 PM on December 13, 2020
For anyone curious, the BBC Tinker Tailor and Smiley's People are currently on youtube.
posted by juv3nal at 10:48 PM on December 13, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by juv3nal at 10:48 PM on December 13, 2020 [9 favorites]
"Smiley was soaked to the skin and God as a punishment had removed all taxis from the face of London."
posted by clavdivs at 11:16 PM on December 13, 2020 [20 favorites]
posted by clavdivs at 11:16 PM on December 13, 2020 [20 favorites]
The Guardian obit lists cause of death as pneumonia, and has: The world of “ferrets” and “lamplighters”, “wranglers” and “pavement artists” was so convincingly drawn that his former colleagues at MI5 and MI6 began to adopt Le Carré’s invented jargon as their own. (2014 Guardian piece, How authors from Dickens to Dr Seuss invented the words we use every day: Honey trap -- A ploy in which an attractive person, usually a woman, lures another, usually a man, into revealing information; by extension, a person employing such a ploy. The term first came into play in 1974 in novelist John le Carré's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: "You see, long ago when I was a little boy I made a mistake and walked into a honey-trap.")
John le Carré was born David John Moore Cornwell; the Associated Press interviewed the author in 2008, and its obituary has a lot of biographical detail ("'A Perfect Spy,' his most autobiographical novel, looks at the formation of a spy in the character of Magnus Pym, a boy whose criminal father and unsettled upbringing bear a strong resemblance to le Carre’s own") and the pen name's origin: His first three novels were written while he was a spy, and his employers required him to publish under a pseudonym. He remained “le Carre” for his entire career. He said he chose the name — square in French — simply because he liked the vaguely mysterious, European sound of it.
Margaret Atwood, on Twitter: Very sorry to hear this. His Smiley novels are key to understanding the mid-20th century...
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:46 PM on December 13, 2020 [12 favorites]
John le Carré was born David John Moore Cornwell; the Associated Press interviewed the author in 2008, and its obituary has a lot of biographical detail ("'A Perfect Spy,' his most autobiographical novel, looks at the formation of a spy in the character of Magnus Pym, a boy whose criminal father and unsettled upbringing bear a strong resemblance to le Carre’s own") and the pen name's origin: His first three novels were written while he was a spy, and his employers required him to publish under a pseudonym. He remained “le Carre” for his entire career. He said he chose the name — square in French — simply because he liked the vaguely mysterious, European sound of it.
Margaret Atwood, on Twitter: Very sorry to hear this. His Smiley novels are key to understanding the mid-20th century...
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:46 PM on December 13, 2020 [12 favorites]
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posted by interogative mood at 12:03 AM on December 14, 2020
posted by interogative mood at 12:03 AM on December 14, 2020
Interesting that when he was nominated for a Booker prize his agent promptly informed the prize committee that the author did not compete for literary prizes and wanted his nomination to be withdrawn. This was in the Guardian obituary near the observation that the author felt the literary establishment was dismissive of his work. The old genre versus literature thing. But le Carré was nothing if not literary. Such a fine writer.
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posted by Bella Donna at 12:30 AM on December 14, 2020 [7 favorites]
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posted by Bella Donna at 12:30 AM on December 14, 2020 [7 favorites]
Alec Guiness was as skilled an actor as LeCarré was a writer. Perfect pair.
posted by Cranberry at 12:39 AM on December 14, 2020
posted by Cranberry at 12:39 AM on December 14, 2020
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posted by crocomancer at 1:22 AM on December 14, 2020
posted by crocomancer at 1:22 AM on December 14, 2020
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posted by Mister Moofoo at 2:16 AM on December 14, 2020
posted by Mister Moofoo at 2:16 AM on December 14, 2020
A Legacy of Spies was such a great goodbye-novel that I was suprised he wrote more. But hey, it means I have a new Le Carré to read - and that is always a treat. Absolutely formative for me, and a good key to understanding a lot of English establishment in ways that make various trainwrecks make a lot of sense. I guess there's nothing like teaching at Eton to disillusion yourself about the kind of people it turns out...
posted by I claim sanctuary at 2:44 AM on December 14, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by I claim sanctuary at 2:44 AM on December 14, 2020 [5 favorites]
Adam Sisman points out in his biography that Le Carré had the unique distinction of writing two no. 1 bestsellers fifty years apart, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold in 1963 and A Delicate Truth in 2013. I can't think of any other novelist who stayed at the top of his game for so long. And to combine bestsellerdom with such a high level of literary quality and originality .. well, it's just extraordinary.
