Free Republic

LONDON — John le Carré, whose exquisitely nuanced, intricately plotted Cold War thrillers elevated the spy novel to high art by presenting both Western and Soviet spies as morally compromised cogs in a rotten system full of treachery, betrayal and personal tragedy, died on Saturday in Cornwall, England. He was 89.

Former spy and and legendary thriller writer John Le Carré has compared the election of Donald Trump and Brexit to the rise of fascism in the 1930s in Spain, Germany, Italy and Japan. The 85-year-old writer released his 24th novel, marking the return of his Machiavellian spy chief George Smiley after a 27-year hiatus. To mark the release on Thursday of the book, 'A Legacy of Spies', which traces its origins back to his very first novel 'The Spy Who Came in From the Cold', Le Carré addressed an audience at the Royal Festival Hall in an event to support...

JOHN LE CARRE, the espionage writer, has revealed that he was tempted to defect to the Soviet Union during the cold war. The author, whose real name is David Cornwell, wrote his first novel while working for MI6 in 1961. He says he was not attracted to communism – he was just curious to find out what life was like behind the iron curtain in the 1960s.

Author and former spy John Le Carr was tempted to defect to the Soviet Union during the Cold War, he revealed yesterday. The 76-year-old, who wrote his first three books while working as an MI6 agent, admitted he was curious to know what it would be like working for the Russians. When Le Carre whose real name is David Cornwell, was asked if he was genuinely tempted to switch sides, he said: 'Yes, there was a time when I was, yes. 'I wasn't tempted ideologically. But when you spy intensively and get closer and closer to the border . ....

Spent the weekend watching back to back DVDs of John Le Carre's "Tinker,Tailor,Soldier,Spy" & "Smiley's People", both starring the Great Sir Alec Guinness. I had not seen either in quite awhile and thought I would rent both to see again. What a tour de force for Guinness playing British Master Spy George Smiley. This really is what good drama is and I was on the edge of my seat watching both of these as Smiley is tracking his Arch Nemesis Karla of Moscow Center. Reminded me growing up of all the great spy films there was durng the Cold War....

I have always been a huge fan of the novels of John LeCarre especially the George Smiley ones. I've also been in awe of Sir Alec Guinness's performance in the BBC productions of the various novels. The performances were so good that LeCarre himself was quoted as saying that he could no longer write about George Smiley because after the productions were released "Smiley no longer belongs to me, he belongs to Alec". And yes, I'm aware of the leftists slant of both LeCarre (who seemed to go off the deep end during the 2003 war) and also of the...

It’s no secret that I believe the War on Terror is essential, for us and for the future of Western Civilization.It’s also no secret that the standard “intellectual” position on the war is virulent opposition – at least to the campaign in Iraq. There are sensible reasons to have opposed the Iraq campaign from the start, and sensible reasons to regret it now. Unfortunately, I hear almost none of the sensible reasons. Instead, I hear the kind of vitriol spewed in – sadly – John le Carré’s latest novel, Absolute Friends. It’s a moving story of how a disaffected young...

The War According to John le Carre By Richard Cohen Thursday, January 23, 2003; Page A21 John le Carre, the author of some brilliant spy novels, writes in the Times of London that "America has entered one of its periods of historical madness." The present time is "worse than McCarthyism" and even worse than -- an odd choice -- "the Bay of Pigs." Maybe le Carre means the Cuban missile crisis. It's possible. After all, he gets so much else wrong. One, for starters, is his assertion that "88 per cent of the American people want" to go to war...