- Location
- Visiting BWBs.
Part 3, the denouement of @Stateless look at the murky world of moles, pavement artists, and fishermen.
Discuss this article here, using the relevant code.
Discuss this article here, using the relevant code.
I'm wondering if thats the kind of book he wanted to write despite his success coming elsewhere (ie Smiley), and that he embraced it once he became successful enough to do whatever he wanted.so it's interesting that Le Carre instead goes "this is a good guy, this is a bad guy" instead.
I always got a feeling of post-Cold War fiction going "things were simple but now it's all murky & complicated", so it's interesting that Le Carre instead goes "this is a good guy, this is a bad guy" instead.
I haven't read all of the books, but Night Manager in particular I read as the successors to the greyer cold war types of earlier novels being now a much darker grey, and with less justification - and the co-protagonist from the service unrealistically trying to be a good guy with consequences.I always got a feeling of post-Cold War fiction going "things were simple but now it's all murky & complicated", so it's interesting that Le Carre instead goes "this is a good guy, this is a bad guy" instead.
That sums up my view as well. I have a feeling that half the reason why "Tinker, Tailor" and "Smiley's People" are the most popular ones is that they actually have endings.Not really sure how I felt about the Night Manager. The ending of the BBC adaption was so toe-curlingly BBC it insulted the intelligence. But the book... just sort of peters out. In fact rather abrupt "What's it all for anyway?" endings are sort of a running theme of these books. Its okay for a couple, but then starts to just seem indecisive.
Yes. He's far from the only author to be guilty of that,* but it is noticeable.Something I found with le Carré's later books, which I don't think I brought up here, is that the pacing became atrocious with his later books: he would write a story that you felt was really building to be quite interesting and then everything gets wrapped up in two pages. I'd say that all of the books in this period suffer from that problem. I had wondered whether it was a change in editor, but this was reasonably consistent. It seems more that there was this feeling "Oh, David doesn't need editing" and also that he was acutely sensitive to anything he saw as criticism and could respond incredibly poorly to suggestions that he change things. So as time went on his stories are published almost on the basis of the first draft submitted to the publisher. Again, something to investigate with his archives.
It seems more that there was this feeling "Oh, David doesn't need editing" and also that he was acutely sensitive to anything he saw as criticism and could respond incredibly poorly to suggestions that he change things.
A Perfect Spy sees le Carré explore that somewhat, with the le Carré character acting as an intelligence asset for the Czechoslovakians. And Philby looms large over other le Carré novels, especially Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I don’t feel that le Carré’s intelligence career was destined for great heights, but it's an interesting question to consider.One counterfactual involving Le Carré which I once brought up here, is that he mused that his childhood bore similarities to that of Kim Philby, and that with the right incentives he might himself have been enticed to become a spy for the USSR.
(From Conversations with John Le Carré)