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The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life
From his years serving in British Intelligence during the Cold War, to a career as a writer that took him from war-torn Cambodia to Beirut on the cusp of the 1982 Israeli invasion, to Russia before and after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, John le Carré has always written from the heart of modern times.
The Pigeon Tunnel gives us a glimpse of the writer's journey over more than six decades, and his own hunt for the human spark that has given so much life to his fictional characters.
The Pigeon Tunnel gives us a glimpse of the writer's journey over more than six decades, and his own hunt for the human spark that has given so much life to his fictional characters.
Audio CD
First published September 8, 2016
About the author
John le Carré
196 books8,718 followersJohn le Carré, the pseudonym of David John Moore Cornwell (born 19 October 1931 in Poole, Dorset, England), was an English author of espionage novels. Le Carré had resided in St Buryan, Cornwall, Great Britain, for more than 40 years, where he owned a mile of cliff close to Land's End.
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October 1, 2020
I’m a liar…born to lying, bred to it, trained to it by an industry that lies for a living, practiced in it as a novelist. As a maker of fictions, I invent versions of myself, never the real thing, if it exists.John le Carré spent several years as an intelligence officer, with both MI6 and MI5. When his third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, became an international best-seller, he retired from being a spook to writing about them full time. John le Carré (“Le Carré” means “The Square,” btw) is the nom de plume of one David John Moore Cornwell. As he began his writing while still in the cloak and dagger biz, his employers required him to assume an alias for his writing work.
…We all reinvent our pasts…but writers are in a class of their own. Even when they know the truth, it’s never enough for them.
John Le Carré - from CBC
At the time The Pigeon Tunnel was released Le Carré had written 21 books, mostly fiction. He has subsequently released two more novels. This is his only memoir. He has also dipped into writing short stories, and has written three screenplays. Ten of his books have been made into films, and several more into productions for television. Le Carré is the best writer of spy fiction of his time, offering not only a look into craft and the mindset of those in the field, but a very adult contemplation of the moral ambiguities that are a part and parcel of spy-work. Even when Bond-villain sorts take the stage they are surrounded by layers of ambiguity in which national interests easily triumph personal morality. But even with the odds against them, le Carre’s characters struggle to do the right thing in a wrong world. He started out writing about the Cold War, but, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he looked further afield for conflict areas. There was no shortage.
The book is a sort-of memoir. If you are looking for Le Carré’s life story, this is certainly not the place to plant your listening devices. In fact, an actual biography, written with the cooperation of the subject, was released less than a year prior to this one, John le Carré: The Biography, by Adam Sisman. Sisman is rather peeved, actually, that Le Carré wrote and released his own, uncomfortably (for him) close to the one Sisman had written. If this beef interests you, I recommend checking out this item in The Guardian, John le Carré and I worked for years on his biography. Why is he telling his own story 12 months later?.
Richard Burton in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - from Britannica.com
The Pigeon Tunnel is comprised of about three dozen small tales, usually ones that illuminate one or more of his books. They sometimes read like short stories, but the general gist is here’s where I got the inspiration for this or that person in this or that book. Another thread addresses his relationship with family. Sometimes the two threads become entwined.
There is a fellow who permeates the book and is the source of several of the more moving tales. Think of him standing in a doorway on a misty evening, smoke rising to join the gray air. Think of him sitting in your hotel, slowly turning the pages on the international edition of a newspaper whose name you would know. Maybe he is sitting in a room across the way, glassing the street as you come and go, or in a van listening to the conversation in your room. His name is Ronnie and we will leave him to the shadows for now.
Le Carré makes his excuses in the Introduction
These are true stories told from memory—to which you are entitled to ask, what is truth, and what is memory to a creative writer in what we may delicately call the evening of his life? To the lawyer, truth is facts unadorned. Whether such facts are ever findable is another matter. To the creative writer, fact is raw material, not his taskmaster but his instrument, and his job is to make it sing. Real truth lies, if anywhere, not in facts, but in nuance.So one is free to take these stories with the same shaker of salt you would use with any world-renowned raconteur in a quiet corner of a late-night watering hole.
Alec Guinness as George Smiley - from NPR
He writes of his time in the intelligence services, first recruited as little more than a child. Of course, he is not allowed to spy and tell, so these are mostly stories of when he was assigned as a minder to this or that person or group visiting London. They tend to have a comedic, or at least ironic cast. Sometimes the details exposed are harder-edged.
One thing is certain. Le Carre believes in getting on-the-ground touch-and-feel for his stories. The most fascinating experiences here recall visits to sites he intended to use in a novel, where he wanted to flesh out his take on the scenery, and seek out real-life versions of the characters he already had in mind. He was hoping to pick up some telling details of the lives those people led with which to give his characters a bit more realism. This field work included meetings with people of wildly diverse sorts, from real-life heroes and heroines to world leaders to gangsters, Nobel Prize winners, terrorists, a fair helping of spies and a parrot in a Lebanese Hotel that has a talent that will make you howl with laughter. He lets drop some of the rather stunning things he has heard, and offers up some surprises.
I have met two former heads of the KGB in my life and I liked them both.In one tale he tells of meeting a man who was the very image of a character he had written about in a novel, as if the guy had come into corporal existence directly from the page.
Tom Hiddleston in The Night Manager - image from Indiewire.com
In the later life of his books, le Carre tells of some of his dealings with directors. It is, for the most part, not a pretty picture. More interesting are his encounters with some of the performers in those productions.
He leaves a trail of dropped names that would be the envy of any writer, journalist, or paparazzo. And tells of how he had frequently been mistaken for someone who knows about spying and is still connected to it many years after he had parted ways with the secret agencies.
In the old days it was convenient to bill me as a spy turned writer. I was nothing of the kind. I am a writer who, when I was very young, spent a few ineffectual but extremely formative years in British Intelligence.Now, as for that guy in the corner, the one pretending to read a guidebook, the one who has been there for the entirety of the book, that would be Ronnie. Le Carre did not spring fully-formed from the earth, an Oxford student, educated, brilliant, well-spoken, discrete, multilingual. He came from somewhere. The largest part of that somewhere is dad. Ronnie was, according to his son, and sundry houses of detention, a con-man. How having Ronnie for a father affected the author is a major piece of the overall story. There are some skills one learns at the feet of a criminal, and maybe some talents one inherits. Some compensation I suppose for having a parent one cannot rely on, a parent one might be mortified to be associated with.
Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz in The Constant Gardener - image from Into Film
You do not have to have read any of le Carré’s novels to appreciate this book. It is certainly interesting and entertaining enough on its own. But, come on, really, why would you even be thinking of reading this if you had not read some of his books, or, at the very least, seen at least some of the film or TV presentations of his work? It is no secret that le Carré is a master of his craft. The Pigeon Tunnel is a huge treat for readers of his fiction. It offers bits of origin story, both for the books and the characters in them, and for le Carré himself.
You do not have to be a master of deception, expert at Moscow rules, or an agent of the single, double, or triple variety to fill in some of the gaps in your knowledge of LeCarre’s oeuvre. The intel in this book will certainly be of value to any who have encountered his work. A copy has been left for you at a nearby bookstore. You know the one. You have the experience needed to figure out how to retrieve the package. Report back as soon as you have secured the parcel and are in a secure location.
Review first posted – 9/23/16
Publication date – 9/6/16
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to the author’s personal and FB pages. While there is plenty of information at these, do not expect to interact with the writer. He has passed that task on to his staff, the better to concentrate his efforts on writing his next book.
A piece by the author for The Guardian - John le Carré on The Night Manager on TV: they’ve totally changed my book – but it works
In case you missed it in the review, his biographer’s gripe at the competition - John le Carré and I worked for years on his biography. Why is he telling his own story 12 months later?.
A 2014 David Denby article in The New Yorker - WHICH IS THE BEST JOHN LE CARRÉ NOVEL? - definitely worth a look
George Plimpton interviewed JlC for The Paris Review in 1997. It is delicious.
August 25, 2017 - NY Times - A fun read. Macintyre is also a former spook of a writer. - Spies Like Us: A Conversation With John le Carré and Ben Macintyre - by Sarah Lyallaug
Although I have read a fair number of JlCs books, and seen films for some of the books I have missed, I have read and reviewed only one during my years on GR, A Most Wanted Man
October 11, 2019 - The Guardian - 'My ties to England have loosened': John le Carré on Britain, Boris and Brexit - by John Banville
December 14, 2020
”These are true stories told from memory--to which you are entitled to ask, what is truth, and what is memory to a creative writer in what we may delicately call the evening of his life? To the lawyer, truth is facets unadorned. Whether such facts are ever findable is another matter. To the creative writer, fact is raw material, not his taskmaster but his instrument, and his job is to make it sing. Real truth lies, if anywhere, not in facts, but in nuance.”
I’ve had many discussions over the years about the blurred, wiggly lines that separate truth from fiction. People who only read nonfiction and look down their noses at novels because “they are made up” don’t seem to grasp just how perilous it is to call anything nonfiction. Memory is threaded with lies. The victors write the histories, and without the other perspective, the truth is like dough. It can be molded, flattened, and turned into any shape the writer wishes it to be. Even with many perspectives, the truth morphs and changes as each tells the other what they saw. We can make people remember things differently. I, for one, do not trust any of my memories completely. I know how good I am at selling myself the best version or even a much worse version of any event.
Sometimes it is imperative to forget details, to blur what happened into more palatable memories.
Fiction is as true as fact. The uncertainty of memory plagues every writer trying to assemble the “facts” of his life.
In the case of John le Carre, that might be even more so. As we read these vignettes, he introduces us to some of the real people he has met who have inspired the characters in his books. His father looms large across the pages of his books, but like le Carre did in this memoir, I’m going to boot Ronnie to the end of this review. It is almost impossible for a writer not to write himself into books. We see versions of David Cornwell (John le Carre’s real name) in his fiction, sometimes striding boldly and sometimes much more subtly contained to the shadows. Each version must be, for him, like looking in a warped mirror made of words.
I didn’t expect le Carre ever to write an autobiography. He is 84 years old, so if he had always expected to write one, he certainly kicked that can down the road a long ways. He has continued to be remarkably productive in his twilight years. When I read his later works, I still marvel at his command of his characters and his fascination and interest in telling stories. He has not lost the ability to hold me enthralled.
It would be impossible for John le Carre to write a memoir without addressing his relationship with Graham Greene. The Tailor of Panama is an ode to Greene’s Our Man in Havana. Greene’s books were a springboard for le Carre’s creativity. In this book, he tells a story about Greene during the war wanting to use the code word for EUNUCH in a dispatch back to headquarters. He was invited to attend a conference, and he wrote back: ”Like the eunuch I can’t come.” That is vintage Greene. David Cornwell is probably a bit too straight laced to have done something like that, but for Greene it was just the thing to keep that smirky grin on his face.
