The first thing that comes to mind when one thinks about spies and espionage is probably James Bond, perhaps not the version of Bond as written by Ian Fleming but more the version given to us by the producers of the Bond films and portrayed by a succession of actors like Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore and latterly Daniel Craig.
The spy stories of John le Carré are really quite different. There are stories about people in offices who become greedy and pass documents and information to the other side for money. Perhaps they want better lives or they want money to impress women or for a thousand other reasons. They are set in seedy dull worlds where the jet setting glamour of 007 rarely intrudes.
John le Carré is actually the pen name of David Cornwell who began writing while serving with MI5 and later MI6 which was why he had to use a nom de plume. When his writing career took off with the great success of his third novel The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, John le Carré left the intelligence services to become a full time author.
He wrote a number of novels, all with a spying or espionage theme and many featured his famous spy, George Smiley. Smiley is an older man, a quiet and easy going but intelligent operative who plods along as he investigates and analyses information.
George only appears in the background to The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. Taking centre stage are Control, the head of the secret service and his Berlin agent, Alec Leamas. The secret service is known in John’s books as the ‘circus’ as it is based in Cambridge Circus in London and he introduces us to other elements of his secret world such as the ‘lamplighters’ and ‘scalphunters’ and many others, all nicknames for the various elements of the ‘circus’.
In The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, Alec Leamas is head of the Berlin Station and is recalled to London after the capture of one of his agents in East Berlin. Control has a new task for Leamas, that of discrediting the head of East German Intelligence, Mundt. The task calls for Leamas to pretend to become disillusioned by MI6 and offer himself as an informant.
In the splendid film version, Leamas is played by Richard Burton. He plays the part superbly. After leaving British Intelligence Leamas gets a job in a small private library where he becomes involved with a fellow librarian Liz, although her name was changed in the film version to Nan so as not to invite comparison with Burton’s real life wife, Elizabeth Taylor. Burton apparently wanted Liz Taylor to play the part of Nan but director Martin Ritt insisted on casting Clare Bloom.
When Leamas arrives in Europe to give his information he meets Fiedler played by Oskar Werner who is to interrogate him. Acting on information given by Leamas, he begins to feel that Mundt, the head of East German Intelligence, is actually a traitor but then the story is flipped on its head as we find that Leamas’ mission is actually to discredit Fiedler and protect Mundt, who actually is working for the west.
I was probably first introduced to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by the 1979 TV series starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. In the story Smiley has retired but he is brought back into the intelligence fold after Lacon, the senior civil servant responsible for the service, asks him to investigate a story that has been brought to him by a missing agent named Ricki Tarr. The story concerns a ‘mole’ working for British Intelligence but passing information to the Soviet Union.
I read the book shortly afterwards but not long ago I picked up a paperback version linked to the recent film version in which Gary Oldman plays George Smiley.
The story was influenced by the defection of Kim Philby to the Soviet Union who was the original ‘mole’ at the heart of British Intelligence.
Smiley has to check out the story of Ricki Tarr and along the way interviews many former ‘Circus’ employees who left the service after the death of Control. Control was convinced of the existence of a spy at the centre of the organisation and sent agent Jim Prideux on a mission to Czechoslovakia. During that mission, Prideux was shot and captured and the circus went into meltdown.
Kathy Burke plays Connie Sachs, an old Soviet watcher who became convinced Soviet diplomat Polyakov was a spy but her idea was rejected by the new Circus leaders but Smiley realises Connie might have been on to something. There are various suspects for the mole and they have all been given code names by Control; Tinker, Tailor, Poorman and so on. Control expected Prideux to come back with a code word but he did not and by the time he was exchanged and returned to the UK, the poorly Control had passed away.
Control had given another name to the mole; he called him Gerald and Smiley realises that Gerald must have been planted in the circus years ago by ‘Karla’, the head of Soviet Intelligence. Smiley had once tried to recruit Karla as a British agent but Karla, played by Patrick Stewart in the TV series took Smiley’s offered cigarettes and lighter but declined Smiley’s offer. Why? Smiley thought it was because Karla had an ace in the hole, Gerald, already burrowing into British Intelligence.
Another element in the story is the unseen Ann, Smiley’s wife. She has had various affairs and Smiley has left her but on the night of the Prideux shooting it appears she was with Bill Haydon played by Colin Firth in the film. Who then is the mole?
The mole of course is unmasked at the end of both the book, the TV series and the film. The book, although interesting, moves slowly along and both the TV series and the film emulate the book’s slow pace. I’m not sure I particularly cared for the film but the book was an enjoyable read and it’s interesting how the author holds on to all the various elements of the story and is still able to throw a little spanner into the works with the suggestions about Ann’s dalliance with Bill Haydon.
All of John le Carré’s books are rather slow moving stories that simmer along gently and one other book I tried to read recently, Our Kind of Traitor, was one I put down permanently as I really didn’t have enough interest in the story to continue.
John le Carré wrote 26 novels. In later life he was disillusioned with the UK over Brexit and in fact he was so upset that he decided to become an Irish citizen. He died in 2020 aged 89.
Letters from an Unknown Author! 