A little over a year ago, when the movie 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' was released, I decided to revisit the Smiley books and the two brilliant BBC miniseries. I rated both 'Tinker, Tailor' and 'Smiley's People' as A's and then thoroughly enjoyed Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The productions are over thirty years old, show a very dated UK and for my money are two of the best shows ever on tv. I also took a peak at Kindle and pre-ordered two early Smiley books. They were not available last summer and just downloaded this week. When I was about to start, I noticed that they referred to 'Spy' as a Smiley novel. Shame on Penguin and Kindle because George plays a very small role in 'Spy'. That said, I'm glad I read it again.
The original 1964 NY Times review is fulsome in its praise and quotes Graham Greene, who referred to it as "the best spy story I have ever read". I am not sure of the state of the spy novel genre fifty years ago. Even then, I knew the Bond novels were a spoof. I've since read Greene's 'Our Man In Havana', which is a bit of a satire. (Incidentally, the 'Our Man' movie stars Guiness). The review mentions a few others that were the benchmark at the time and refers to 'Spy' as being "a light year removed" from its competition.
It was the first book awarded both the British Gold Dagger Award and the American Edgar Award. The Brits like it so much that they gave it the Dagger of Daggers Award in 2005, a one-time award given to the Golden Dagger winner regarded as the standout among all fifty winners over the history of the Crime Writers Association. I would be remiss if I didn't point out that the movie received many BAFTA awards and that Richard Burton's performance as Alec Leamas was nominated for an Oscar.
Like so many of LeCarre's cold war masterpieces, this novel involves multi-dimensional chess on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Leamas is out of the Service, on the road to personal and financial ruin, because the E. German spymaster, Karl Mundt, has rolled up his Berlin network. It's all a contrivance to tempt the E. Germans to 'turn' him, so that he can fill their minds with doubt about Mundt. At Mundt's trial, Leamas realizes that he's been played, because the real intent of the operation is to get Mundt's subordinate because Karl Mundt is really London's man. I suspect that it was such a success fifty years ago because it opened a window on the brutal complexity of cold war spying. It's still great because of the author's narrative skill, and I love the fact that back then it could all be done in 250 pages. It's a reminder of why so many people wondered what LeCarre and others would write about when the Wall came down in 1989.
No comments:
Post a Comment