I found the introduction so inspiring. As a guy who dabbles with writing, I thought he made several intuitive statements about writing. They are all still tumbling around in my head. ”I love writing on the hoof, in notebooks on walks, in trains and cafes, then scurrying home to pick over my booty. When I am in Hampstead there is a bench I favour on the Heath, tucked under a spreading tree and set apart from its companions, and that’s where I like to scribble. I have only ever written by hand. Arrogantly perhaps. I prefer to remain with the centuries-old tradition of unmechanized writing. The lapsed graphic artist in me actually enjoys drawing the words.”
Drawing the words... like sketching blueprints for a building or bridge or putting flesh on the bones of characters. It feels so hands on, like a mechanic up to his elbows in an engine with grease wedged under his fingernails. When a writer can bring words closer to himself, he can command them and build kingdoms that stretch the imagination to new boundaries. What can be discovered in the hallways of an inspired mind with just a #2 pencil and a pad of paper?
Richard Thomas Archibald (Ronnie) Cornwell was the father of the author. He was a conman. He knew the famous Kray Twins and was always chasing after the big score. He spent more than one jolt in jail, each time, of course, because of a misunderstanding. Women loved him, and men adored him. He was a charmer, a dreamer, a Lothario, and probably one of the strangest most enigmatic fathers a boy could have.
It was not unusual for David Cornwell to be pulled aside as he travelled from country to country promoting his books or researching the next one and be asked if he happened to know the whereabouts of his father. He would get calls asking for bail money from such far flung places as Zurich or Singapore. He had to be constantly pulled between loathing and loving his father with a healthy dose of embarrassment wrapped around both emotions. When The Spy Who Came in From the Cold hit big, Ronnie referred to the book as OUR BOOK and even ordered up a couple of hundred copies to sign and hand out as business cards. He, of course, charged the books to his son’s account.
At 84, Cornwell is still trying to come to terms with his father. He would love to know more about Ronnie and the sometimes diabolical schemes he tried to create out of air, much like a novelist realizing the twist he needs for his plot, but the truth, as David stated himself, lies in the nuances. If his father had been someone else, I have a sneaking suspicion we might never have had John le Carre.
I’ve read many of John le Carre’s books and will eventually read all of his books. Like a squirrel, I tuck his books like walnuts and save them for when I desperately need to be fed a perfect thriller. I wish him many more years of health and, along with that, the ability to keep putting pencil to paper. Interestingly enough, I’ve noticed that some reviewers read this book and loved it without ever reading a John le Carre novel. Baffling, but at the same time, what a tribute to the writing. Highly recommended forJohn le Carre Fans or anyone.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
I’ve had many discussions over the years about the blurred, wiggly lines that separate truth from fiction. People who only read nonfiction and look down their noses at novels because “they are made up” don’t seem to grasp just how perilous it is to call anything nonfiction. Memory is threaded with lies. The victors write the histories, and without the other perspective, the truth is like dough. It can be molded, flattened, and turned into any shape the writer wishes it to be. Even with many perspectives, the truth morphs and changes as each tells the other what they saw. We can make people remember things differently. I, for one, do not trust any of my memories completely. I know how good I am at selling myself the best version or even a much worse version of any event.
Sometimes it is imperative to forget details, to blur what happened into more palatable memories.
Fiction is as true as fact. The uncertainty of memory plagues every writer trying to assemble the “facts” of his life.
In the case of John le Carre, that might be even more so. As we read these vignettes, he introduces us to some of the real people he has met who have inspired the characters in his books. His father looms large across the pages of his books, but like le Carre did in this memoir, I’m going to boot Ronnie to the end of this review. It is almost impossible for a writer not to write himself into books. We see versions of David Cornwell (John le Carre’s real name) in his fiction, sometimes striding boldly and sometimes much more subtly contained to the shadows. Each version must be, for him, like looking in a warped mirror made of words.
I didn’t expect le Carre ever to write an autobiography. He is 84 years old, so if he had always expected to write one, he certainly kicked that can down the road a long ways. He has continued to be remarkably productive in his twilight years. When I read his later works, I still marvel at his command of his characters and his fascination and interest in telling stories. He has not lost the ability to hold me enthralled.
It would be impossible for John le Carre to write a memoir without addressing his relationship with Graham Greene. The Tailor of Panama is an ode to Greene’s Our Man in Havana. Greene’s books were a springboard for le Carre’s creativity. In this book, he tells a story about Greene during the war wanting to use the code word for EUNUCH in a dispatch back to headquarters. He was invited to attend a conference, and he wrote back: ”Like the eunuch I can’t come.” That is vintage Greene. David Cornwell is probably a bit too straight laced to have done something like that, but for Greene it was just the thing to keep that smirky grin on his face.
I found the introduction so inspiring. As a guy who dabbles with writing, I thought he made several intuitive statements about writing. They are all still tumbling around in my head. ”I love writing on the hoof, in notebooks on walks, in trains and cafes, then scurrying home to pick over my booty. When I am in Hampstead there is a bench I favour on the Heath, tucked under a spreading tree and set apart from its companions, and that’s where I like to scribble. I have only ever written by hand. Arrogantly perhaps. I prefer to remain with the centuries-old tradition of unmechanized writing. The lapsed graphic artist in me actually enjoys drawing the words.”
Drawing the words... like sketching blueprints for a building or bridge or putting flesh on the bones of characters. It feels so hands on, like a mechanic up to his elbows in an engine with grease wedged under his fingernails. When a writer can bring words closer to himself, he can command them and build kingdoms that stretch the imagination to new boundaries. What can be discovered in the hallways of an inspired mind with just a #2 pencil and a pad of paper?
Richard Thomas Archibald (Ronnie) Cornwell was the father of the author. He was a conman. He knew the famous Kray Twins and was always chasing after the big score. He spent more than one jolt in jail, each time, of course, because of a misunderstanding. Women loved him, and men adored him. He was a charmer, a dreamer, a Lothario, and probably one of the strangest most enigmatic fathers a boy could have.
It was not unusual for David Cornwell to be pulled aside as he travelled from country to country promoting his books or researching the next one and be asked if he happened to know the whereabouts of his father. He would get calls asking for bail money from such far flung places as Zurich or Singapore. He had to be constantly pulled between loathing and loving his father with a healthy dose of embarrassment wrapped around both emotions. When The Spy Who Came in From the Cold hit big, Ronnie referred to the book as OUR BOOK and even ordered up a couple of hundred copies to sign and hand out as business cards. He, of course, charged the books to his son’s account.
At 84, Cornwell is still trying to come to terms with his father. He would love to know more about Ronnie and the sometimes diabolical schemes he tried to create out of air, much like a novelist realizing the twist he needs for his plot, but the truth, as David stated himself, lies in the nuances. If his father had been someone else, I have a sneaking suspicion we might never have had John le Carre.
I’ve read many of John le Carre’s books and will eventually read all of his books. Like a squirrel, I tuck his books like walnuts and save them for when I desperately need to be fed a perfect thriller. I wish him many more years of health and, along with that, the ability to keep putting pencil to paper. Interestingly enough, I’ve noticed that some reviewers read this book and loved it without ever reading a John le Carre novel. Baffling, but at the same time, what a tribute to the writing. Highly recommended for
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
September 23, 2016
"if you were reporting on human pain, you had a duty to share it"
- John le Carré, quoting a dictum of Graham Greene, in 'The Pigeon Tunnel"
First, a disclosure, I was given this book by Viking Books. These types of offers I typically refuse. I don't like feeling under obligation to review or even read a book just because it was given to me. I might do it for friends, but even then, I am VERY picky about what I read. I have thousands of unread books and thousands of others I that are on my radar to read. I usually feel a bit like Melville's Bartleby, aroused only to the level of wanting to reply "I would prefer not to.". But this is John le Carré. Anyone who knows me knows I'VE been pimping John le Carré books for years. My goal is to be a le Carré completest by the end of next year (I still have yet to read The Night Manager, The Tailor of Panama, Absolute Friends, Our Game, or The Naive and Sentimental Lover) but there is a sadness that comes with finishing, with having no country left to visit or no book left to read. I, however, own them all. Often multiple copies. So, how could I refuse a free le Carré? Also, so I wouldn't feel completely like I was writing for free books, I also went out to purchase the Audiobook so I could listen to le Carré talk about his own life.
Surprisingly, this is le Carré's first memoir. That both feels a bit strange and a bit right. First, le Carré is a master at timing and also understands when is the proper point to introduce a character and how much to show. John le Carré, the pen name for David Cornwell, is often reluctant to do interviews (there is a bit about that in this book) and is a bit publicity shy. He isn't Pynchon or Salinger for sure, but the energy of pimping his stuff and his reluctance sometimes to delve into the narrative of his own life (he worked for awhile for both MI-5 and MI-6) and his relationship with his father all seem to be something he is often reluctant to discuss. Ironically, these two issues feed his fiction heavily. His father and his relationship with his father's ghost seems to push through most of his fiction. So, too, obviously does le Carré time as David Cornwell the spy. There is a thin, unbleached muslin shroud between fact and fiction (le Carré talks about his in this book). Perhaps le Carré's greatest book, A Perfect Spy, which Philip Roth (yes, that Philip Fucking Roth) once called "the best English novel since the War" was grown out of David Cornwell's relationship with his own father.
The memoir itself is filled with anecdotes and loosely goes from past to present, but also breaks time's arrow to describe certain relationships with certain people or movies made of his books. I loved especially the parts of this book where le Carré writes about Graham Greene and the craft of writing. I knew le Carré got around, but after reading the memoir, I can safely say he belongs with George Orwell, Graham Greene, William T. Vollmann, Paul Theroux family of adventure writers whose fiction is informed from the trenches. They don't just know where some bodies are actually buried, they may have seen the corpse AND the murder.
So, why only four stars? Because I'm judging his memoir against his best fiction. This is a fun memoir and very good le Carré. It just doesn't cast its shadow as long as the Karla trilogy, the Perfect Spy, etc.
Again, returning to how this is his first memoir, I wonder why now? I hope he is not done with fiction. I hope this is not him saying, I'm done. He is in his 80s, and after he is done, I'm not sure what to do. We have been waiting for 400 years for another playwright to equal Shakespeare. How many centuries will we have to wait for another le Carré? Dear GOD, I fear way too long.
- John le Carré, quoting a dictum of Graham Greene, in 'The Pigeon Tunnel"
First, a disclosure, I was given this book by Viking Books. These types of offers I typically refuse. I don't like feeling under obligation to review or even read a book just because it was given to me. I might do it for friends, but even then, I am VERY picky about what I read. I have thousands of unread books and thousands of others I that are on my radar to read. I usually feel a bit like Melville's Bartleby, aroused only to the level of wanting to reply "I would prefer not to.". But this is John le Carré. Anyone who knows me knows I'VE been pimping John le Carré books for years. My goal is to be a le Carré completest by the end of next year (I still have yet to read The Night Manager, The Tailor of Panama, Absolute Friends, Our Game, or The Naive and Sentimental Lover) but there is a sadness that comes with finishing, with having no country left to visit or no book left to read. I, however, own them all. Often multiple copies. So, how could I refuse a free le Carré? Also, so I wouldn't feel completely like I was writing for free books, I also went out to purchase the Audiobook so I could listen to le Carré talk about his own life.
Surprisingly, this is le Carré's first memoir. That both feels a bit strange and a bit right. First, le Carré is a master at timing and also understands when is the proper point to introduce a character and how much to show. John le Carré, the pen name for David Cornwell, is often reluctant to do interviews (there is a bit about that in this book) and is a bit publicity shy. He isn't Pynchon or Salinger for sure, but the energy of pimping his stuff and his reluctance sometimes to delve into the narrative of his own life (he worked for awhile for both MI-5 and MI-6) and his relationship with his father all seem to be something he is often reluctant to discuss. Ironically, these two issues feed his fiction heavily. His father and his relationship with his father's ghost seems to push through most of his fiction. So, too, obviously does le Carré time as David Cornwell the spy. There is a thin, unbleached muslin shroud between fact and fiction (le Carré talks about his in this book). Perhaps le Carré's greatest book, A Perfect Spy, which Philip Roth (yes, that Philip Fucking Roth) once called "the best English novel since the War" was grown out of David Cornwell's relationship with his own father.
The memoir itself is filled with anecdotes and loosely goes from past to present, but also breaks time's arrow to describe certain relationships with certain people or movies made of his books. I loved especially the parts of this book where le Carré writes about Graham Greene and the craft of writing. I knew le Carré got around, but after reading the memoir, I can safely say he belongs with George Orwell, Graham Greene, William T. Vollmann, Paul Theroux family of adventure writers whose fiction is informed from the trenches. They don't just know where some bodies are actually buried, they may have seen the corpse AND the murder.
So, why only four stars? Because I'm judging his memoir against his best fiction. This is a fun memoir and very good le Carré. It just doesn't cast its shadow as long as the Karla trilogy, the Perfect Spy, etc.
Again, returning to how this is his first memoir, I wonder why now? I hope he is not done with fiction. I hope this is not him saying, I'm done. He is in his 80s, and after he is done, I'm not sure what to do. We have been waiting for 400 years for another playwright to equal Shakespeare. How many centuries will we have to wait for another le Carré? Dear GOD, I fear way too long.
February 8, 2017
These stories are pure enjoyment. David Cornwell makes up for all those years he refused interviews, answering questions we never got to ask. If he doesn’t quite “bare all,” within are things we may have felt strongly about at the time, but now excite us just for the pleasure of hearing a different voice tell us indeed, we may have been right all along.
The written word is fine, but I am going to urge readers to consider the audio of this memoir which is read by the author himself. He is quite good at accents and inflection, and it is riotous in parts to hear his plummy enunciation explaining moments of real learning: when he was sent to Paris as a sixteen-year-old to pick up a debt for his father, or on learning the ways of Hollywood.
Society’s view of spies changes with the times, and David Cornwell acknowledges this, and along with us is horrified at the waste and destruction many of those pointed in the direction of the interests of state have wrought through arrogance and incompetence.
What is most appealing about le Carré’s writing is that David Cornwell has never stopped being the man that attracted MI-5 and-6 when he was recruited early on in his career. He is capable of enormous leaps of understanding—and judgment, when it comes to it. A few of his books will remain in the stacks, long-lasting as literature, because he managed to capture something we acknowledge as real, if dark and depressing and somehow enormously sad.
This le Carré autobiography is arguably even more engrossing than his novels because he applies his writing talent and unparalleled observation and pacing skills, but he shares the sources of his inspiration, highlighting for us where his characters diverge from their real-life counterparts. Real people in real crises are almost always more interesting than their fictional counterparts, aren’t they? Best of all, we get cameos of famed leaders and crooks, winners, losers, and those who tried.
The most affecting bits he saved for the end, where he talks about his “confected” childhood memories, including a mother, all angles instead of curves, whom he met at the age of twenty-one and who talked nonstop about Ronnie (his father), but supplanting the “he” with “you.”
A family of storytellers, then, and all of it manifest in a man torn between the truth and it’s opposite. Cornwell could tell a scam from a mile away, which is why he never went public with the “tell-all” offered to him by Nicholas Elliott, best friend and colleague of Kim Philby, one of the most infamous double agents in British Intelligence history. But hearing Cornwell take on the voice of Elliott as he ostensibly spilled the secrets of the still-classified debriefing with Philby in Beirut is something you do not want to miss, even if you aren’t aware of the significance of that confession.
A couple of meetings with Yasser Arafat stand out, as does his unrehearsed seventy-five minute live interview with French television personality and host Bernard Pivot. Cornell speaks so glowingly of what a phenomenon Pivot was on television that I will forever regret not knowing enough French to understand Pivot's wit and sense of style.
This book gives enormous pleasure, whatever your preferred method of consumption. The revelations may seem out of date to some, but it is actually one of those memoirs that never go out of date. Classic, I think they call it.
The written word is fine, but I am going to urge readers to consider the audio of this memoir which is read by the author himself. He is quite good at accents and inflection, and it is riotous in parts to hear his plummy enunciation explaining moments of real learning: when he was sent to Paris as a sixteen-year-old to pick up a debt for his father, or on learning the ways of Hollywood.
Society’s view of spies changes with the times, and David Cornwell acknowledges this, and along with us is horrified at the waste and destruction many of those pointed in the direction of the interests of state have wrought through arrogance and incompetence.
What is most appealing about le Carré’s writing is that David Cornwell has never stopped being the man that attracted MI-5 and-6 when he was recruited early on in his career. He is capable of enormous leaps of understanding—and judgment, when it comes to it. A few of his books will remain in the stacks, long-lasting as literature, because he managed to capture something we acknowledge as real, if dark and depressing and somehow enormously sad.
This le Carré autobiography is arguably even more engrossing than his novels because he applies his writing talent and unparalleled observation and pacing skills, but he shares the sources of his inspiration, highlighting for us where his characters diverge from their real-life counterparts. Real people in real crises are almost always more interesting than their fictional counterparts, aren’t they? Best of all, we get cameos of famed leaders and crooks, winners, losers, and those who tried.
The most affecting bits he saved for the end, where he talks about his “confected” childhood memories, including a mother, all angles instead of curves, whom he met at the age of twenty-one and who talked nonstop about Ronnie (his father), but supplanting the “he” with “you.”
A family of storytellers, then, and all of it manifest in a man torn between the truth and it’s opposite. Cornwell could tell a scam from a mile away, which is why he never went public with the “tell-all” offered to him by Nicholas Elliott, best friend and colleague of Kim Philby, one of the most infamous double agents in British Intelligence history. But hearing Cornwell take on the voice of Elliott as he ostensibly spilled the secrets of the still-classified debriefing with Philby in Beirut is something you do not want to miss, even if you aren’t aware of the significance of that confession.
A couple of meetings with Yasser Arafat stand out, as does his unrehearsed seventy-five minute live interview with French television personality and host Bernard Pivot. Cornell speaks so glowingly of what a phenomenon Pivot was on television that I will forever regret not knowing enough French to understand Pivot's wit and sense of style.
This book gives enormous pleasure, whatever your preferred method of consumption. The revelations may seem out of date to some, but it is actually one of those memoirs that never go out of date. Classic, I think they call it.
June 27, 2017
This is an absolutely delightful memoir from the great John le Carré.
The author's real name is David Cornwell, and this memoir is a loose collection of stories from his experience, including everything from his research trips to Russia to his interactions with Hollywood. There are also tales of tense interactions with other spies who are angry about his books, and of the awkwardness that has occurred when government officials assume le Carré is a master spy, rather than just a bestselling author of spy novels. There was a good quote in the book (which I couldn't find later so I'm paraphrasing) that a lot of people assume le Carré was a spy who used his experience to become a novelist, rather than someone who always wanted to be a writer who briefly served as a spy.
One of my favorite chapters in the book was about his father, who was quite the con man and certainly sounded like a difficult person to have as your dad. Some other good sections were Cornwell's thoughts on the traitor Kim Philby and on fellow spy-turned-novelist Graham Greene.
I've been on a spy kick lately (which coincidentally started with a book about Kim Philby) and this memoir was a fun addition. I listened to The Pigeon Tunnel on audio, read by le Carré himself, and I highly recommend his narration. He has a charming reading voice and is excellent at different accents. In fact, I enjoyed this audiobook so much that I was a bit sad when it ended, and I struggled for days to find my next one. John le Carré is a tough act to follow.
If you're already a fan of his books, you'll probably enjoy this memoir. Highly recommended.
Favorite Quotes
"These are true stories told from memory -- to which you are entitled to ask, what is truth, and what is memory to a creative writer in what we may delicately call the evening of his life? To the lawyer, truth is facts unadorned. Whether such facts are ever findable is another matter. To the creative writer, fact is raw material, not his taskmaster but his instrument, and his job is to make it sing. Real truth lies, if anywhere, not in facts, but in nuance."
"I spend a lot of odd moments these days wondering what my life would have looked like if I hadn't bolted from my public school, or if I had bolted in a different direction. It strikes me now that everything that happened later in life was the consequence of that one impulsive adolescent decision to get out of England by the fastest available route and embrace the German muse as a substitute mother."
"If you're ever lucky enough to score an early success as a writer, as happened to me with The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, for the rest of your life there's a before-the-fall and an after-the-fall. You look back at the books you wrote before the searchlight picked you out and they read like the books of your innocence; and the books after it, in your low moments, like the strivings of a man on trial. 'Trying too hard' the critics cry. I never thought I was trying too hard. I reckoned I owed it to my success to get the best out of myself, and by and large, however good or bad the best was, that was what I did."
"I love best the privacy of writing, which is why I don't do literary festivals and, as much as I can, stay away from interviews, even if the record doesn't look that way. There are times, usually at night, when I wish I'd never given an interview at all. First, you invent yourself, then you get to believe your invention. That is not a process that is compatible with self-knowledge."
The author's real name is David Cornwell, and this memoir is a loose collection of stories from his experience, including everything from his research trips to Russia to his interactions with Hollywood. There are also tales of tense interactions with other spies who are angry about his books, and of the awkwardness that has occurred when government officials assume le Carré is a master spy, rather than just a bestselling author of spy novels. There was a good quote in the book (which I couldn't find later so I'm paraphrasing) that a lot of people assume le Carré was a spy who used his experience to become a novelist, rather than someone who always wanted to be a writer who briefly served as a spy.
One of my favorite chapters in the book was about his father, who was quite the con man and certainly sounded like a difficult person to have as your dad. Some other good sections were Cornwell's thoughts on the traitor Kim Philby and on fellow spy-turned-novelist Graham Greene.
I've been on a spy kick lately (which coincidentally started with a book about Kim Philby) and this memoir was a fun addition. I listened to The Pigeon Tunnel on audio, read by le Carré himself, and I highly recommend his narration. He has a charming reading voice and is excellent at different accents. In fact, I enjoyed this audiobook so much that I was a bit sad when it ended, and I struggled for days to find my next one. John le Carré is a tough act to follow.
If you're already a fan of his books, you'll probably enjoy this memoir. Highly recommended.
Favorite Quotes
"These are true stories told from memory -- to which you are entitled to ask, what is truth, and what is memory to a creative writer in what we may delicately call the evening of his life? To the lawyer, truth is facts unadorned. Whether such facts are ever findable is another matter. To the creative writer, fact is raw material, not his taskmaster but his instrument, and his job is to make it sing. Real truth lies, if anywhere, not in facts, but in nuance."
"I spend a lot of odd moments these days wondering what my life would have looked like if I hadn't bolted from my public school, or if I had bolted in a different direction. It strikes me now that everything that happened later in life was the consequence of that one impulsive adolescent decision to get out of England by the fastest available route and embrace the German muse as a substitute mother."
"If you're ever lucky enough to score an early success as a writer, as happened to me with The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, for the rest of your life there's a before-the-fall and an after-the-fall. You look back at the books you wrote before the searchlight picked you out and they read like the books of your innocence; and the books after it, in your low moments, like the strivings of a man on trial. 'Trying too hard' the critics cry. I never thought I was trying too hard. I reckoned I owed it to my success to get the best out of myself, and by and large, however good or bad the best was, that was what I did."
"I love best the privacy of writing, which is why I don't do literary festivals and, as much as I can, stay away from interviews, even if the record doesn't look that way. There are times, usually at night, when I wish I'd never given an interview at all. First, you invent yourself, then you get to believe your invention. That is not a process that is compatible with self-knowledge."
July 14, 2017
David Cornwell, writing as John le Carré, is one of the most celebrated authors of espionage novels. This is essentially a memoir and I listened to the audio book, which was read by le Carré.
I understand that there is some controversy about this book. Some say that the author has undercut Adam Sisman who had written a biography (with le Carré’s assistance) less than a year previous to this book. Some say that le Carré deals with “the truth” about events in less than a rigorous manner. He uses that to dramatic effect in describing himself as a liar: “Born to lying, bred to it, trained to it by an industry that lies for a living, practiced in it as a novelist.”
Having pointed out all of that, I found The Pigeon Tunnel very entertaining and the author very competent in reading it for the audio audience. I could imagine myself in Cornwell’s “snug” sipping a G&T or a whisky neat and nodding encouragement (not really needed) as David spins his recollections for hours at end.
We get a basket full of anecdotes that describe his roles as diplomat, spy and journalist as much as they concern his spy novels. We get some about his father, with whom he had many “issues,” a bit about his mother and less about his wives and children. The author’s main characters were flawed individuals….some very flawed. He gave us a different view of espionage than was portrayed by Ian Fleming’s James Bond. There was always a sadness to his writing and a sense that we might never know what the whole truth consisted of. Here, he shares some of the inspiration for his various characters and stories.
For those of us who have read many of his novels it is a delight to see how some emerged out of his real life experiences. It is a highly entertaining journey for fans of his writing. Probably, a bit less so for those who come to it without that background.
I understand that there is some controversy about this book. Some say that the author has undercut Adam Sisman who had written a biography (with le Carré’s assistance) less than a year previous to this book. Some say that le Carré deals with “the truth” about events in less than a rigorous manner. He uses that to dramatic effect in describing himself as a liar: “Born to lying, bred to it, trained to it by an industry that lies for a living, practiced in it as a novelist.”
Having pointed out all of that, I found The Pigeon Tunnel very entertaining and the author very competent in reading it for the audio audience. I could imagine myself in Cornwell’s “snug” sipping a G&T or a whisky neat and nodding encouragement (not really needed) as David spins his recollections for hours at end.
We get a basket full of anecdotes that describe his roles as diplomat, spy and journalist as much as they concern his spy novels. We get some about his father, with whom he had many “issues,” a bit about his mother and less about his wives and children. The author’s main characters were flawed individuals….some very flawed. He gave us a different view of espionage than was portrayed by Ian Fleming’s James Bond. There was always a sadness to his writing and a sense that we might never know what the whole truth consisted of. Here, he shares some of the inspiration for his various characters and stories.
For those of us who have read many of his novels it is a delight to see how some emerged out of his real life experiences. It is a highly entertaining journey for fans of his writing. Probably, a bit less so for those who come to it without that background.
September 28, 2016
Considering I've never read a word of le Carre, it might well be thought a surprising choice to read his autobiography. But I am well acquainted with his works from 10 years in bookselling and from watching the excellently done recent BBC production of The Night Manager. Besides, stories from someone who was both writer and spy...who could resist?
In not resisting, I heard (in the Audible version read by the author himself) one of the most interesting set of tales one could ever hope to. I say tales because, as he warns, he is well versed in the art of deception, of making things up, and perhaps the things he says are not quite as they were. Memory is a slippery, tangled, dangerous area of half truths and self manipulation and lies and ignorance. For me, this acknowledgement and the oft repeated truth in the book that he did or didn't quite remember this thing or another, this name, or who was there, made it all the more real. The idea in most life stories that there is this linear path from birth to death (or whatever age people choose to write such things), this one thing lead to another determinism, does not account for the way memory really works. Or doesn't. The author's candidness worked like a charm, making me believe with much more certainty all the bits he seemed more clear on...have I been had, I wonder? Who cares- it was a bloody good time in any case.
The tales themselves are more than just the life of one man, they are slices of political, cultural, and social history. They are illuminating portraits of important figures and well known names from all walks of life. They are pieces of his life, and that of his father, who seemed to have been enough of a character to fill several books with space for more. They are brilliant and perceptive and funny... Never have I wanted so much to know more about the storyteller. I guess that i'll just have to settle for his works, which thanks to my previous ignorance, gives me a great deal of opportunity.
In not resisting, I heard (in the Audible version read by the author himself) one of the most interesting set of tales one could ever hope to. I say tales because, as he warns, he is well versed in the art of deception, of making things up, and perhaps the things he says are not quite as they were. Memory is a slippery, tangled, dangerous area of half truths and self manipulation and lies and ignorance. For me, this acknowledgement and the oft repeated truth in the book that he did or didn't quite remember this thing or another, this name, or who was there, made it all the more real. The idea in most life stories that there is this linear path from birth to death (or whatever age people choose to write such things), this one thing lead to another determinism, does not account for the way memory really works. Or doesn't. The author's candidness worked like a charm, making me believe with much more certainty all the bits he seemed more clear on...have I been had, I wonder? Who cares- it was a bloody good time in any case.
The tales themselves are more than just the life of one man, they are slices of political, cultural, and social history. They are illuminating portraits of important figures and well known names from all walks of life. They are pieces of his life, and that of his father, who seemed to have been enough of a character to fill several books with space for more. They are brilliant and perceptive and funny... Never have I wanted so much to know more about the storyteller. I guess that i'll just have to settle for his works, which thanks to my previous ignorance, gives me a great deal of opportunity.
December 14, 2020
The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life was a delightful, entertaining and very personal memoir written by one of my favorite spy novelists, David Cornwell, best known by his pen name of John le Carre. As you settle in to immerse yourself and listen to one of our greatest raconteurs, it becomes clear that the life of David Cornwell as a British spy for Britain's MI5 and MI6 was just as exciting as the spies in the novels written by le Carre. It is also very interesting to see how his mystery novels mirror much of his life experiences and the many characters are based at least in part on people in his life. Writing his memoir in his eighties, it has been suggested that there is the dilemma of what is true and what is fabricated. However le Carre responds to that query in his memoir with this lovely quote:
"To the lawyer, truth is facts unadorned. Whether such facts are ever findable is another matter. To the creative writer, fact is raw material, not his taskmaster but his instrument, and his job is to make it sing. Real truth lies, if anywhere, not in facts, but in nuance."
"Spying and novel writing are made for each other. Both call for a ready eye for human transgression and many routes to betrayal.
"Grahame Greene tells us that childhood is the credit balance of the writer. By that measure at least, I was born a millionaire."
ADDENDUM December 12, 2020
I was saddened to learn of the death of one of my favorite authors, John Le Carre. May he rest in peace. I will continue to work my way through his magnificent body of work but he will be missed.
"To the lawyer, truth is facts unadorned. Whether such facts are ever findable is another matter. To the creative writer, fact is raw material, not his taskmaster but his instrument, and his job is to make it sing. Real truth lies, if anywhere, not in facts, but in nuance."
"Spying and novel writing are made for each other. Both call for a ready eye for human transgression and many routes to betrayal.
"Grahame Greene tells us that childhood is the credit balance of the writer. By that measure at least, I was born a millionaire."
ADDENDUM December 12, 2020
I was saddened to learn of the death of one of my favorite authors, John Le Carre. May he rest in peace. I will continue to work my way through his magnificent body of work but he will be missed.
June 3, 2021
An absorbing memoir by a brilliant storyteller.
Superbly written, but what else could one expect from John LeCarre, née David Cornwell? What I didn’t expect was his scathing humor. Whether he’s regaling with tales from his career in the British Intelligence Service or connecting the dots between real life inspirations and fictional characters, there is an intelligent wit and drollness that shines through. Adding to the unexpected gifts were his candor about his unusual upbringing with a conman for a father and the chilliest of mothers.
He eschews a chronological format for more of an anecdotal one and every story feels as if you’re sitting with your most erudite friend who is recounting adventures from a most fascinating life. I listened to this read by LeCarre and his delivery served to heighten the enjoyment.
A wordsmith who will be sorely missed.
Superbly written, but what else could one expect from John LeCarre, née David Cornwell? What I didn’t expect was his scathing humor. Whether he’s regaling with tales from his career in the British Intelligence Service or connecting the dots between real life inspirations and fictional characters, there is an intelligent wit and drollness that shines through. Adding to the unexpected gifts were his candor about his unusual upbringing with a conman for a father and the chilliest of mothers.
He eschews a chronological format for more of an anecdotal one and every story feels as if you’re sitting with your most erudite friend who is recounting adventures from a most fascinating life. I listened to this read by LeCarre and his delivery served to heighten the enjoyment.
A wordsmith who will be sorely missed.
July 29, 2018
Even though I still have five more books to go in Le Carre’s back catalogue, I decided to read the memoir. And yes there are spoilers in it. But that is beside the point.
I was able to read about what parts of his life inspired his stories. So while I was reading the memoir I was like this part inspired this and this part inspired that. And it gave me a greater insight to Le Carre’s “shadowy” past.
Now I am anticipating the rest of his novels even more.
I was able to read about what parts of his life inspired his stories. So while I was reading the memoir I was like this part inspired this and this part inspired that. And it gave me a greater insight to Le Carre’s “shadowy” past.
Now I am anticipating the rest of his novels even more.
September 12, 2023
September 12, 2023 Update A review of the film adaptation by director Errol Morris which screened at TIFF 2023 is now posted at A Film or More a Day on Facebook.
Coming In From the Cold
Review of the Penguin Books Kindle eBook & paperback (September 8, 2016) of the Viking hardcover original (September 6, 2016).
I read The Pigeon Tunnel in advance of seeing its film adaptation next week at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The book consists of anecdotes in rough chronological order from spy author David Cornwell's (who wrote using the penname John le Carré) life and career. There are stories about other authors (esp. Graham Greene), actors, filmmakers, spies, activists and political figures. An extended chapter about Cornwell's conman father Ronnie is reserved until the end of the book. You can read an extended series of excerpts at my Kindle Notes and Highlights for the book.
Promotional poster for the 2023 film adaptation of "The Pigeon Tunnel". Image sourced from Internet Movie Database (IMDb).
As a lifelong Carré reader I enjoyed the book immensely, especially the anecdotes about the stories behind the films and TV adaptations which were made and those which were planned but never completed. It didn't break into 5 star territory as you still get the feeling that the author holds back on much of his life (it isn't a full autobiography of course), but I can't imagine any fan being disappointed.
Trivia and Links
The Pigeon Tunnel has been adapted as a documentary film by Errol Morris based around John le Carré's final interview before his passing. It will have its Canadian Premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2023 (after World Premiering at the remote Telluride Film Festival September 1, 2023) and will have a general online streaming release on October 20, 2023 via Apple+. Read the TIFF background to the film here and watch a teaser trailer here.
John le Carré's home in Cornwall, England which was recently put up for sale. Image sourced from RightMove Co. UK. [Note: Links worked as of September 10, 2023. Image and link may no longer be available once the house is sold.]
Coming In From the Cold
Review of the Penguin Books Kindle eBook & paperback (September 8, 2016) of the Viking hardcover original (September 6, 2016).
Close by the old casino stood the sporting club, and at its base lay a stretch of lawn and a shooting range looking out to sea. Under the lawn ran small, parallel tunnels that emerged in a row at the sea’s edge. Into them were inserted live pigeons that had been hatched and trapped on the casino roof. Their job was to flutter their way along the pitch-dark tunnel until they emerged in the Mediterranean sky as targets for well-lunched sporting gentlemen who were standing or lying in wait with their shotguns. Pigeons who were missed or merely winged then did what pigeons do. They returned to the place of their birth on the casino roof, where the same traps awaited them. Quite why this image has haunted me for so long is something the reader is perhaps better able to judge than I am.
I read The Pigeon Tunnel in advance of seeing its film adaptation next week at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The book consists of anecdotes in rough chronological order from spy author David Cornwell's (who wrote using the penname John le Carré) life and career. There are stories about other authors (esp. Graham Greene), actors, filmmakers, spies, activists and political figures. An extended chapter about Cornwell's conman father Ronnie is reserved until the end of the book. You can read an extended series of excerpts at my Kindle Notes and Highlights for the book.
Promotional poster for the 2023 film adaptation of "The Pigeon Tunnel". Image sourced from Internet Movie Database (IMDb).
As a lifelong Carré reader I enjoyed the book immensely, especially the anecdotes about the stories behind the films and TV adaptations which were made and those which were planned but never completed. It didn't break into 5 star territory as you still get the feeling that the author holds back on much of his life (it isn't a full autobiography of course), but I can't imagine any fan being disappointed.
Trivia and Links
The Pigeon Tunnel has been adapted as a documentary film by Errol Morris based around John le Carré's final interview before his passing. It will have its Canadian Premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2023 (after World Premiering at the remote Telluride Film Festival September 1, 2023) and will have a general online streaming release on October 20, 2023 via Apple+. Read the TIFF background to the film here and watch a teaser trailer here.
John le Carré's home in Cornwall, England which was recently put up for sale. Image sourced from RightMove Co. UK. [Note: Links worked as of September 10, 2023. Image and link may no longer be available once the house is sold.]
August 14, 2018
Αναμνήσεις ενός συγγραφέα που ήταν και κατάσκοπος. Τρομερά ενδιαφέρον, όταν το γράφει ο ΛεΚαρέ! :-)
July 12, 2019
I was given this book together with Le Carre's latest novel, the long-awaited sequel to The Spy Who Came In from the Cold. I have been a fan of Le Carre's writing for many years, and the said sequel delivered again. But I am in two minds about the author's autobiographical work - as I feared before opening it, familiarity can engender disappointment, if not contempt. The book certainly explains the genesis of many of his characters, incidents, and dilemmas - but that much was evident anyway. Perhaps what disappointed me most was his account of his visit to the town of Bukava in the DRC. I have worked there three times, and know the region very well. Le Carre travelled there in the company of UN dignitaries, and seems not to have ventured outside the privileged bubble in which such people exist. Did he interact with any of the mere mortals who live there, and whose lives and deaths have filled a tragic chapter of world history over the last 35 years, at least? If he had, he might have discovered that the Belgian expat he describes provided a truck for the CIA-backed Katanga rebellion in the 1960s. At least that is what I was told by a local in the town. I couldn't help the impression that, despite his troubled background - or perhaps because of it - the author is a snob. In short, for me at least, this book shattered the illusion that the author has so skilfully crafted over the last half century, since the days when he was indeed an authority on his subject matter.
November 7, 2016
This autobiography/memoir by John Le Carré is a series of short stories told from memory. He also states in the book the following: “I’m a liar…born to lying, bred to it, trained to it by an industry that lies for a living, practiced in it as a novelist. As a maker of fictions, I invent versions of myself.”
Le Carré tells of being inducted into MI5, as a junior officer in 1956, at the age of 25. He moved to MI6 in 1961 and left the service at age 33. Le Carré tells of friendships with poets, politicians, pies, actors and crooks around the world. Some of the stories are humorous. Some of the names he drops are Nobel Winner Joseph Brodsky, Yasser Arafat, Kim Philby to name a few. The author tells of an unhappy childhood and he did not get along with his parents. Le Carré also provides some information about writing, which I found interesting and insightful.
The book, of course, is well written. I was disappointed that the book was so light weight and insubstantial. But on the other hand, I always enjoy reading Le Carré.
Le Carré narrates his own book which is a delightful treat.
Le Carré tells of being inducted into MI5, as a junior officer in 1956, at the age of 25. He moved to MI6 in 1961 and left the service at age 33. Le Carré tells of friendships with poets, politicians, pies, actors and crooks around the world. Some of the stories are humorous. Some of the names he drops are Nobel Winner Joseph Brodsky, Yasser Arafat, Kim Philby to name a few. The author tells of an unhappy childhood and he did not get along with his parents. Le Carré also provides some information about writing, which I found interesting and insightful.
The book, of course, is well written. I was disappointed that the book was so light weight and insubstantial. But on the other hand, I always enjoy reading Le Carré.
Le Carré narrates his own book which is a delightful treat.
September 22, 2016
Elegantly recounted meta-capers (i.e. capers about capers, anecdotes about plots, etc.). Would have liked to have seen more beans spilled, but Le Carré is too much of a gentleman for that, suggesting that he still retains something of the ethos that rendered him suitable for recruitment all those years ago. Fun, and a little mischievous, although not sufficiently so for my tastes.
November 7, 2023
The Pigeon Tunnel
by John Le Carre
The most fascinating theme revealed in this memoir is that most all of the characters in Le Carre novels, well they are based on real people. And this book is mostly about the real life people and the reconnaissance missions that Le Carre took around the world when researching a book. He wanted to get all the details correct even though he was writing fiction. Some of the people he only met once or twice in life. It seems unusual for a novelist, for liability reasons alone, to reveal his real life character inspirations and be comfortable with it.
We all know Le Carre is a great writer, so the second revelation is when Le Carre foregoes the spy intrigue and war reporting and writes about natural surroundings. In fact he wrote many of his later novels in Cornwall. His prose can be quite descriptive as he muses about about barn owls and the fog rolling over the seaside cliffs. Le Carre's writing reminds me of Hemingway, Orwell and Steinbeck. He is less direct but they were all observant writers.
It wasn't all Cold War stories in this book. There were chapters on the Middle East too. John Le Carre traveled to Lebanon to interview and stay with Yassar Arafat. On a second occasion Arafat refused to meet with him in Tunisia. So Le Carre later used the material on the PLO - largely the lives and personalities of Arafat's bodyguards - for his novel Little Drummer Girl.
The last major takeaway in the book is the theme of betrayal, present in most of all of his novels. Where did it come from? His parents. He says it was why he joined MI5 in the first place. He felt most spies like him were vulnerable to becoming double agents. Just like Philby and other notorious British double agents that he wrote about. They were all outsiders in a way. His own father was a conman and when John was five, his mother could take it no longer and abandoned him. She left John and his brother with their father and just disappeared. When he was an adult he found her living elsewhere in England. She would tell delusional stories about how wonderful their time together was when John was a child. He didn't believe her for a minute.
The Pigeon Tunnel - the documentary - was just released on NetFlix. It is directed by Errol Morris and it may even be better than this book because it is a tighter narrative about his childhood than the book gets into. Le Carre is both a brilliant narrator and intriguing subject. His diction and mastery of the English language is remarkable. Le Carre died four years after this memoir was published in 2016.
4.5 stars. If you are okay with memoirs with uneven timelines and lots of cold war history, then this was an insightful and satisfying read.
by John Le Carre
The most fascinating theme revealed in this memoir is that most all of the characters in Le Carre novels, well they are based on real people. And this book is mostly about the real life people and the reconnaissance missions that Le Carre took around the world when researching a book. He wanted to get all the details correct even though he was writing fiction. Some of the people he only met once or twice in life. It seems unusual for a novelist, for liability reasons alone, to reveal his real life character inspirations and be comfortable with it.
We all know Le Carre is a great writer, so the second revelation is when Le Carre foregoes the spy intrigue and war reporting and writes about natural surroundings. In fact he wrote many of his later novels in Cornwall. His prose can be quite descriptive as he muses about about barn owls and the fog rolling over the seaside cliffs. Le Carre's writing reminds me of Hemingway, Orwell and Steinbeck. He is less direct but they were all observant writers.
It wasn't all Cold War stories in this book. There were chapters on the Middle East too. John Le Carre traveled to Lebanon to interview and stay with Yassar Arafat. On a second occasion Arafat refused to meet with him in Tunisia. So Le Carre later used the material on the PLO - largely the lives and personalities of Arafat's bodyguards - for his novel Little Drummer Girl.
The last major takeaway in the book is the theme of betrayal, present in most of all of his novels. Where did it come from? His parents. He says it was why he joined MI5 in the first place. He felt most spies like him were vulnerable to becoming double agents. Just like Philby and other notorious British double agents that he wrote about. They were all outsiders in a way. His own father was a conman and when John was five, his mother could take it no longer and abandoned him. She left John and his brother with their father and just disappeared. When he was an adult he found her living elsewhere in England. She would tell delusional stories about how wonderful their time together was when John was a child. He didn't believe her for a minute.
The Pigeon Tunnel - the documentary - was just released on NetFlix. It is directed by Errol Morris and it may even be better than this book because it is a tighter narrative about his childhood than the book gets into. Le Carre is both a brilliant narrator and intriguing subject. His diction and mastery of the English language is remarkable. Le Carre died four years after this memoir was published in 2016.
4.5 stars. If you are okay with memoirs with uneven timelines and lots of cold war history, then this was an insightful and satisfying read.
February 23, 2021
The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life (2016) by John le Carré is superb, and the perfect accompaniment to John le Carré: The Biography by Adam Sisman. Unlike the biography, this is just a succession of concise and fascinating anecdotes from his life. These cover research trips for novels and encounters with the great and the good.
Towards the end of the book John le Carré writes about Ronnie, his appalling father who blighted and defined his life. Ronnie is completely self-centred and a consumate conman. Readers of the biography, or A Perfect Spy, will already know just how astounding his antics were. It's incredible that John le Carré was able to move out of his shadow.
If you enjoy John le Carré's novels, or you are just interested in the post-War era, or you like interesting anecdotes, then this is a book to prioritise
5/5
'Out of the secret world I once knew, I have tried to make a theatre for the larger worlds we inhabit. First comes the imagining, then the search for reality. Then back to the imagining, and to the desk where I'm sitting now.'
From his years serving in British Intelligence during the Cold War, to a career as a writer that took him from war-torn Cambodia to Beirut on the cusp of the 1982 Israeli invasion, to Russia before and after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, John le Carré has always written from the heart of modern times. In this, his first memoir, le Carré is as funny as he is incisive - reading into the events he witnesses the same moral ambiguity with which he imbues his novels. Whether he's writing about the parrot at a Beirut hotel that could perfectly mimic machine gun fire, or visiting Rwanda's museums of the unburied dead in the aftermath of the genocide, or celebrating New Year's Eve with Yasser Arafat, or interviewing a German terrorist in her desert prison in the Negev, or watching Alec Guinness preparing for his role as George Smiley, or describing the female aid worker who inspired the main character in his The Constant Gardener, le Carré endows each happening with vividness and humour, now making us laugh out loud, now inviting us to think anew about events and people we believed we understood. Best of all, le Carré gives us a glimpse of a writer's journey over more than six decades, and his own hunt for the human spark that has given so much life and heart to his fictional characters.
'No other writer has charted - pitilessly for politicians but thrillingly for readers - the public and secret histories of his times' Guardian
'John le Carré is as recognisable a writer as Dickens or Austen' Financial Times
'When I was under house arrest I was helped by the books of John le Carré ... they were a journey into the wider world ... These were the journeys that made me feel that I was not really cut off from the rest of humankind' Aung San Suu Kyi
Towards the end of the book John le Carré writes about Ronnie, his appalling father who blighted and defined his life. Ronnie is completely self-centred and a consumate conman. Readers of the biography, or A Perfect Spy, will already know just how astounding his antics were. It's incredible that John le Carré was able to move out of his shadow.
If you enjoy John le Carré's novels, or you are just interested in the post-War era, or you like interesting anecdotes, then this is a book to prioritise
5/5
'Out of the secret world I once knew, I have tried to make a theatre for the larger worlds we inhabit. First comes the imagining, then the search for reality. Then back to the imagining, and to the desk where I'm sitting now.'
From his years serving in British Intelligence during the Cold War, to a career as a writer that took him from war-torn Cambodia to Beirut on the cusp of the 1982 Israeli invasion, to Russia before and after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, John le Carré has always written from the heart of modern times. In this, his first memoir, le Carré is as funny as he is incisive - reading into the events he witnesses the same moral ambiguity with which he imbues his novels. Whether he's writing about the parrot at a Beirut hotel that could perfectly mimic machine gun fire, or visiting Rwanda's museums of the unburied dead in the aftermath of the genocide, or celebrating New Year's Eve with Yasser Arafat, or interviewing a German terrorist in her desert prison in the Negev, or watching Alec Guinness preparing for his role as George Smiley, or describing the female aid worker who inspired the main character in his The Constant Gardener, le Carré endows each happening with vividness and humour, now making us laugh out loud, now inviting us to think anew about events and people we believed we understood. Best of all, le Carré gives us a glimpse of a writer's journey over more than six decades, and his own hunt for the human spark that has given so much life and heart to his fictional characters.
'No other writer has charted - pitilessly for politicians but thrillingly for readers - the public and secret histories of his times' Guardian
'John le Carré is as recognisable a writer as Dickens or Austen' Financial Times
'When I was under house arrest I was helped by the books of John le Carré ... they were a journey into the wider world ... These were the journeys that made me feel that I was not really cut off from the rest of humankind' Aung San Suu Kyi
September 16, 2016
BOTW
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07tzrwc
Episode 1: One time at a party Denis Healey says: 'You're a communist spy, that what you are'. Plus a memorable lunch with Alec Guinness to discuss his character George Smiley.2/5: Yvette Pierpaoli, a business woman who once worked out of Phnom Penn. We discover how her character and actions went towards creating Tessa in the novel The Constant Gardener.3/5: At sixteen he was sent by his father Ronnie to Paris, to meet with Count Mario da Bernaschina and his glamorous wife. What an adventure! Memories of this encounter went towards the creation of novels such as The Night Manager and The Tailor Of Panama.4/5: During the filming of The Spy Who Came in From The Cold, its star Richard Burton requests that the author be on set with him. Then Elizabeth Taylor turns up too..5/5: Asked to visit the film director Karel Reisz at home in London's Belsize Park, he meets a young actor called Vladimir. But the meeting has nothing to do with films or acting - nothing at all..
January 14, 2018
Le Carre’s book is more a collection of essays that may or may not be true (at least according to his disclaimer). The essays range from the very personal (about his father) to the funny (about a credit card) to the historic (about Philby). There are stories about the development of his novels for movies – including stories about Burton and Guinness. There is a funny bit about Robert Redford.
But Le Carre’s boo isn’t just name dropping, or to be more exact, it’s not about name dropping at all. In part, Le Carre talks about his thinking, about how he sees things, flaws and all. And while he doesn’t have the easy-going style of Neil Simon’s memoirs, there is a charm and breeziness to the essays.
But Le Carre’s boo isn’t just name dropping, or to be more exact, it’s not about name dropping at all. In part, Le Carre talks about his thinking, about how he sees things, flaws and all. And while he doesn’t have the easy-going style of Neil Simon’s memoirs, there is a charm and breeziness to the essays.
September 11, 2016
The pigeon Tunnel by John Le Carre is not a full autobiography or a memoir. This book is a collection of stories that range from his childhood to this age of terror.
There is a full biography by John that was released last year. This book could be a sort of a companion to it.
There are no top secrets here, no scandals or spies. Just vignettes of a long lived life, anecdotes, stories and recollection: some are true and some are hazy.
An enjoyable read that any Le Caree fan would enjoy immensely.
There is a full biography by John that was released last year. This book could be a sort of a companion to it.
There are no top secrets here, no scandals or spies. Just vignettes of a long lived life, anecdotes, stories and recollection: some are true and some are hazy.
An enjoyable read that any Le Caree fan would enjoy immensely.
April 5, 2017
About midway through David Cornwell’s (John le Carré) introduction to his fine autobiography The Pigeon Tunnel , the author, now in his 80s, reflects on the nature of memory itself:
These are true stories told from memory – to which you are entitled to ask, what is truth, and what is memory to the creative writer in what we may delicately call the evening of his life? To a lawyer, truth is facts unadorned. Whether such facts are ever findable is another matter. To a creative writer, fact is raw material, not his taskmaster but his instrument, and his job is to make it sing. Real truth lies, if anywhere, not in facts, but in nuance.
I thought that beautifully stated, especially so for an author who has for so long, in his fiction, operated in the shadows. On the surface, le Carré is viewed as a writer of spy novels. Any close reader of his novels knows he’s much more than that. At his best, he’s a top drawer writer of literary fiction, a master of nuance. I think I saw somewhere that le Carré is part of a continuum that includes Conrad and Graham Greene. I certainly agree with that (though I would have included Robert Stone). Externally le Carré’s work is certainly one of spies, but internally his focus is always on, and I’m reminded of the title of one Graham Greene’s late novels, The Human Factor.
Le Carré’s autobiography is of course something else. On surface The Pigeon Tunnel does seem a grab bag of “stories” and people. For a while there seems a greater unity, as le Carré becomes more David Cornwell, an aspiring writer transitioning over from being an actual spy. I was a bit surprised just how much of a spy he was. I don’t know why I felt that way. I suppose in the back of my mind I always felt that le Carré dabbled a bit on the edges of the spy world, took notes, and then became a writer. In other words, the Spy stuff was a marketing ploy. Not so. Le Carré skirts the edges of what he can reveal. Evidently he came close, with one novel, to being prosecuted for violating the Official Secrets Act. In another instance he had considerable involvement in the Profumo scandal. He was probably considered a bright and shining boy, marked for advancement.
Then The Spy Who Came In From the Cold happened, and everything changed. An acclaimed movie followed. Divorce. More books, more acclaim. One surprise throughout The Pigeon Tunnel is le Carré’s willingness to tell you the original sources for some of his characters. I was both intrigued and disappointed. A part of me didn’t want to know. But Le Carré’s such damn good writer, and has been to some very hot places in order to do his research, that an argument can be made that such “telling” has only enriched the fictional material. (The Cambodia section of The Honorable Schoolboy contains some of the most darkly soaring writing that I’ve read in any modern novel.)
The reason for those field trips (Africa, Cambodia as it fell, Palestine, etc.) was rooted in le Carré’s discovery of a geographic error in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The authenticity you sense in his novels is, well, authentic. So much so, that after reading about le Carré’s travels in Palestine and Africa that I came away from the The Pigeon Tunnel with two as yet unread must-read titles: The Little Drummer Girl and The Mission Song.
But the arc of le Carré’s writing career is only partially maintained, as the author stops often to reminisce over the movie business, Richard Burton, Fritz Lang, (a bizarre) Stanley Kubrick, Russian mobsters, Rupert Murdoch ("my old buddy"), Alec Guiness (a good friend), and eventually his con-man father, Ronnie Cornwell. Le Carré’s “relationship” with his father is a complicated, Dickensian one. His mother isn’t much better, as she seems a distant and loveless figure. The necessary love that le Carré encountered as he grew came primarily from siblings and half siblings. Weirdly, le Carré doesn’t seem to resent or hate his father. If anything, he thinks his father probably prepared him, through raw experience, for the writing career to come. Le Carré’s arguably greatest book, A Perfect Spy has this relationship at its heart. That novel is probably Le Carré’s real autobiography. With that in mind, The Pigeon Tunnel could be viewed as the fascinating, well written footnotes.
These are true stories told from memory – to which you are entitled to ask, what is truth, and what is memory to the creative writer in what we may delicately call the evening of his life? To a lawyer, truth is facts unadorned. Whether such facts are ever findable is another matter. To a creative writer, fact is raw material, not his taskmaster but his instrument, and his job is to make it sing. Real truth lies, if anywhere, not in facts, but in nuance.
I thought that beautifully stated, especially so for an author who has for so long, in his fiction, operated in the shadows. On the surface, le Carré is viewed as a writer of spy novels. Any close reader of his novels knows he’s much more than that. At his best, he’s a top drawer writer of literary fiction, a master of nuance. I think I saw somewhere that le Carré is part of a continuum that includes Conrad and Graham Greene. I certainly agree with that (though I would have included Robert Stone). Externally le Carré’s work is certainly one of spies, but internally his focus is always on, and I’m reminded of the title of one Graham Greene’s late novels, The Human Factor.
Le Carré’s autobiography is of course something else. On surface The Pigeon Tunnel does seem a grab bag of “stories” and people. For a while there seems a greater unity, as le Carré becomes more David Cornwell, an aspiring writer transitioning over from being an actual spy. I was a bit surprised just how much of a spy he was. I don’t know why I felt that way. I suppose in the back of my mind I always felt that le Carré dabbled a bit on the edges of the spy world, took notes, and then became a writer. In other words, the Spy stuff was a marketing ploy. Not so. Le Carré skirts the edges of what he can reveal. Evidently he came close, with one novel, to being prosecuted for violating the Official Secrets Act. In another instance he had considerable involvement in the Profumo scandal. He was probably considered a bright and shining boy, marked for advancement.
Then The Spy Who Came In From the Cold happened, and everything changed. An acclaimed movie followed. Divorce. More books, more acclaim. One surprise throughout The Pigeon Tunnel is le Carré’s willingness to tell you the original sources for some of his characters. I was both intrigued and disappointed. A part of me didn’t want to know. But Le Carré’s such damn good writer, and has been to some very hot places in order to do his research, that an argument can be made that such “telling” has only enriched the fictional material. (The Cambodia section of The Honorable Schoolboy contains some of the most darkly soaring writing that I’ve read in any modern novel.)
The reason for those field trips (Africa, Cambodia as it fell, Palestine, etc.) was rooted in le Carré’s discovery of a geographic error in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The authenticity you sense in his novels is, well, authentic. So much so, that after reading about le Carré’s travels in Palestine and Africa that I came away from the The Pigeon Tunnel with two as yet unread must-read titles: The Little Drummer Girl and The Mission Song.
But the arc of le Carré’s writing career is only partially maintained, as the author stops often to reminisce over the movie business, Richard Burton, Fritz Lang, (a bizarre) Stanley Kubrick, Russian mobsters, Rupert Murdoch ("my old buddy"), Alec Guiness (a good friend), and eventually his con-man father, Ronnie Cornwell. Le Carré’s “relationship” with his father is a complicated, Dickensian one. His mother isn’t much better, as she seems a distant and loveless figure. The necessary love that le Carré encountered as he grew came primarily from siblings and half siblings. Weirdly, le Carré doesn’t seem to resent or hate his father. If anything, he thinks his father probably prepared him, through raw experience, for the writing career to come. Le Carré’s arguably greatest book, A Perfect Spy has this relationship at its heart. That novel is probably Le Carré’s real autobiography. With that in mind, The Pigeon Tunnel could be viewed as the fascinating, well written footnotes.
June 3, 2024
It says a great deal about Le Carre's ability to engender enthusiasm in his readers that I was able to read and actively enjoy this collection of short pieces about parts of his own life and adventures while I was immersed in weeks of grief as my beloved younger sister was dying.
It's easier to read than most of his novels, because the pieces are short and he has less opportunity to build the feelings of despair and guilt that he is so good at. Betrayals are still there, of course. How can they not be in his world of espionage and deceit?
It's easier to read than most of his novels, because the pieces are short and he has less opportunity to build the feelings of despair and guilt that he is so good at. Betrayals are still there, of course. How can they not be in his world of espionage and deceit?
January 23, 2021
Άνισο βιβλίο, περισσότερο στα 3,5*.
Αποτελείται από περιγραφή επεισοδίων που αποτέλεσαν πηγή έμπνευσης (άμεσης ή έμμεσης) για τον Λε Καρρέ ή ιστοριών που εκτυλίχθηκαν κατά την διάρκεια της σύντομης καρίερας του ως κατασκόπου και έρευνας για κάποιο από τα βιβλία του. Ορισμένα είναι ενδιαφέροντα (πχ. Αραφάτ, τα πρώιμα χρόνια στην ΜΙ5 και ΜΙ6, η έμπνευση για τον Επίμονο Κηπουρό), άλλα (πολλά) μένουν ευχάριστα στη μνήμη για δευτερόλεπτα, κάποια (ελάχιστα, ευτυχώς) είναι ταιριαστά με τη φράση "ό,τι θύμαται χαίρεται" και (ελάχιστα, αλλά εδώ δυστυχώς) δείχνουν το ταλέντο του Λε Καρρέ στην αφήγηση και σκιαγράφηση χαρακτήρων, δοσμένα με ενσυναίσθηση, πνεύμα, σχετική οικονομία και ακρίβεια.
Με διαφορά το καλύτερο κεφάλαιο είναι αυτό για τον πατέρα του. Έναν γκροτέσκο τύπο που και μόνο λόγω της ύπαρξής και πορείας του μπορεί κανείς να καταλάβει πιο εύκολα την εμμονή του Λε Καρρέ στην πολυπλοκότητα όλων των λογοτεχνικών χαρακτήρων του και στην απουσία ξεκάθαρων χρωμάτων στις ζωές των ηρώων του.
Δεν μου αρέσουν οι βιογραφίες ή αυτοβιογραφίες συγγραφέων. Μου στερούν το μυστήριο που θέλω να υπάρχει γύρω από τον δημιουργό βιβλίων που έχω θαυμάσει. Επιδιώκω μόνο να μαθαίνω, σε αδρές γραμμές, ορισμένα πράγματα για τη ζωή τους , κυνηγάω ασταμάτητα όποιες πληροφορίες υπάρχουν για το πως έγραφαν, πως έβλεπαν την λογοτεχνία εν γένει. Το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο δεν είναι σε καμία περίπτωση αυτοβιογραφία, μόνο οι συγκεχυμένες, ορισμένες φορές, αναμνήσεις ενός ηλικιωμένου σπουδαίου συγγραφέα, ο οποίος δεν μας λέει τίποτα απολύτως για το πως έβλεπε την λογοτεχνία, την τέχνη της γραφής (μόνο ότι έγραφε πάντα με το χέρι), τους συναδέλφους του (δυο-τρεις σκόρπιες κουβέντες για τον Γκρην και ελάχιστους άλλους, άγνωστους σε μένα), την αγάπη, το μίσος και το "πάθος για περιπέτεια". Άφθονο βρεττανικό φλέγμα, στο οποίο ήταν πάντα άφθαστος, αρκετό -και όχι μέτριο- χιούμορ, προφανής μεγαλοφροσύνη, και ελευθερία επιλογής μεταξύ όσων πράγματι συνέβησαν και σε όσα βοήθησε η συγγραφική φαντασία.
Το γράψιμο είναι όπως πάντα άψογο, απλά οι ίδιες οι επιλεγμένες ιστορίες από τη ζωή του δεν διαθέτουν όλες το ενδιαφέρον που κανείς θα περίμενε παρόλη την μυστηριώδη ατμόσφαιρα που τις περιβάλλει, ούτε φωτίζουν όσο θα ήλπιζε κάποιος τον συγγραφέα - όχι τον άνθρωπο. Πιστεύω ότι το τελευταίο οφείλεται σε μία αίσθηση διακριτικότητας του ίδιου του Λε Καρρέ . Με λογοτεχνικότητα και μετριοφροσύνη, θυμάται και διηγείται, δίνοντας μεγαλύτερη έμφαση στους πραγματικούς και όχι επινοημένους χαρακτήρες που τον ενέπνευσαν. Σε αυτό είναι πραγματικά γενναιόδωρος. Το πόσο εύστοχα, ή όχι, το κάνει, είναι θέμα προσωπικής ανάγνωσης.
Τώρα που το τελείωσα θέλω να διαβάσω ξανά όσα από τα βιβλία του μου έχουν αρέσει περισσότερο, καθώς και όσα έχω ξεχωρίσει και δεν έχω διαβάσει έως τώρα. Κυρίως όμως θέλω να μην κρίνω άδικα έναν εξαιρετικό story-teller, τον καλύτερο ψυχογράφο ενός "κόσμου" που όλοι αντιμετωπίζουμε με δέος και καχυποψία και, σε τελική ανάλυση, έναν διάσημο συγγραφέα που θυμάται χωρίς διάθεση να εξάρει τον δικό του ρόλο σε καμία έκφανση της ζωής του.Απλά θυμάται ή πασχίζει να θυμηθεί.
Μία φράση, στην εισαγωγή, φωτίζει, ίσως, τον χαρακτήρα του Λε Καρρέ: "Πρώτα επινοείς τον εαυτό σου κι έπειτα καταλήγεις να πιστέψεις την επινόησή σου. Η διεργασία αυτή δεν είναι συμβατή με την αυτογνωσία".
Αποτελείται από περιγραφή επεισοδίων που αποτέλεσαν πηγή έμπνευσης (άμεσης ή έμμεσης) για τον Λε Καρρέ ή ιστοριών που εκτυλίχθηκαν κατά την διάρκεια της σύντομης καρίερας του ως κατασκόπου και έρευνας για κάποιο από τα βιβλία του. Ορισμένα είναι ενδιαφέροντα (πχ. Αραφάτ, τα πρώιμα χρόνια στην ΜΙ5 και ΜΙ6, η έμπνευση για τον Επίμονο Κηπουρό), άλλα (πολλά) μένουν ευχάριστα στη μνήμη για δευτερόλεπτα, κάποια (ελάχιστα, ευτυχώς) είναι ταιριαστά με τη φράση "ό,τι θύμαται χαίρεται" και (ελάχιστα, αλλά εδώ δυστυχώς) δείχνουν το ταλέντο του Λε Καρρέ στην αφήγηση και σκιαγράφηση χαρακτήρων, δοσμένα με ενσυναίσθηση, πνεύμα, σχετική οικονομία και ακρίβεια.
