John le Carre (real name David Cornwell) has been a purveyor of spy thrillers for fifty years and counting. His remarkable insights into the Cold War spy game and an ability to renew himself by extending his writing beyond that backdrop have kept him at the top of the pile. What is even more extraordinary is the typically understated and reserved way in which he has amassed such appreciation.
The long awaited film adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, starring Gary Oldman as the 'short, fat, and of quiet disposition' George Smiley, was released in the UK on 16 September. This marks, with the possible exception of The Constant Gardener (2005), what is probably le Carre's most commercial exposure to date.
Littered with stellar performers, including Academy Award winner Colin Firth, John Hurt, Mark Strong, Tom Hardy, and Benedict Cumberbatch, and directed by Tomas Alfredson the Tinker Tailory of 2011 oozes a sheen of seventies cool that was unparalleled in Alec Guinness' portrayal of the downbeatly doughty Smiley.
A Perfect Spy Writer
George Smiley and John le Carre first made themselves known to the world in Call For the Dead. Like its hero the book was somewhat reserved and proved relatively unsuccessful. It wasn't until the release of le Carre's third novel The Spy Who Came in From the Cold that his name gained notoriety.
From there le Carre went on to write the hugely acclaimed Karla Trilogy, and a total of 22 novels to date, some of which continue to address morality in espionage but within a context beyond the Iron Curtain, as well as thrillers such as The Constant Gardener based on an actual conspiracy in Nigeria.
Le Carre vs. Fleming
In The Spy Who Came le Carre quietly set out his stall as the antithesis to the glitzy world of James Bond, highlighting the failures of the West as well as the East in the fight to win the Cold War. The self-awareness and greater sense of realism is an aspect of le Carre's work that has carried him into the twenty first century commanding great respect.
There is no denying the innovation of Bond creator Ian Fleming, but had he lived longer it is unlikely that he would have achieved the same degree of longevity as le Carre. Twenty two blockbuster movies may appear to argue otherwise, but at least 85% of those films are little more than outrageous exaggerations of an already oversimplified, gaudy, two dimensional fictional universe.
Earlier this year, in his four-part series Faulks on Fiction, Sebastian Faulks, one of the latest writers to take up Fleming's pen, deemed James Bond to be little more than a snob; an obsessive victim of brand consumerism with his tuned Bentley, blended Moreland cigarettes, and magnum of Dom Perignon. For Bond and Fleming it's as clear cut as good and bad being equal to West and East.
Le Carre on the other hand is capable of much more complex storytelling, and although his characters possess foibles similar to those of Bond's, they do not dominate the prose. Le Carre does not paint a simplistic portrait of East and West but exposes the failings of each by giving a voice to countless individuals who would have been, and often were, erased into anonymity by the Circus and Moscow Centre.
One of the villains in The Spy Who Came, Hans-Dieter Mundt, is not vilified because he works for Moscow but because of his truly sadistic nature that developed during his time as a Nazi. General Vladamir in Smiley's People may work for the British but he still harbours communist sympathies, and defected because Soviet imperialism. The Circus (Le Carre's name for the British Secret Service) also comes under scrutiny for its treatment of Alec Leamas and Jim Prideaux.
Unlike le Carre Fleming never really attempted to portray the profound and subtle defects of espionage, although he did give the world a hugely flawed rogue that never shied away from doing wrong, and did at times betray mild pathos when maltreated by M. These, however, were moments more in the vein of a disgruntled public schoolboy confined to prep by a zealous master rather than being allowed to go and beat the living daylights out of the school bully.
Le Carre Revisited
Whilst le Carre has moved onto to other successes leaving his 'squat and shrunken' spy stranded in the past, the release of Tinker Tailor in UK cinemas has heralded a revival of the Smiley brand. Booksellers shelves are lined with new versions of Tinker Tailor sporting a bespectacled Gary Oldman on the flyleaf, as well as sleek copies of le Carre's earlier works from Sceptre and Penguin Modern Classics.
BBC Radio 4 began 'Smiley Season' in 2009 (repeated earlier in 2011), an entire collection of radio dramatisations of the Smiley novels, and the audiobook download website Audible has recently encouraged buyers to purchase an unabridged version of Tinker Tailor read by Michael Jayston, who originally played Peter Guillam in the television serial.
The Guardian and The Observer have adopted a more altruistic promotional tack, offering free downloads from le Carre oeuvre through the BBC's audiobook branch AudioGoGo, ostensibly as part of their Book Season, which just so happens to coincide with the Tinker Tailor film release. William Boyd also provided an A-Z guide to the world of Smiley from betrayal and ideology to omniscience and vanity.
Reviews
Opening at the Venice Film Festival on the 5th September 2011 the new film has been very well received, with particular praise for the way in which it has condensed and manoeuvres the view through le Carre's intricate plot.
Time Out dubbed it as 'equally as thrilling as le Carre's book', TIME said 'Here, the old British stiff upper-lip slowly forms a rictus', and Empire appeared to have the mot juste with 'extremely smart and - considering this is a sad, shabby, drably grey-green world of obsessives, misfits, misdirection, disillusionment, self-destruction, and treachery - quite beautifully executed.'
Guinness and the Test of Time
Remarkably, a great deal of reviews look to how faithful the new film is to the 1979 mini-series as much as the original text. Guinness' perceived faultless portrayal of Smiley is unlikely to be lost and certainly not forgotten.
What with repeated throwbacks to the glorious days of Alec Guiness, countless rehashed radio plays and readings, unending reprints of the novels, and now an acclaimed film, George Smiley, his world, and the renown of John le Carre are very much alive and kicking, and will no doubt forever live to die another day.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is set to be released in the USA on 9 December 2011.
Ralph Connolly - Ralph Connolly is a graduate in English and former milkman. He spends much of his time reading all kinds of detective fiction for it's a ...
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