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> he summer I finished writing my dissertation, the C.I.A. tried to recruit me—as a spy.
I visited a friend and spotted a significant fraction of the le Carré novels on the top of his bookshelf. He seemed to know more about this than a regular interested reader about recruiting. I asked if he had been recruited, and he answered "If you have a lot of languages, you will get a phone call." He was deep into Bengal and several other Indian languages.
Anybody read any of Len Deighton’s work? Especially the early “Harry Palmer” novels?
I think they are spectacular.
I think Graham Greene isn't appreciated much now. His " Human Factor" for example is a superlative example of a spy novel.
After you've read two or three, the next one feels like reheated food. He has a kind of formula. Best consumed in moderation.
> As he saw it, the escapist glamour of Ian Fleming’s Bond novels only bolstered the communist image of the West as a playground of thrill-seeking hedonists
This perspective reinforces a suspicion I've had since reading "The Spy who came in from the Cold" scratch the surface of moral ambiguity and you get the same old liberal propaganda, just the protestant work ethic version.
Man...is it just me or does Hacker News really love John le Carré? Or is it journalists? Don't get me wrong, his books are great with good eye for character and plot. They're dreadfully slow, but that's just his style. I'm mostly amazed at the frequency to which articles about le Carré make the front page.
I can only speak for myself, but I’ve always felt he’s far more intellectually challenging than other espionage authors. I remember reading one of his books (can’t remember exactly which, possibly The Little Drummer Girl or The Honorable Schoolboy) and realizing that every single line of dialogue in the book has multiple layers of subterfuge, double meaning, pretense, irony… Even the simplest exchange requires focus on part of the reader, which is not common for the genre.
All of this, yes. The thing about his characters is they all have this complex interiority that you're privy to, or semi-privy to: it makes stuff feel real. In particular if you came out of a dysfunctional family (like Le Carre did) then your tendency to dig into situations for secrets and threats? It's always rewarded with the unfolding of story and character.
He writes characters SO well. They're really interesting and complicated, and the complications matter. Barley in The Russia House and his handler… there's just a lot going on, and when he throws a twist at you it's justified and supported and rings true. He's very, very good.
Le Carre is definitely more on the literary side, and was likely a big influence in the history of the genre. Also, he was an actual spy, I believe at one point in his career.
So was Ian Fleming!
Fleming was involved in Operation Mincemeat.
I didn't know that. Ian obviously had more fun as a spy!
He became not a spy when Kim Philby outed large numbers of the spies.
Reading his books makes you feel like you are performing espionage in order to uncover the hidden plot.
They are slow, but that's what makes them interesting... the antithesis of 007 is George Smiley and that's how espionage and operations are really like.
I like the Laundry Files approach - James Bond-esque action plus Dilbert-esque bureaucratic and IT disfunction. (Also monsters.)
> I like the Laundry Files approach - James Bond-esque action plus Dilbert-esque bureaucratic and IT disfunction. (Also monsters.)
On re-reading old Dilbert with an eye towards modern Scott Adams, I find it harder to enjoy, but more time with Stross, e.g., on https://www.antipope.org/charlie, just makes me enjoy the Laundry Files more.
On his blog as well as his speaking engagements, Stross does mention that he tried to make politics as absurd as possible yet reality seemed to make him seem like the "straight man" in a comedy duo.
Another author I can recommend is Alan Furst, who has written a series of realistic espionage novels set during WWII.
I swear, if anyone ever invents a time machine, I want to go visit Brasserie Heininger - he puts that place in every one of his espionage novels. The menu sounds amazing.
Apparently it is based on an actual historic Paris bistro -- the Bistro Bofinger (which exists to this day, near the Place des Vosges)
What is Brasserie Heininger about in the novels?
"the antithesis of 007 is George Smiley and that's how espionage and operations are really like"
Much more realistic of course, but reality is likely more trivial.
