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In later novels, especially the three writings in the 1970s that make up Karla’s Quest trilogy (Handyman, tailor, soldier, spy, the honorable schoolboy and Smiley people), Le Carré established himself as the quintessential Cold War novelist – so much so that by its end, the late 1980s, there was a widespread perception that he had lost his subject.
Friends stopped him in the street to sympathize. “What are you going to write now?” they asked. To some extent, David fell victim to his own success. For most people, the name John le Carré was then synonymous with the Cold War; more than any other writer of his generation, he had shaped the public perception of the struggle between East and West.
“I saw the Berlin Wall rise when I was 30, and I saw it collapse at 60,” David told an interviewer. “I chronicled my time, from a position of knowledge and sympathy. I lived the passion of my time. And if people tell me I’m a genre writer, I can only answer that espionage was the Cold War genre.
The strong sense of authenticity that emanates from Le Carré’s books is reinforced by the use of what seems to be the jargon of the spy world: “ the Cousins ” (Americans), “ the Competition ” (MI5 ), “ scalphunters ” (specialists in dangerous operations), “ babysitters ” (bodyguards), “ street artists ” (surveillance agents), etc., giving the reader the impression that he is learns a secret language. The effect is ironic, because while some of this jargon is real, much of it is made up.
In another twist, some of David’s coins were later adopted by intelligence professionals. For years after its initial success, Le Carré denied having any inside knowledge of espionage, but gradually it emerged that it was a cover. The truth was that he had worked for MI5 in the late 1950s, before being transferred to MI6, where he was stationed in West Germany.
Previously, while a student at Oxford, he had spied on his fellow students. At the start of his career as an intelligence officer, he had led agents and conducted interrogations: he knew what he was talking about.
The habits of the craft stuck with him long after he left the service. Often, when we met, he unsettled me by revealing to me that he was aware of an evolution in my personal life. I began to suspect that he was spying on me; just like, in another sense, I was spying on him.
John le Carré: The Biography by Adam Sisman is published by Knopf Canada. To order your copy, call 0844 851 1514 or visit the Telegraph Bookstore
Read more: John le Carré: the 10 best adaptations of his work
Read more: John le Carré: Where to Start Reading, and 10 of His Best Novels
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