Le Carré in old age was a very recognisable figure and could often be seen walking on Hampstead Heath in London. The last time I saw him was two or three years ago, striding down East Heath Road, just a few minutes' walk away from the tree-lined avenue where Vladimir gets shot at the beginning of Smiley's People.
posted by verstegan at 3:48 AM on December 14, 2020 [17 favorites]
Le Carré in old age was a very recognisable figure and could often be seen walking on Hampstead Heath in London. The last time I saw him was two or three years ago, striding down East Heath Road, just a few minutes' walk away from the tree-lined avenue where Vladimir gets shot at the beginning of Smiley's People.
posted by verstegan at 3:48 AM on December 14, 2020 [17 favorites]
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Loved what I've read of his and should read more.
posted by octothorpe at 4:29 AM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
Loved what I've read of his and should read more.
posted by octothorpe at 4:29 AM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
In Adam Sisman's biography, le Carré describes his agent, Rainer Heumann, as "the kind of man with whom one could steal horses."
He was so priceless, and his death is such a great loss.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 5:25 AM on December 14, 2020 [6 favorites]
He was so priceless, and his death is such a great loss.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 5:25 AM on December 14, 2020 [6 favorites]
Seconding the love for BBC's Smiley adaptions and for le Carré In general. I rewatched The Spy Who Came in from the Cold last night in his honor. As is clear from his novels, he was an astute observer of politics, and his essay on the Iraq War deserves to be read alongside his fiction.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 6:19 AM on December 14, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 6:19 AM on December 14, 2020 [7 favorites]
Can Gary Oldman please help complete the Karla trilogy?
"I want to talk about loyalty, Toby."
It may or may not be the case that all of my workstations/machines were named after le Carré characters, prompting a very funny email from IT once asking whether or not 'smiley' and 'circus' where mine and wtf was up with them.
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posted by jquinby at 6:25 AM on December 14, 2020 [6 favorites]
"I want to talk about loyalty, Toby."
It may or may not be the case that all of my workstations/machines were named after le Carré characters, prompting a very funny email from IT once asking whether or not 'smiley' and 'circus' where mine and wtf was up with them.
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posted by jquinby at 6:25 AM on December 14, 2020 [6 favorites]
Such a superb writer. What gifts for sentences, paragraphs, achingly precise character delineation, and extraordinary plotting.
posted by doctornemo at 6:34 AM on December 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by doctornemo at 6:34 AM on December 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
Interesting. When I read the Times obit last night it included a heartbreaking phrase which seems to have been cut this morning.
I found it in another Times piece, a recent interview, and I'll share it here:
[I]t seems to me, as Smiley says at the end of the book, that what happened then turns out to have been futile. Spies did not win the Cold War. They made absolutely no difference in the long run.
posted by doctornemo at 6:36 AM on December 14, 2020 [6 favorites]
I found it in another Times piece, a recent interview, and I'll share it here:
[I]t seems to me, as Smiley says at the end of the book, that what happened then turns out to have been futile. Spies did not win the Cold War. They made absolutely no difference in the long run.
posted by doctornemo at 6:36 AM on December 14, 2020 [6 favorites]
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posted by one weird trick at 6:43 AM on December 14, 2020
posted by one weird trick at 6:43 AM on December 14, 2020
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So sad. He was a truly great writer, even if you weren't into the genre, you could read his books just for the writing.
My grandparents knew him personally and had every one of his books. They claimed they were as close to reality as one could get without getting into trouble. But you never know with that type of people.
Last I read one of the Cold War novels, I felt a nostalgia for that weird age, suddenly realizing that my children cannot ever imagine how it felt. I guess it's like that for every generation. We couldn't imagine WW2. Those born in the twenties couldn't feel the insanity of WW1 and the fear created by the Spanish Flu.
But le Carré can perhaps still give young people some feeling for the Cold War era, maybe after they've read his eloquent criticism of the Bush era.
posted by mumimor at 6:57 AM on December 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
So sad. He was a truly great writer, even if you weren't into the genre, you could read his books just for the writing.
My grandparents knew him personally and had every one of his books. They claimed they were as close to reality as one could get without getting into trouble. But you never know with that type of people.
