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John le Carre RIP

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Dod101
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John le Carre RIP

#365866

Postby Dod101 » December 13th, 2020, 10:48 pm

I am devastated that John le Carre has died. I think I have all his books bar one or two of the early ones and enjoyed almost all of them. His writing was wonderfully clear and mostly precise, although the plot was occasionally rather more obscure.
His best book for me was probably The Honourable Schoolboy because I lived in Hong Kong at the time and personally knew the guy behind the old Craw character and no one has captured a Saturday afternoon with a typhoon better than he did, O and the view from the gent's loo of the old Foreign Correspondent's Club, overlooking the harbour.

It comes to us all but I am really so very sorry about his death.

Dod

AleisterCrowley
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Re: John le Carre RIP

#365871

Postby AleisterCrowley » December 13th, 2020, 11:06 pm

Sad indeed, I particular like the Karla Trilogy (re-reading Smiley's People currently)

As you of course know, Old Craw was based on Richard Hughes - who also appears in a Bond book as 'Dikko Henderson' (You Only Live Twice)
Sounds like a real character

Dod101
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Re: John le Carre RIP

#365874

Postby Dod101 » December 13th, 2020, 11:41 pm

AleisterCrowley wrote:Sad indeed, I particular like the Karla Trilogy (re-reading Smiley's People currently)

As you of course know, Old Craw was based on Richard Hughes - who also appears in a Bond book as 'Dikko Henderson' (You Only Live Twice)
Sounds like a real character


Indeed Richard Hughes and I were broken into in the middle of the night on I think consecutive nights in Hong Kong by a Mainland Chinese gang. A hell of a long time ago, say maybe the late 1970s? He was a great character. le Carre would have had no difficulty in using him. It was mentioned in some articles he wrote for the Far East Economic Review in which he just wrote what he liked! Sadly I have been doing some sorting out and now cannot find anything. I could though write quite a lot about him.

I will go back to Smiley's People as well but the Honourable Schoolboy was I think my favourite.

Commiserations to all who loved (or at least respected) the greatest spy novelist of all time.

Dod

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Re: John le Carre RIP

#366098

Postby Charlottesquare » December 14th, 2020, 2:39 pm

This is a bit of a blow, I came to his books age 19 via the 1979 TV series, the Karla Trilogy were first but then the earlier books were added and all the later books bought. Whilst I always had a soft spot for those featuring "dear old George" I also came to admire his forays into other areas, like The Constant Gardener.

Most books I do not get invested in enough to care, but when I went to the cinema to watch the film version of "Tinker Tailor" I was actually frightened that it would destroy both the original TV series and the books in my conscious (it didn't, I thought for a film of its length it was excellent), I am hard pressed to remember how many readings of the trilogy I have done but I think it must be circa four reads since 1979/80.

There were always two authors that grabbed me, one was Dickens (from university) who can describe his male characters as if they were drawn for one (albeit with a touch of the cartoon) but whose plots require suspensions of disbelief and whose female characters are somewhat lacking, the other was Le Carre who sometimes shone a torch into the souls of his characters but within a narrative and plot that generally did not fail to entertain, they are different, and I certainly have to be in the right mood to read Dickens, but there were parts of Le Carre's writing that were sublime and possibly he also will still be being read nearly two hundred years after he wrote them, because in my opinion he was that good.

Dod101
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Re: John le Carre RIP

#366368

Postby Dod101 » December 15th, 2020, 9:47 am

In today's Times there is an excellent obit of le Carre and a separate and very good article by Ben Macintyre about his friend, John le Carre. Macintyre writes well about spies himself, in his case non fiction of course.

All very sad but it is great to have le Carre well remembered.

