He controls a global publishing empire, but few would call him bookish. His city is a hotbed of writers and critics, but when it comes to literature, he pleads ignorance. So it came as something of a plot twist last week when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, visiting a high school English class in the Bronx, confessed that he was not averse to a spy...
Dread throbs like a heartbeat in ''Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,'' a superb new adaptation of the 1974 spy novel by John le Carré. It's a deep pulse that maintains its insistent rhythm throughout the film's murmured conversations, life-and-death office intrigues, violence and yearning loves. The throbbing does a number on your nervous system --...
''DO you know what's killing Western democracy, George? Greed. And constipation. Moral, political, aesthetic. I hate America very deeply. The economic repression of the masses institutionalized.'' A diatribe overheard at Zuccotti Park during the Occupy Wall Street protests? No, think much earlier: a disenchanted British spy complaining about the...
John le Carré er et pseudonym for David John Moore Cornwell (født 19. oktober 1931), der er en engelsk forfatter, som er kendt for sine spændings- og spionromaner. Han er bl.a. tidligere efterretningsagent.
Spionen George Smiley er hovedpersonen i romanerne Dame konge es spion, Spionen der gik sine egne veje, Til døden jer skiller (disse tre udgør tilsammen George Smiley-trilogien), Telefon til afdøde, Mord på højt plan og Den hemmelige pilgrim. Det overordnende tema i le Carrés romaner er spørgsmålet om, i hvilken grad hensigten helliger midlet.
John le Carrés sætter i sine spionromaner for det meste den enkelte over systemet, mennesket over samfundets magtfulde institutioner. For Carré må samfundets krav aldrig tilsidesætte borgernes indflydelse. Et godt eksempel er her The Russia House. Handlingen foregår under det, Mikhail Gorbatjov troede skulle være Sovjetunionens reformation, men som blev dens sammenbrud; problemstillinger fortsætter i novellesamlingen The Secret Pilgrim fra 1990, hvor den gamle helt George Smiley igen er en af hovedpersonerne. Fold ud