Last I read one of the Cold War novels, I felt a nostalgia for that weird age, suddenly realizing that my children cannot ever imagine how it felt. I guess it's like that for every generation. We couldn't imagine WW2. Those born in the twenties couldn't feel the insanity of WW1 and the fear created by the Spanish Flu.
But le Carré can perhaps still give young people some feeling for the Cold War era, maybe after they've read his eloquent criticism of the Bush era.
posted by mumimor at 6:57 AM on December 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
I love his books, and am due for a reread of my favorites. He was consistently good over many decades, which is really rare for writers (or really, any of us).
posted by Dip Flash at 6:58 AM on December 14, 2020
posted by Dip Flash at 6:58 AM on December 14, 2020
He finally came in from the cold.
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posted by Melismata at 7:06 AM on December 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
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posted by Melismata at 7:06 AM on December 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
[I]t seems to me, as Smiley says at the end of the book, that what happened then turns out to have been futile. Spies did not win the Cold War. They made absolutely no difference in the long run.
I don't know. I'd say keeping the Cold War cold was something they could claim credit for.
posted by ocschwar at 7:08 AM on December 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
I don't know. I'd say keeping the Cold War cold was something they could claim credit for.
posted by ocschwar at 7:08 AM on December 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
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posted by homunculus at 7:45 AM on December 14, 2020
posted by homunculus at 7:45 AM on December 14, 2020
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posted by DelusionsofGrandeur at 7:52 AM on December 14, 2020
posted by DelusionsofGrandeur at 7:52 AM on December 14, 2020
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I've read most of his stuff, though a copy of Agent Running in the Field (2020) is currently eyeing me unread from yonder shelf. I've got a feeling I'll be cracking that later today. What can I say? At its worst (and it's never been that bad) his stuff gets under the skin of "how the world really works" in a way that most fiction (or non-fiction for that matter) doesn't get close to.
At its best (and my immediate impression is that Tinker Tailor deserves that accolade), well my words fail. I just know I can keep going back, whether to the book itself or the BBC mini-series or the recent movie adaptation (well worth the time) -- there's always more than I remembered.
I recall someone saying to me that the difference between his spy world and Ian Fleming's is that Fleming's stories tended to end uproariously, big explosions, lots of crazy action. Whereas a Le Carre story might be resolved by something as simple as somebody's car getting suspiciously double-parked a precisely the wrong/right moment*. No flash, no bang. Mission accomplished nonetheless.
* Or, in the case of the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Smiley's People double shot, a stolen lighter gets returned.
Anyway, we have lost one of the very best. Though a quick glimpse of his bibliography suggests he didn't leave much on the shelf.
posted by philip-random at 8:11 AM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
I've read most of his stuff, though a copy of Agent Running in the Field (2020) is currently eyeing me unread from yonder shelf. I've got a feeling I'll be cracking that later today. What can I say? At its worst (and it's never been that bad) his stuff gets under the skin of "how the world really works" in a way that most fiction (or non-fiction for that matter) doesn't get close to.
At its best (and my immediate impression is that Tinker Tailor deserves that accolade), well my words fail. I just know I can keep going back, whether to the book itself or the BBC mini-series or the recent movie adaptation (well worth the time) -- there's always more than I remembered.
I recall someone saying to me that the difference between his spy world and Ian Fleming's is that Fleming's stories tended to end uproariously, big explosions, lots of crazy action. Whereas a Le Carre story might be resolved by something as simple as somebody's car getting suspiciously double-parked a precisely the wrong/right moment*. No flash, no bang. Mission accomplished nonetheless.
* Or, in the case of the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Smiley's People double shot, a stolen lighter gets returned.
Anyway, we have lost one of the very best. Though a quick glimpse of his bibliography suggests he didn't leave much on the shelf.
posted by philip-random at 8:11 AM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
I'd say keeping the Cold War cold was something they could claim credit for.
Only to the extent that the spying game provided a catnip-like distraction to the kind of sociopathic incompetents who would otherwise have been pushing for a hot war.
Beyond that, it was just the usual personality flaws magnified into ideologies bullshit secret government always devolves to.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 8:36 AM on December 14, 2020
Only to the extent that the spying game provided a catnip-like distraction to the kind of sociopathic incompetents who would otherwise have been pushing for a hot war.