Dod

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Re: John le Carre RIP

#366386

Postby terminal7 » December 15th, 2020, 10:50 am

I went to a party around 1986/7. The host (whose wife was a friend of my OH) was an Israeli businessman who spent a considerable amount of time in the USSR. Of course the OH and I had had previously great fun speculating about his 'real' role. We were introduced to a group and as usual failed to pick up any names apart from a David. After much speculation about Glasnost and a discussion of a recent trip to Moscow by David, I asked him what he did. He mentioned he was an author and of course I asked if he had published anything that I may have read. He then said his name was David Cornwell but he published under a pseudonym, by which time I had finally tumbled. We ended up talking about his experiences of teaching in a public school. My recollection of him was of a delightful and unassuming raconteur with no 'side'.

In fact, we learnt later from the hostess he had just been researching for the Russia House - hence the link with the host.

T7

Dod101
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Re: John le Carre RIP

#366399

Postby Dod101 » December 15th, 2020, 11:10 am

So you met the great man himself. I rather enjoyed the Russia House and the film, although it is long time ago now.

Dod

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Re: John le Carre RIP

#407585

Postby terminal7 » April 28th, 2021, 10:19 am

So you met the great man himself


A belated response Dod - just that once.

During the conversation it turned out that a son of his went to the same school as my son - albeit his offspring a few years older. Then the penny dropped - I had wondered in the past why there was always a pile of signed le Carre books at the annual Summer charity sale at the school.

T7

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Re: John le Carre RIP

#435048

Postby AWOL » August 16th, 2021, 8:38 am

I am very late to this thread but I must say I absolutely love his writing. I can see how the pace isn't necessarily right for everyone but it suits my slow but not dim brain. I think it began for me with the TV series which I watched with my grandparents as a child. Up until then the books were noticed by me in the newsagents that I had a paper round from but no more. The Karla trilogy remains a favourite. I am not sure I will ever understand George's relationship with Ann. Perhaps it's a public school thing.

I was very sorry to hear of his passing. I guess I am that age... Leonard Cohen, John le Carre, whatever happened to the heroes.

I also have a soft spot for the Honourable School Boy although I have only ever visited HK on holiday.

Dod101
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Re: John le Carre RIP

#450188

Postby Dod101 » October 14th, 2021, 7:31 pm

Can I remind all John le Carre fans that today his (apparently) last novel has just been published. I am about to settle down with it and a bottle of whisky. It is titled Silverview if anyone is interested.

Dod

Dod101
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Re: John le Carre RIP

#450241

Postby Dod101 » October 15th, 2021, 1:22 am

I am now going to bed. The new le Carre is not exactly vintage but it could be written by no other. The language and style could only be le Carre. It is beautifully written. For John le Carre aficionados it is a must buy. Not quite through it all yet.

Dod

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Re: John le Carre RIP

#450309

Postby UncleEbenezer » October 15th, 2021, 11:01 am

Dod101 wrote:I am now going to bed. The new le Carre is not exactly vintage but it could be written by no other. The language and style could only be le Carre. It is beautifully written. For John le Carre aficionados it is a must buy. Not quite through it all yet.

Dod

You put it down unfinished? That's a disappointing comment.

But thanks for the live commentary. You clearly sustained a good session with it!

Dod101
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Re: John le Carre RIP

#450328

Postby Dod101 » October 15th, 2021, 11:53 am

UncleEbenezer wrote:
Dod101 wrote:I am now going to bed. The new le Carre is not exactly vintage but it could be written by no other. The language and style could only be le Carre. It is beautifully written. For John le Carre aficionados it is a must buy. Not quite through it all yet.

Dod

You put it down unfinished? That's a disappointing comment.

But thanks for the live commentary. You clearly sustained a good session with it!


I will probably finish it this evening but surely I can be excused at 1.22 am?

Dod

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Re: John le Carre RIP

#450329

Postby AleisterCrowley » October 15th, 2021, 12:01 pm

I find that, when reading 'in the company of spirits', if I've read the same page three times it's time to call it a day

Dod101
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Re: John le Carre RIP

#451144

Postby Dod101 » October 19th, 2021, 1:07 am

For any John le Carre fan, this book (Silverview) is well worth reading. It is vintage le Carre and as always beautifully written. And the author was probably in his mid 80s when writing it! Quite remarkable.

Dod


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