Conversations With John Le Carre

by Le Carre, John

• ISBN13: 9781578066698
• ISBN10: 1578066697
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-12-01
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Mississippi

Summary

John le Carreacute; (b. 1931) is the pen name of David Cornwell. Under that pseudonym he has become the leading writer of contemporary spy thrillers. Tremendously popular and deeply influential, his novels feature a level of psychological depth and narrative complexity that makes them as rewarding as the most highly-touted literary fiction.Weaving incisive political commentary, razor-sharp satire, and suspense, his work reflects upon and dissects both Cold War anxieties and the complications of social relationships. Several of his novels-includingThe Spy Who Came in from the Cold,The Russia House, andThe Tailor of Panama-have been adapted into award-winning movies.InConversations with John le Carreacute;, the acclaimed writer talks about his craft, the nature of language, the literature that he loves, and the ways in which his own life influences the creation of, and characters within, his novels. He worked for the British Foreign Office in the 1960s, and although his works are dazzlingly informed about global politics, le Carreacute;'s voice is distinctively British.His love of language, particularly the ways in which it can reveal or conceal thought and action, is evident in every piece here. In interviews with George Plimpton, Melvyn Bragg, and others, le Carreacute; proves himself to be quick witted, engaging, and deeply passionate. Though often self-deprecating in his humor, le Carreacute; reveals his commitment to the spy thriller and tells us why he thinks it is just as capable of exploring human consciousness as any other literary genre.Matthew J. Bruccoli is Jefferies Professor of English at the University of South Carolina. He has written or edited thirty volumes on F. Scott Fitzgerald, including the standard biography,Some Sort of Epic Grandeur.Judith S. Baughman works in the department of English at the University of South Carolina. With Bruccoli she is co-editor ofConversations with F. Scott Fitzgerald(University Press of Mississippi).

Table of Contents

Introduction	xi
Chronology	xv
John le Carrré: The Writer, like the Spy, Is an Illusionist
Véra Volmane	3	(3)
The Fictional World of Espionage
Leigh Crutchley	6	(4)
Violent Image
Alan Watson	10	(5)
A Conversation with John le Carré
Robert G. Deindorfer	15	(3)
Schoolmaster Who Came in From the Cold
James Cameron	18	(9)
John le Carré: The Writer Who Came in From the Cold
Michael Dean	27	(6)
The Things a Spy Can Do: John le Carré Talking
Melvyn Bragg	33	(5)
A Visit with the Author
Elizabeth Easton	38	(3)
The Secret Life of John le Carré
Godfrey Hodgson	41	(6)
Hong Kong Was a "Halfway House"
Michael Barber	47	(6)
le Carré's Circus: Lamplighters, Moles and Others of That Ilk
Paul Vaughan	53	(7)
The Secret World of John le Carré
Miriam Gross	60	(12)
The Little Drummer Girl: An Interview with John le Carré
Melvyn Bragg	72	(14)
Spying on a Spymaker
Pierre Assouline	86	(4)
John le Carré on Perfect Spies and Other Characters
Thom Schwarz	90	(3)
The Secret Life of John le Carré
Stephen Schiff	93	(14)
The Thawing of the Old Spymaster
Alvin P. Sanoff	107	(5)
What Would I Be Like If I Were He?
Der Spiegel	112	(10)
Spies Who Come in From the Cold War: A Session Between John le Carré and the Soviets
Viktor Orlik	122	(6)
We Distorted Our Own Minds
Walter Isaacson and James Kelly	128	(5)
Remarks to the Knopf Sales Force
John le Carré	133	(3)
Master of the Secret World: John le Carré on Deception, Storytelling and American Hubris
Andrew Ross	136	(9)
John le Carré: The Art of Fiction
George Plimpton	145	(17)
Secrets and Lies
Alan Franks	162	(9)
David Cornwell Discusses His Novel Absolute Friends, Which Was Written under His Pen Name, John le Carré
Robert Siegel	171	(4)
Index	175