John le Carré obituary Eric Homberger
John le Carré, who has died aged 89 of pneumonia, raised the spy novel to a new level of seriousness and respect.
He was in his late 20s when he began to write fiction – in longhand, in small red pocket notebooks, on his daily train journey between his home in Buckinghamshire and his day job with MI5, the counter-intelligence service, in London. After the publication of two neatly crafted novels, Call for the Dead (1961) and A Murder of Quality (1962), which received measured reviews and modest sales, he hit the big time with The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963).
Sat Jan 12 2002 at 16:48:18
John Le Carré is a famous English spy novelist. His real name is David John Moore Cornwell. He s not a literary writer, so nobody teaches undergraduate courses about his sex life and political views. Nevertheless we can maybe throw together a few facts about him.
Mr. Cornwell was born in 1931 in Poole, Dorset. He was the son of a successful swindler, Ronnie Cornwell, who eventually served time in prison. His mother wasn t around (his 1986 novel
A Perfect Spy lends much of this background to a fictional character). After public school, young Cornwell spent a year (1948-1949) studying German literature at the University of Berne in Switzerland. He then transferred to Lincoln College, Oxford, where he got something called a first-class honours degree in modern languages. He claims
There May Never Be Another Spy Novelist Like John le Carre msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
John le Carré, outstanding novelist whose work transcended the spy genre – obituary
He transformed espionage fiction in the masterworks The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
14 December 2020 • 9:11am
John le Carré, who has died aged 89, was one of the most successful post-war English novelists, and perhaps the finest thriller writer of the 20th century.
Le Carré, the pen name adopted by David Cornwell, used his own experience of intelligence work to extend the range of a genre whose heroes, epitomised by James Bond, were principally still romantic figures engaged in a glamorous profession.
Le Carré had only contempt for this sleeping-car image of espionage. His spies were weary and fearful men, combatants in a cold and sombre war, his themes those of isolation, betrayal and the clash between the demands of an individual’s conscience and those of an amoral, post-Imperial State.