John Le Carré (real name – David John Moore Cornwell) was the last in the row, in which most people would immediately put Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and just a few other names. Nobody else will get into this series of great authors of detective stories. The biography of John Le Carré is in many ways similar to his novels. He left a mark not only in literature, but also in cinema and even a little in Russian politics.
What you need to know
John Le Carré was himself a real spy. He served in military intelligence in England controlled by the Allies at that time – he was an interpreter for interrogations of defectors from the Soviet zone of occupation. Then, having previously studied at Eton and Oxford, he went to work in MI5, British counterintelligence, where he was engaged in the dirtiest work – illegal searches and wiretapping. From there he went to MI6, British intelligence, and worked as an undercover agent in West Germany. And in 1964, when he was 33, he resigned, because, among many others, he was exposed by the Soviet spy Kim Philby, a member of the legendary Cambridge Five.
Plots for the first novels Le Carré took from his own service experience. The prototype for one of the main characters of his novels – intelligence officer George Smiley – was Le Carré’s colleague in MI5, Lord Clarmonnis. He himself wrote spy detectives, much less successful than those of Le Carré, and he also advised a colleague to start writing while both were working in the special services. Which Le Carré did – first with less, and then with worldwide success.
Le Carré invented the antipode of James Bond. Ian Flemming invented James Bond – a dazzling smile, knowledgeable about women, good resorts and expensive alcohol – in 1953. Gloomy, depressive, not getting out of dusty government offices, George Smiley, who first appeared in the novel “Call the Dead” in 1960. , became its complete opposite. Bond won the long distance, but in the new century Smiley began to rapidly close the gap.
Le Carré visited the USSR. Immediately after the return of Andrei Sakharov from exile in Gorky in 1988, Le Carré visited him in Moscow. And many years later he told how, during their dinner, obvious KGB agents knocked on the door under the pretext of installing a telephone. And Yevgeny Primakov, who served as foreign minister, head of the Foreign Intelligence Service and head of government, according to Le Carré, met with him at the Russian embassy in London, where, among other things, he said that Smiley was his twin.
What you need (was) to read
A series of novels about Smiley. One way or another, Smiley appears in nine novels by Le Carré: the first – 1961, the last – 2017. But the main ones are six: “Call to the Dead”, “Murder in a Gentleman’s Way”, “Spy, Get Out!”, “The Honorable Schoolboy “,” Team Smiley “and” Spy Legacy “. Smiley is boring, in the original description, an ugly and unkempt secret service. That does not prevent him from carrying out the most important orders of Her Majesty’s government, the main of which is the neutralization of the Soviet agent, nicknamed Karl. According to a fictional biography, she is the daughter of a former employee of the Security Department, who then deserted to the Cheka. This already speaks of the thoughtfulness and infernality of the image. Of course, at some point the infernal Karla boring Smiley wins. Three years ago, Le Carré wrote his last novel at the request of the screenwriters of the next screen versions of his works – they studied the whole texture so thoroughly that they found plot gaps and asked to fill them in. Le Carré, at 87, did it with ease and gave the world another bestseller.
“The spy who came from the cold.” Possibly Le Carré’s best novel, at least Graham Greene considered it the premier spy novel of all time. The confrontation between two charismatic high-ranking intelligence officers, a dashing plot, the truth of life in the form of alcoholism from service failures – all this is completely irresistible and tragic.
What to see
Suicide Case (directed by Sidney Lumet, 1966). The fact that the author of “12 Angry Men” and “The Devil’s Advocate” 55 years ago undertook to film the novel of an unknown ex-spy already speaks volumes.
“Spy, get out!” (TV series, directed by John Irwin, 1979). This adaptation, shot for the BBC, Le Carré called his favorite, the main role was played by Alec Guinness.
Russian House (directed by Fred Skipesi, 1990). The novel of the same name was released in 1989, the film – for the second time in history – the Americans were allowed to shoot on the territory of the Soviet Union. Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer played the main roles in the film about a British publisher who became involved in complicated affairs with Soviet atomic secrets.
“Spy, get out!” (directed by Thomas Alfredson, 2011). In another film adaptation of Le Carré’s novel – faded in colors, slow and incredibly addictive – the main roles went to Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy. And also Svetlana Khodchenkova and Konstantin Khabensky.
“Night Administrator” (TV series, directed by Suzanne Beer, 2016). A former soldier and now a porter at an expensive hotel in Cairo, he is forced to cooperate with British intelligence services to neutralize a dangerous arms dealer involved in operations in Libya. The latter was played by Hugh Laurie.
Little Drummer Girl (mini-series, directed by Park Chang Wook, 2018). Charlie, a young actress on vacation in Greece, meets Joseph, who turns out to be an agent of the Mossad and injects her into a Palestinian terrorist cell. So spin around now …
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