Like the case about Kim Philby, the famous spy le Carré wrote about in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy". The book is way more complex and the characters engage in way more sophisticated double plays and schemes, than in reality, where they make quite trivial and dumb misstakes all the time.
>The book is way more complex and the characters engage in way more sophisticated double plays and schemes, than in reality, where they make quite trivial and dumb misstakes all the time.
I doubt that. I suspect that his writing is quite close to reality. For supporting evidence see The Red Sparrow trilogy by Matthews. The first novel opens with a 14 hour walk across Moscow to be sure that there is nobody on his tail. Just to have a short meeting with his source.
Or read "The Targeter" by Nada Bakos, an actual spy, who was targeting terrorists. The reality, in fact is more complex, long, and boring than any le Carré novel, let alone the (what I think of pulp) thrillers about James Bond.
Well, then just read the book by John le Carre and then compare it with the Wikipedia Article about John Philby.
"The first novel opens with a 14 hour walk across Moscow to be sure that there is nobody on his tail. Just to have a short meeting with his source."
But yes, that is realistic. What I said what is not quite realistic in the books, are the levels of schemes and their complexity in the books. In reality they are usually not that complex because reality is boring and humans act dumb too much, it is just not worth build up 5 layers of conspiracy, when one idiot messes up at the 2 layer (just read about Kim Philby). This is where Cornwell took artistic liberty to spice up things, which is allright and I enjoy the books, but my point is, there are not gods at work in the agencies.
Perhaps you are referring to the Wikipedia article about Kim Philby?
I wouldn't expect such an article to show the fabric and detail of the life of anyone, let alone a double agent.
The two works are not comparable.
"Perhaps you are referring to the Wikipedia article about Kim Philby?"
Yes, that's why I wrote it like that.
The book by Carre has explicitely Kim Philby as historic model. Yet in the books, the ploys are way more complex and the traitor is catched, because of advanced reasoning and schemes by Smiley, with Karla as the mastermind opponent.
In reality, it was just dumb misstakes, after dumb misstakes. (and I also read the autobiography of Kim Philby btw.)
And the details are not important, when the big facts are what they are.
But you are free to keep your opinion of course.
> a 14 hour walk across Moscow to be sure that there is nobody on his tail.
Of course nowadays there's pervasive video surveillance combinable with facial recognition. I wonder what this does to the trad spy biz. In China, for example.
One thing I like about Le Carre is that despite all the effort put into spying almost nothing of real geopolitical importance ever happens. At most someone steals some minor Russian plans to build tanks or something. Its like an international pissing match between the various personalities to see who can get one over on whom.
According to https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Carre&sort=byDate&type=story , in reverse chronological order, there was this post, then 6 days ago, then a month ago, then 3 months ago, then a year ago, then 2 years ago. For a writer who's probably in the midst of a re-evaluation not so long after his death (which was the subject of the post 2 years ago), that doesn't seem to be absurdly many.
> the frequency to which articles about le Carré make the front page
A dozen times over 8 years. Certainly more frequent than usual for a literary figure but probably not excessive?
> Don't get me wrong, his books are great with good eye for character and plot. They're dreadfully slow, but that's just his style. I'm mostly amazed at the frequency to which articles about le Carré make the front page.
I think it's more that he offers an inside perspective during one of the one of the most renowned espionage defections of the 20th century than his ability as an author although I did enjoy his books.
It's a bit later in the text:
> In “A Private Spy,” a new volume of his letters gathered by his son Tim Cornwell, le Carré corresponds with an eclectic array of recipients
There's a new book about him so this is a review basically.
I think HN appreciates his insight into real tradecraft. Anecdotes about people who actually did the thing are valued here. Stories about Fleming, Forsyth and Christopher Lee have also been well received.
I read one of his books once and it was really boring and I never finished it.
I'm an habitual reader, I read tens of novels every year, quite used to reading.
I thought the Spy Who Came in From the Cold had a more straightforward plot than some of his other books, if you want to give him another try.
It is just recent, likely as a result of such articles as this one.
Quite possibly.