The King Emperor is dead, may his books live forever
in readers hearts! He was a Brit spy once upon a time, then turned to writing
and the world of entertainment was never the same again.
Le Carre’s best known principal protagonist, hero of a
series of gripping novels, is George Smiley, who enters the Le Carre world
after retirement. (This statement is mildly inaccurate, but I leave it to the
reader to find out why that is so).
George is short, plump, nearsighted and a scholar of
medieval German poetry. He is also married to the beautiful and glamourous
Anne, who is serially unfaithful. A poor little dab of a loser, you would
think; but you would be wrong, because he is also a brilliant spy and a
ruthless spymaster.
In the beginning was A Murder of Quality. A
posh boys-only boarding school in a quiet village is shaken by a murder. One of
the students is found dead, evidently murdered. George, a friend of the Head
Master, is asked to look into the matter and we have our first meeting with the
unlikely hero who will dominate the world of spy thrillers for years to come.
After this debut, George figures in a number of
absolutely outstanding books, involved in an unrelenting battle of wits, blood
and tears with his Soviet nemesis, the spymaster known by his workname, Karla. The
Karla saga ends with Smiley’s People and George then disappears,
presumably to his Bayswater flat to read his favourite German poets.
Le Carre’s best books, in this committed fan’s humble
opinion, were about the Cold War and the list of Best Ever ended with Smiley’s
People. But in between the Smiley stories, Le Carre wrote two unforgettable
novels with other ‘heroes’. The most famous of these is The Spy Who Came in
From the Cold featuring Alec Leamas, a hard man of deep commitments
and a remarkable tragic hero. (George plays a bit role in the story, too). I
have often felt that in the garb of a superb spy novel -- dark and treacherous
-- Le Carre was actually crafting a delicate and touching love story. It is, of
course, both, and that is a difficult act to pull off, but not for someone with
Le Carre’s creative skills.
And finally, we have A Small Town in Germany, eclipsed
by the fame of the other novels. This, too, remains one of Le Carre’s
outstanding creations, a must read.
After Smiley’s People, Le Carre wrote
several other thrillers -- I am disregarding the aberration called The Naïve
and Sentimental Lover, whatever that was supposed to be -- but none
that have gripped my entire being the way the early ones did.
For those who have yet to discover Le Carre’s writings
I would wholeheartedly recommend that you get the whole lot -- from A Murder
of Quality, Call for the Dead, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honorable
Schoolboy, Smiley’s People, The Spy who came in from the Cold and A Small Town
in Germany.
Having read this lot, you put them away and when you
have a quiet weekend or a long journey ahead and no new book at hand, pick out
any one of these and read it again!
Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment