John Le Carre RIP

[DracoM]

Oh crumbs...............a disaster but what a privilege to have been able to read his wonderful novels!

[antongould]

Oh crumbs...............a disaster but what a privilege to have been able to read his wonderful novels!

Indeed .........

[Petrushka]

This is deeply upsetting news. David Cornwell alias John le Carre has been part of my required reading since I first picked up The Spy Who Came in from the Cold from my school library aged 12 in 1966. I've read all of his books, some more than once and a few several times. and had the privilege of meeting him twice.

le Carre wasn't just a great spy novelist, he was a great novelist full stop.

[muzzer]

I was given his latest last Christmas not having read him since my teens. I thought it superbly fluent and utterly accomplished, and I’m very saddened at this news.

[BBMmk2]

I read his books many years ago. Since I’ve been ill, I haven’t read anything. Perhaps audio books are the way forward for me then? I used to enjoy Le Carré’s books a lot. A great loss to the literary world. RIP

[eighthobstruction]

....just a brilliant writer who tick tick tick made the pages flow with hardly a spare word which one might wonder why it was there ....

[Serial_Apologist]

What is it about the 1979 and 1981 televisings of Tinker Tailor and Smiley's People that makes them so gripping that I feel right inside them and have to watch them once a year? Probably more about me than the programmes, given that I do not usually stick with plots without sympathetic characters; I have not read the books. My view is that The Night Manager came nowhere as close to brilliance, being too dependent on stock characterisations.

[Bella Kemp]

I read his books many years ago. Since I’ve been ill, I haven’t read anything. Perhaps audio books are the way forward for me then? I used to enjoy Le Carré’s books a lot. A great loss to the literary world. RIP

Oh, yes, audio books will give you much joy - do give them a go: nowadays the choice is huge, and the quality excellent.

[muzzer]

What is it about the 1979 and 1981 televisings of Tinker Tailor and Smiley's People that makes them so gripping that I feel right inside them and have to watch them once a year? Probably more about me than the programmes, given that I do not usually stick with plots without sympathetic characters; I have not read the books. My view is that The Night Manager came nowhere as close to brilliance, being too dependent on stock characterisations.

Agree. And it was over-hyped. And personally I cannot bear Hugh Laurie. But I will be buying Smiley’s People for a relative for Christmas save in the knowledge it will deliver. Oh, that’s Santa’s job.

[richardfinegold]

What is it about the 1979 and 1981 televisings of Tinker Tailor and Smiley's People that makes them so gripping that I feel right inside them and have to watch them once a year? Probably more about me than the programmes, given that I do not usually stick with plots without sympathetic characters; I have not read the books. My view is that The Night Manager came nowhere as close to brilliance, being too dependent on stock characterisations.

He used to be one of my favorite authors, but eventually all of his books were the same: Some reluctant individual is called upon to spy for his country or some other cause, by forces that are as morally compromised as the ones that the spy is working for, and then there is some deep layer of betrayal, which the author spends most of the book foreshadowing. If he had quit after the Tinker/Tailor series I would have a higher opinion, but by the last book he had lapsed into self parody

[eighthobstruction]

He used to be one of my favorite authors, but eventually all of his books were the same: Some reluctant individual is called upon to spy for his country or some other cause, by forces that are as morally compromised as the ones that the spy is working for, and then there is some deep layer of betrayal, which the author spends most of the book foreshadowing. If he had quit after the Tinker/Tailor series I would have a higher opinion, but by the last book he had lapsed into self parody

....I'm not a lover of spy/thriller/murder detective/adventure novels....I read his first few Cold War novels....indeed as he progressed into plots and situations to which he didn't really have vast physical knowledge, it is as you say 'samey' and thinner....

[Beresford]

What is it about the 1979 and 1981 televisings of Tinker Tailor and Smiley's People that makes them so gripping that I feel right inside them and have to watch them once a year? Probably more about me than the programmes, given that I do not usually stick with plots without sympathetic characters; I have not read the books.

I feel the same, although I have read many of his books. If you read The Honorable Schoolboy and a Legacy of Spies, it will provide more context for Smiley's People and The Spy Who Came In From the Cold.

He is quoted in the Guardian as saying “Out of the secret world I once knew I have tried to make a theatre for the larger worlds we inhabit.”
So not just about spies. More about the forces of Aspiration and Degradation which, like Greek Gods, propel our lives to their fate, or their Nemesis, manifesting through the finely drawn personalities of Le Carré’s cast.

[Ein Heldenleben]

What is it about the 1979 and 1981 televisings of Tinker Tailor and Smiley's People that makes them so gripping that I feel right inside them and have to watch them once a year? Probably more about me than the programmes, given that I do not usually stick with plots without sympathetic characters; I have not read the books. My view is that The Night Manager came nowhere as close to brilliance, being too dependent on stock characterisations.

I think it’s partly that TTSS had an exceptionally high level of ensemble acting - not just Guinness but Bernard Hepton , Ian Richardson (also a masterly RSC actor ) Terence Rigby , Anthony Bate, Beryl Reid - there’s not a duff name in the cast. In The Night Manager Hugh Laurie just upstaged everyone . TTSS was beautifully adapted by I think Arthur Hopcraft another master of the trade . Sometimes things just come together . It also has one of the all time great TV a music tracks by Geoffrey Burgon ...oh yes and a superb title sequence.

[Petrushka]

I think it’s partly that TTSS had an exceptionally high level of ensemble acting - not just Guinness but Bernard Hepton , Ian Richardson (also a masterly RSC actor ) Terence Rigby , Anthony Bate, Beryl Reid - there’s not a duff name in the cast. In The Night Manager Hugh Laurie just upstaged everyone . TTSS was beautifully adapted by I think Arthur Hopcraft another master of the trade . Sometimes things just come together . It also has one of the all time great TV a music tracks by Geoffrey Burgon ...oh yes and a superb title sequence.

I've been wondering for years whether the Burgon Nunc Dimittis was specially composed for the series or whether it was a pre-existing piece, perhaps with an accompanying Magnificat. I'm guessing it was specially composed but does anyone know for certain? Whichever it is, it remains one of the most haunting pieces I know and if allowed only one piece of music at my funeral this would be it!

[Serial_Apologist]

I've been wondering for years whether the Burgon Nunc Dimittis was specially composed for the series or whether it was a pre-existing piece, perhaps with an accompanying Magnificat. I'm guessing it was specially composed but does anyone know for certain? Whichever it is, it remains one of the most haunting pieces I know and if allowed only one piece of music at my funeral this would be it!

There is also a Magnificat: the dates of both (presumably of composition) on my LP of Burgon choral music from Chichester Cathedral, are 1979, the same year as TTSS. This would seem to suggest it was specially commissioned for the series - how long otherwise would it take to obtain the copyright?