John le Carre: A Trade Secret. Part 2

[David Flin]

Part 2 of the dive into the world of David Cornwell by @Stateless can be found here.

Discuss, looking out for moles.

 

[Charles EP M.]

Combine a longer Karla series with sticking to the Cold War setting and you could get Le Carre seen as not just a past-it guy, "was he ever good REALLY or did he get lucky, obviously the TV show improved his work" (followed by revisionists going "hey turns out Tinker Tailor's great")

 

[Coiler]

I find it baffling that Le Carre apparently couldn't think of a plot that involved Smiley and the Middle East.

(That being said, researching one plotline and using the notes for another story is something all authors do)

 

[David Flin]

I find it baffling that Le Carre apparently couldn't think of a plot that involved Smiley and the Middle East.

Incomprehensible is the word I would use.

 

[Stateless]

I find it baffling that Le Carre apparently couldn't think of a plot that involved Smiley and the Middle East.

(That being said, researching one plotline and using the notes for another story is something all authors do)

"Well, my interest in the Middle East begain after I'd written The Honourable Schoolboy, when I still had it in mind to take Smiley around the world and have him fighting it out with Karla, his Russian opposite number, in different theatres. So in 1978 I went to the Lebanon and to Israel and I tried to familiarize myself with the area and its problems. I simply could not find a plot which was not too Gothic, too manipulative - too silly really - to accommodate that conflict. The Soviet presence in the Middle East, at that time, was very slight indeed, I mean the Russians have goofed in the Middle East anyway and they were effectively thrown out of Egypt. I just couldn't find a point at which to come in with the story so I put it aside and wrote Smiley's People instead".

-- John le Carré in interview with Melvyn Bragg, 1983.

I had wondered whether the television filming of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and the fact that the BBC would pass on filming The Honourable Schoolboy because the cost of filming it in Southeast Asia would be too great, meant that he scrapped a Middle East setting and made it more domestic/European in the hope of getting a further adaptation, but the timings don't really align.

One day my quest for le Carré will see me go to the Bodleian Libraries to consult his literary archive and look at the drafts of Smiley's People, but I'm currently saving that for retirement or someone paying me to do it.

 

[Thande]

I find it baffling that Le Carre apparently couldn't think of a plot that involved Smiley and the Middle East.

(That being said, researching one plotline and using the notes for another story is something all authors do)

Maybe it was that the Middle East was too politically volatile / changing too rapidly and he was worried about it immediately becoming obsolete? I'm reminded of the lack of a James Bond plot involving the Middle East as well - a period novel involving Bond going to the Shah's Iran came out a few years ago, but it only works because the reader knows where the historical context is going.