Beyond that, it was just the usual personality flaws magnified into ideologies bullshit secret government always devolves to.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 8:36 AM on December 14, 2020
I’m sorry he’s passed, but excited because I’ve never read anything by him and am in need of a good book right now . Aficionados- what do I start with?
posted by freecellwizard at 8:53 AM on December 14, 2020
posted by freecellwizard at 8:53 AM on December 14, 2020
freecellwizard, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold is a classic. I personally love Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. It might not be the best place to start, but it's definitely not bad. For his standalones, The Night Manager is excellent.
posted by Alensin at 9:02 AM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Alensin at 9:02 AM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
The film version of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is pretty great too. Richard Burton and Claire Bloom are stellar. George Smiley even makes a cameo.
posted by octothorpe at 9:06 AM on December 14, 2020
posted by octothorpe at 9:06 AM on December 14, 2020
Aficionados- what do I start with?
posted by freecellwizard
I'd have to say, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The intricacy of the plot is really good, of course, but so are the breadth and depth of the characterisations. I've read most of his other books (though I've been slowing down, to spread out the experience, and haven't completed the set yet), and none of the others quite hit that peak for me. It's just so masterfully constructed and written.
PS don't worry about it not being the first book with George Smiley in it, you don't need any previous backstory at all. Le Carré includes all the exposition required, and – of course – includes it very skilfully indeed.
posted by vincebowdren at 9:10 AM on December 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by freecellwizard
I'd have to say, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The intricacy of the plot is really good, of course, but so are the breadth and depth of the characterisations. I've read most of his other books (though I've been slowing down, to spread out the experience, and haven't completed the set yet), and none of the others quite hit that peak for me. It's just so masterfully constructed and written.
PS don't worry about it not being the first book with George Smiley in it, you don't need any previous backstory at all. Le Carré includes all the exposition required, and – of course – includes it very skilfully indeed.
posted by vincebowdren at 9:10 AM on December 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
Start with "Tinker, Tailor", definitely read " In from the Cold" and "Looking Glass War" and at some point hit "A Perfect Spy", which is such a fine novel everyone should read it. "The Little Drummer Girl" is so even-handed and sympathetic to the tragedy of the Middle East Conflict that I don't know how he managed to do it. There are some books that are not as good as others, but there are no bad ones, and his last ones are still pretty good. I was shaken for days after reading "Absolute Friends", although his flaming rage at the Bush administration may not be understandable to people reading now.
He was a writer I dropped everything to read, whenever a new book came out.
posted by acrasis at 9:52 AM on December 14, 2020 [5 favorites]
He was a writer I dropped everything to read, whenever a new book came out.
posted by acrasis at 9:52 AM on December 14, 2020 [5 favorites]
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posted by dannyboybell at 9:56 AM on December 14, 2020
posted by dannyboybell at 9:56 AM on December 14, 2020
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posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 9:59 AM on December 14, 2020
posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 9:59 AM on December 14, 2020
Talked with my spouse last night about Le Carré (and about Alan Furst, another household favorite who writes in a somewhat similar vein, although most of Furst's characters were never trained to be spies and they are more likely to end up directly killing people).
My spouse recommends Le Carré's memoir, which includes memorable scenes of conversations with Rupert Murdoch and Stanley Kubrick, and spoke admiringly of how Le Carré could always find the telling detail to encapsulate and explain a character to you in a single paragraph. He says this comes across in the nonfiction as well as the fiction.
I'd appreciate a recommendation for a Le Carré to read where there are some major characters who are women, and who aren't only love interests. I think I gave The Night Manager a go and I loved the observational precision but I wanted more gender balance in who got to do interesting stuff.
posted by brainwane at 10:04 AM on December 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
My spouse recommends Le Carré's memoir, which includes memorable scenes of conversations with Rupert Murdoch and Stanley Kubrick, and spoke admiringly of how Le Carré could always find the telling detail to encapsulate and explain a character to you in a single paragraph. He says this comes across in the nonfiction as well as the fiction.
I'd appreciate a recommendation for a Le Carré to read where there are some major characters who are women, and who aren't only love interests. I think I gave The Night Manager a go and I loved the observational precision but I wanted more gender balance in who got to do interesting stuff.
posted by brainwane at 10:04 AM on December 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
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His son writes excellent novels as Nick Harkaway in a very different strain, but with the same affectionate despairing moral fury. And seems like a real mensch, and has joked very charmingly about being a writer son of a writer as untouchable as le Carré, and anyway, I don’t know him but am sad for him still.
posted by clew at 10:17 AM on December 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
His son writes excellent novels as Nick Harkaway in a very different strain, but with the same affectionate despairing moral fury. And seems like a real mensch, and has joked very charmingly about being a writer son of a writer as untouchable as le Carré, and anyway, I don’t know him but am sad for him still.
posted by clew at 10:17 AM on December 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
John le Carre narrated his second autobiography, "The Pigeon Tunnel" himself, and as he said, he had a talent for mimicry like his estranged mother. Some of my favorite quotes from that book:
* To the lawyer, truth is facts unadorned. Whether such facts are ever findable is another matter. To the creative writer, fact is raw material, not his taskmaster but his instrument, and his job is to make it sing. Real truth lies, if anywhere, not in facts, but in nuance.
* Spying and novel writing are made for each other. Both call for a ready eye for human transgression and the many routes to betrayal.
* Or maybe I am just one of those people who are unable to accept the inevitability of human conflict.
* Ronnie’s entire life was spent walking on the thinnest, slipperiest layer of ice you can imagine. He saw no paradox between being on the Wanted list for fraud and sporting a grey topper in the Owners’ enclosure at Ascot. Graham Greene tells us that childhood is the credit balance of the writer. By that measure at least, I was born a millionaire.
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(brainwane, you might give "The Little Drummer Girl" a try.)
posted by of strange foe at 10:24 AM on December 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
* To the lawyer, truth is facts unadorned. Whether such facts are ever findable is another matter. To the creative writer, fact is raw material, not his taskmaster but his instrument, and his job is to make it sing. Real truth lies, if anywhere, not in facts, but in nuance.
* Spying and novel writing are made for each other. Both call for a ready eye for human transgression and the many routes to betrayal.
* Or maybe I am just one of those people who are unable to accept the inevitability of human conflict.
* Ronnie’s entire life was spent walking on the thinnest, slipperiest layer of ice you can imagine. He saw no paradox between being on the Wanted list for fraud and sporting a grey topper in the Owners’ enclosure at Ascot. Graham Greene tells us that childhood is the credit balance of the writer. By that measure at least, I was born a millionaire.
.
(brainwane, you might give "The Little Drummer Girl" a try.)
posted by of strange foe at 10:24 AM on December 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
brainwane: Try The Little Drummer Girl, the main character is a young actress. It was the first book of his I read and the one I wish I could read again for the first time. I was around Charlie's age when I read it over 30 years ago and still remember the recognition of reading "theatre of the real" for the first time. Putting the book down in amazement so many times at this author who was holding me in the palm of his hand so effortlessly.
My other 'wish I could read again for the first time' is A Perfect Spy, his most autobiographical book. In this New Yorker essay le Carré explores his relationship with his own father https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/02/18/in-ronnies-court and it is a good introduction to his beguiling style.
posted by eerie magi at 10:35 AM on December 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
My other 'wish I could read again for the first time' is A Perfect Spy, his most autobiographical book. In this New Yorker essay le Carré explores his relationship with his own father https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/02/18/in-ronnies-court and it is a good introduction to his beguiling style.
posted by eerie magi at 10:35 AM on December 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
I have nothing to add except a word of caution about the Alec Guinness mini-series Smiley's people. For some reason there are 2 different edits of it, (the bad one I believe was for the American market.) It makes a difference. Maybe someone knows how to get the marginally longer version, (I mean like 5 minutes tops,) but if you watch it on Youtube you run the risk of missing out as the material edited away does actually make a difference.
posted by Pembquist at 10:39 AM on December 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Pembquist at 10:39 AM on December 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
The linked youtube playlist is labelled "BBC (Uncut)", so hopefully it is the original version.
posted by rifflesby at 11:41 AM on December 14, 2020
posted by rifflesby at 11:41 AM on December 14, 2020
I knew I wasn’t a child any more when my father didn’t make me return a book from his library: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. After that, Cold War spy novels became the first tie that bound us together as adults.
