John le Carré

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John le Carré is the pseudonym of David John Moore Cornwell (born October 19, 1931 in Poole, Dorset, England), English writer of espionage novels.

1 Early life and career
2 Biographical Sources and Literary Studies
3 Bibliography
4 See also
5 External links
6 Internal links

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Early life and career

Son of Richard Thomas Archibald Cornwell (1906-75) and Olive (Gassy) Cornwell, le Carré was born on October 19th, 1931. He began his formal schooling at St Andrew's preparatory school near Pangbourne, Berkshire and at Sherborne School in England. From 1948-49, he studied at the University of Berne, developing a fascination for foreign languages, and then studied at Lincoln College, Oxford. He graduated from Lincoln College with a B.A. (with honours) in 1956. He then taught at Eton College for 2 years. Subsequently, he joined the British Foreign Service, and ultimately MI6, serving mostly in West Germany.

In 1954, he married Alison Ann Veronica Sharp; they divorced in 1971. Together, they had three sons: Simon, Stephen and Timothy. In 1972, he married Valerie Jane Eustace, a book editor with Hodder and Stoughton; this marriage produced one son, Nicholas.

Le Carré is the author of many Cold War thrillers, notably those recounting the exploits of George Smiley. The BBC adapted two novels of the Karla trilogy, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People, into a television series, in which Alec Guinness starred as Smiley.

A Perfect Spy, an autobiographical novel, deals with le Carré's peculiar relationship with his father. Lynn Dianne Been describes Richard Cornwell as "an epic con man of little education, immense charm, extravagant tastes, but no social values" (John le Carré, p. 2). Beene quotes le Carré's reflection on the novel that "writing A Perfect Spy is probably what a very wise shrink would have advised" (p. 14).

Nearly all of le Carré's novels are in the spy-thriller genre, with the notable exception of The Naïve and Sentimental Lover. This novel also has autobiographical elements, being based on the author's relationship with James and Susan Kennaway following the breakdown of le Carré's first marriage.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Kim Philby, the British double agent, blew le Carré (and many others besides) to the Russians. Le Carré's response was characteristically that of a deep thinker: he carefully depicted and analysed Philby's weakness and deceit in the guise of "Gerald", the mole hunted by Smiley in the central novel of le Carré's œuvre, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. A further element of psychological revenge is exacted by having one of the (fictional) agents profoundly affected by Gerald's treachery silently execute him in the wake of Gerald's unmasking and public humiliation.

Le Carré's work is in many ways a critical and reasoned response to the lurid sensationalism of the James Bond genre of spy writing. His heroes are three-dimensional, their engagement with the world altogether more realistic, and their circumstances markedly unglamorous. He is widely hailed as writing some of the most literary and philosophically significant spy novels of the 20th century.

His works also differ from the Bond books in that they are morally relativist; there are constant reminders of the fallibility of western espionage systems and western countries in general, often with the implication that the Soviet bloc and the NATO bloc are essentially two sides of the same coin. The over-simplicity of the good-versus-SPECTRE world of Ian Fleming has no place in le Carré's work, where the spies seem to serve espionage more than any ideology. Le Carré is more interested in the uncertainty inherent in spycraft -- the most unimpeachable information from the enemy might always prove to be bait or a trap, a logic that tends to render the information obtained far less useful. In short, his books leave behind an unmistakable air of skepticism.

Le Carré published an essay entitled "The United States has gone mad" in The Times in January 2003, protesting the war in Iraq, saying: "How Bush and his junta succeeded in deflecting America's anger from bin Laden to Saddam Hussein is one of the great public relations conjuring tricks of history." He has turned down a number of awards, including knighthood.

Le Carré resides in Cornwall, England.

In 2005, the film The Constant Gardener was released, based on his novel. The story is set in slums in Kibera and Loiyangalani, Kenya. The situation affected the crew to the extent that they set up the Constant Gardener Trust in order to provide basic education around these villages. Le Carré is a patron of the charity.

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Biographical Sources and Literary Studies

Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, Vol. 33, pp. 94-99.
Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 3 (1975); Vol. 5 (1976); Vol. 9 (1978); Vol. 15 (1980); Vol. 28 (1984).
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 87: British Mystery and Thriller Writers Since 1940, First Series, (Detroit: Gale, 1989).
LynnDianne Beene, John Le Carré (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1992).

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