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Should John Le Carré get more respect?
I had him pigeonholed as a sort of higher brow Ian Fleming.
I read a Spy Came in From the Cold a while ago. There’s an early section of something 30 pages when with the greatest economy and precision in prose sets up a compelling love story between the main character and his love interest.
How the main character falls out of favour in work and moves to a dingy flat, along with a comic character that is as absurd as any from Dickens. It’s something another poorer writer could have taken 150 pages and not felt compelling. He does it with absolutely no fat on the page.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and the Honourable School boy both have extremely complex precise plots that unfold like a Swiss watch. There’s a section on some in H.S about some boring inter governmental meetings that’s absolutely riveting or a section about them doing some research. A sort of montage like section that is very precise but also at a distance. No endless dialogue but more explanatory sketches.
His playfulness with language is also much above a “genre” writer. It’s hard to explain precisely but it’s almost seductive like Nabokov. Great description of alcohol.
In the H.S the description of numerous war torn countries is masterful.
I had really no idea of his capacities as a writer.
#entertainment
I had him pigeonholed as a sort of higher brow Ian Fleming.
I read a Spy Came in From the Cold a while ago. There’s an early section of something 30 pages when with the greatest economy and precision in prose sets up a compelling love story between the main character and his love interest.
How the main character falls out of favour in work and moves to a dingy flat, along with a comic character that is as absurd as any from Dickens. It’s something another poorer writer could have taken 150 pages and not felt compelling. He does it with absolutely no fat on the page.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and the Honourable School boy both have extremely complex precise plots that unfold like a Swiss watch. There’s a section on some in H.S about some boring inter governmental meetings that’s absolutely riveting or a section about them doing some research. A sort of montage like section that is very precise but also at a distance. No endless dialogue but more explanatory sketches.
His playfulness with language is also much above a “genre” writer. It’s hard to explain precisely but it’s almost seductive like Nabokov. Great description of alcohol.
In the H.S the description of numerous war torn countries is masterful.
I had really no idea of his capacities as a writer.
#entertainment
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