RIP and thank you.
posted by lemon_icing at 11:41 AM on December 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
RIP and thank you.
posted by lemon_icing at 11:41 AM on December 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
Absolutely adore his work in general and read his latest, Agent Running in the Field, this Summer in one four hour sitting. It was as compelling as ever, wholly contemporary and full of rage re: Brexit, the Tories, Trump and the UK’s arselicking of. What a giant of a writer, what a loss.
posted by prolific at 12:09 PM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by prolific at 12:09 PM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
Thinking about the adaptations of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, it occurred to me that its plot - based strongly on what each character's actions reveal about what they know, and about who, along with a slow revelation of knowledge to the protagonist - is just the kind of thing that David Fincher does well. Every Frame A Painting did an essay about this:
"In his world, drama happens when a character learns a new piece of information. How does it fit with everything they already know? And how do they react to learning a little bit more of the truth?"
It makes me think that some producer should think about getting Fincher to direct an adaptation of Le Carré.
posted by vincebowdren at 12:39 PM on December 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
"In his world, drama happens when a character learns a new piece of information. How does it fit with everything they already know? And how do they react to learning a little bit more of the truth?"
It makes me think that some producer should think about getting Fincher to direct an adaptation of Le Carré.
posted by vincebowdren at 12:39 PM on December 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
"In the quiet, watchful spymaster George Smiley, he created one of 20th-century fiction’s iconic characters — a decent man at the heart of a web of deceit" = Fincher's likely disinterest in the material.
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:00 PM on December 14, 2020
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:00 PM on December 14, 2020
My personal faves are Spy Who Came in, Little Drummer Girl, & Tinker Tailor...
George Smiley: an action hero without charisma or physical strength, his super powers are persistence & memory...
posted by ovvl at 4:59 PM on December 14, 2020
George Smiley: an action hero without charisma or physical strength, his super powers are persistence & memory...
posted by ovvl at 4:59 PM on December 14, 2020
.
time to listen to Michael Jayston reading Constant Gardener again. Le Carré was my favorite teacher's favorite author; I'm not sure I would have come across him without my polymath math prof, but I owe both of them gratitude.
posted by adekllny at 7:15 AM on December 15, 2020
time to listen to Michael Jayston reading Constant Gardener again. Le Carré was my favorite teacher's favorite author; I'm not sure I would have come across him without my polymath math prof, but I owe both of them gratitude.
posted by adekllny at 7:15 AM on December 15, 2020
I remember when the Cold War ended, some people were wondering if Le Carre was therefore also done for. But he successfully pivoted to exploring themes of corruption, colonialism, arms dealing, the War on Terror, and the fate of the intelligence community after the disappearance of its primary antagonist, and he wrote some fine novels in the final stage of his career. The reprise of the classic Smiley era in A Legacy Of Spies was an un-hoped for treat (although its resolution by means of fast-forwarding to an ambiguous ending was a little frustrating)
posted by thelonius at 10:38 AM on December 15, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 10:38 AM on December 15, 2020 [2 favorites]
.
posted by numberstation at 6:55 PM on December 17, 2020
posted by numberstation at 6:55 PM on December 17, 2020
2010 Democracy Now interview: John le Carré (1931-2020) on the Iraq War, Corporate Power, the Exploitation of Africa & More
posted by homunculus at 8:20 AM on December 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by homunculus at 8:20 AM on December 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
My Dinners with le Carré, a piece by Jeff Leen in the Washington Post about showing him around Miami for research in writing The Night Manager.
posted by Strutter Cane - United Planets Stilt Patrol at 6:02 AM on December 31, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Strutter Cane - United Planets Stilt Patrol at 6:02 AM on December 31, 2020 [3 favorites]
just finished Le Carre's final novel, Agent Running In The Field (published earlier this year). The final sentence struck me as apt for a former spy who knew all about duplicity, deception, playing "the game":
I had wanted to tell him I was a decent man, but it was too late.
posted by philip-random at 8:30 AM on December 31, 2020
I had wanted to tell him I was a decent man, but it was too late.
posted by philip-random at 8:30 AM on December 31, 2020
FYI - really interesting article from William Boyd writing for the New Statesman which analyses Le Carré's writing technique, and what makes it work in the particular way it does, without being a hagiography. The prose style of John le Carré
posted by vincebowdren at 4:36 AM on January 10, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by vincebowdren at 4:36 AM on January 10, 2021 [5 favorites]
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George Smiley is, without a doubt, one of my favorite fictional characters, but I've also deeply enjoyed much of the other work Le Carré has done. I hope the man himself managed to find peace, even if it was a thing his characters often struggled with.
posted by Alensin at 7:30 PM on December 13, 2020 [6 favorites]