Με διαφορά το καλύτερο κεφάλαιο είναι αυτό για τον πατέρα του. Έναν γκροτέσκο τύπο που και μόνο λόγω της ύπαρξής και πορείας του μπορεί κανείς να καταλάβει πιο εύκολα την εμμονή του Λε Καρρέ στην πολυπλοκότητα όλων των λογοτεχνικών χαρακτήρων του και στην απουσία ξεκάθαρων χρωμάτων στις ζωές των ηρώων του.
Δεν μου αρέσουν οι βιογραφίες ή αυτοβιογραφίες συγγραφέων. Μου στερούν το μυστήριο που θέλω να υπάρχει γύρω από τον δημιουργό βιβλίων που έχω θαυμάσει. Επιδιώκω μόνο να μαθαίνω, σε αδρές γραμμές, ορισμένα πράγματα για τη ζωή τους , κυνηγάω ασταμάτητα όποιες πληροφορίες υπάρχουν για το πως έγραφαν, πως έβλεπαν την λογοτεχνία εν γένει. Το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο δεν είναι σε καμία περίπτωση αυτοβιογραφία, μόνο οι συγκεχυμένες, ορισμένες φορές, αναμνήσεις ενός ηλικιωμένου σπουδαίου συγγραφέα, ο οποίος δεν μας λέει τίποτα απολύτως για το πως έβλεπε την λογοτεχνία, την τέχνη της γραφής (μόνο ότι έγραφε πάντα με το χέρι), τους συναδέλφους του (δυο-τρεις σκόρπιες κουβέντες για τον Γκρην και ελάχιστους άλλους, άγνωστους σε μένα), την αγάπη, το μίσος και το "πάθος για περιπέτεια". Άφθονο βρεττανικό φλέγμα, στο οποίο ήταν πάντα άφθαστος, αρκετό -και όχι μέτριο- χιούμορ, προφανής μεγαλοφροσύνη, και ελευθερία επιλογής μεταξύ όσων πράγματι συνέβησαν και σε όσα βοήθησε η συγγραφική φαντασία.
Το γράψιμο είναι όπως πάντα άψογο, απλά οι ίδιες οι επιλεγμένες ιστορίες από τη ζωή του δεν διαθέτουν όλες το ενδιαφέρον που κανείς θα περίμενε παρόλη την μυστηριώδη ατμόσφαιρα που τις περιβάλλει, ούτε φωτίζουν όσο θα ήλπιζε κάποιος τον συγγραφέα - όχι τον άνθρωπο. Πιστεύω ότι το τελευταίο οφείλεται σε μία αίσθηση διακριτικότητας του ίδιου του Λε Καρρέ . Με λογοτεχνικότητα και μετριοφροσύνη, θυμάται και διηγείται, δίνοντας μεγαλύτερη έμφαση στους πραγματικούς και όχι επινοημένους χαρακτήρες που τον ενέπνευσαν. Σε αυτό είναι πραγματικά γενναιόδωρος. Το πόσο εύστοχα, ή όχι, το κάνει, είναι θέμα προσωπικής ανάγνωσης.
Τώρα που το τελείωσα θέλω να διαβάσω ξανά όσα από τα βιβλία του μου έχουν αρέσει περισσότερο, καθώς και όσα έχω ξεχωρίσει και δεν έχω διαβάσει έως τώρα. Κυρίως όμως θέλω να μην κρίνω άδικα έναν εξαιρετικό story-teller, τον καλύτερο ψυχογράφο ενός "κόσμου" που όλοι αντιμετωπίζουμε με δέος και καχυποψία και, σε τελική ανάλυση, έναν διάσημο συγγραφέα που θυμάται χωρίς διάθεση να εξάρει τον δικό του ρόλο σε καμία έκφανση της ζωής του.Απλά θυμάται ή πασχίζει να θυμηθεί.
Μία φράση, στην εισαγωγή, φωτίζει, ίσως, τον χαρακτήρα του Λε Καρρέ: "Πρώτα επινοείς τον εαυτό σου κι έπειτα καταλήγεις να πιστέψεις την επινόησή σου. Η διεργασία αυτή δεν είναι συμβατή με την αυτογνωσία".
September 15, 2016
From BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week:
John le Carre with five recollections from his writing life, abridged by Katrin Williams:
1/5: One time at a party Denis Healey says: 'You're a communist spy, that what you are'. Plus a memorable lunch with Alec Guinness to discuss his character George Smiley.
2/5: There was Yvette Pierpaoli, a business woman who once worked out of Phnom Penn. We discover how her character and actions went towards creating Tessa in the novel The Constant Gardener.
3/5: At sixteen he was sent by his father Ronnie to Paris, to meet with Count Mario da Bernaschina and his glamorous wife. What an adventure! Memories of this encounter went towards the creation of novels such as The Night Manager and The Tailor Of Panama.
4/5: During the filming of The Spy Who Came in From The Cold, its star Richard Burton requests that the author be on set with him. Then Elizabeth Taylor turns up too..
5/5: Asked to visit the film director Karel Reisz at home in London's Belsize Park, he meets a young actor called Vladimir. But the meeting has nothing to do with films or acting - nothing at all..
Read by the author
Producer Duncan Minshull.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07tzrwc
John le Carre with five recollections from his writing life, abridged by Katrin Williams:
1/5: One time at a party Denis Healey says: 'You're a communist spy, that what you are'. Plus a memorable lunch with Alec Guinness to discuss his character George Smiley.
2/5: There was Yvette Pierpaoli, a business woman who once worked out of Phnom Penn. We discover how her character and actions went towards creating Tessa in the novel The Constant Gardener.
3/5: At sixteen he was sent by his father Ronnie to Paris, to meet with Count Mario da Bernaschina and his glamorous wife. What an adventure! Memories of this encounter went towards the creation of novels such as The Night Manager and The Tailor Of Panama.
4/5: During the filming of The Spy Who Came in From The Cold, its star Richard Burton requests that the author be on set with him. Then Elizabeth Taylor turns up too..
5/5: Asked to visit the film director Karel Reisz at home in London's Belsize Park, he meets a young actor called Vladimir. But the meeting has nothing to do with films or acting - nothing at all..
Read by the author
Producer Duncan Minshull.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07tzrwc
December 23, 2016
An intricate look into the writing, imagination, and mind of one of the world's great living writers. Of spy novels, and more.
Using his expertise and connections, gained when still a young man, while working in the secret service of Great Britain, le Carre crafted an entire series of novels which are among the finest ever written. Yes, I said it. And he's still working at it. And though he insists he was only a lower-level 'spy' and was never really involved in anything other than utilitarian spy work, (escorting foreign officials around London, for one thing), what he did well, and still does is listen, learn and not forget. As such he's made friends and connections everywhere and gleaned advice, insight and ideas for stories from many of them. This book is a 'sort of memoir,' as it bounces around in time in a series of short essays or vignettes, allowing the reader to see inside his process and methods. His take on 'spy operations' of the past, and those still going are - mesmerizing, surprising, unforgettable. I loved this book.
I really did. The things he sees - and knows! More than he tells here, I'm certain.
I WANT to own this book.
Five stars, which I could give it more.
Using his expertise and connections, gained when still a young man, while working in the secret service of Great Britain, le Carre crafted an entire series of novels which are among the finest ever written. Yes, I said it. And he's still working at it. And though he insists he was only a lower-level 'spy' and was never really involved in anything other than utilitarian spy work, (escorting foreign officials around London, for one thing), what he did well, and still does is listen, learn and not forget. As such he's made friends and connections everywhere and gleaned advice, insight and ideas for stories from many of them. This book is a 'sort of memoir,' as it bounces around in time in a series of short essays or vignettes, allowing the reader to see inside his process and methods. His take on 'spy operations' of the past, and those still going are - mesmerizing, surprising, unforgettable. I loved this book.
I really did. The things he sees - and knows! More than he tells here, I'm certain.
I WANT to own this book.
Five stars, which I could give it more.
March 11, 2021
This is less a biography and more a series of anecdotes from the life of the author. It ranges over many different subjects and characters, as le Carre muses on subjects as wide ranging as the trial of Stephen Ward, visiting Lebanon, Congo and Russia, lunching with Thatcher, meeting Arafat or Richard Burton and expounding on Kim Philby.
I found the first half of the book a little meandering, but when we came to the chapter about his conman, fantatist and father, Ronnie, I was engrossed. It has made me keen to read, 'The Perfect Spy,' his most biographical novel and based loosely upon his difficult relationship with his difficult parent. Overall, though, I enjoyed the company of this, much-missed, author and found his stories engaging and well told - as the reader would expect.
I found the first half of the book a little meandering, but when we came to the chapter about his conman, fantatist and father, Ronnie, I was engrossed. It has made me keen to read, 'The Perfect Spy,' his most biographical novel and based loosely upon his difficult relationship with his difficult parent. Overall, though, I enjoyed the company of this, much-missed, author and found his stories engaging and well told - as the reader would expect.
December 22, 2020
Abandoned about 1/3 in (p. 111). OK but just not very interesting, to my surprise. Hell with it.
Remember him for his fiction, is my advice.
Remember him for his fiction, is my advice.
July 31, 2020
DNF
I hate not finishing a book, but, this was lost on me. Not because I did not understand the content, but because it would have been helpful if I was a fan of his books.
I hate not finishing a book, but, this was lost on me. Not because I did not understand the content, but because it would have been helpful if I was a fan of his books.
April 18, 2024
Le Carre'ın Golü
Gevezeliğimde karambole gitmesin diye baştan yazayım. Yola çıkarken de yazmıştım: Güzel Adam Le Carre'ın bu kitabını okuyun ve okutun. Nokta. Güvercin Tüneli okuma masamda yaklaşık bir ay kalmış. Bağımsız bölümlerden kurulu kitaplar zamana yayarak okuma fırsatını verir. Sık molalarla okumayı sevdiğimden bu 'zamana yayma' ortamlarını kovalar anında değerlendiririm. Le Carre hayatını değil yaşadıklarını anlatıyor, yazmaya değer bulduğu yaşadıklarını. Bu kitabın alt başlığını belirleme şansını bulsaydım, 'Bir Yazarın Serüvenleri' derdim. Le Carre romanlarını salondan değil sahadan yazıyor ve bunun için de seyahat halinde bir yaşam sürüyor. Enteresandır, Le Carre bir keresinde baskıya yeni giren romanının geçtiği Hong Kong'a gidiyor bakıyor ki yazdıklarıyla alakası yok şehrin. İsviçre'deki dağ evinde manzarayı bakan masasında turist rehberinin kitabına bakarak yazmış romanı. Tabii alakasızlığı görünce panik yapıyor, Londra/Amerika yayıncılarına telefonlar açıyor ki romanın basımı durdurulsun. Geç kalıyorlar tabii. İşte orada yemin ediyor Le Carre, bir daha asla olay yerlerini görmeden, araştırmasını da yapmadan roman yazmayacağım diyor. Sonrası kelle koltukta seyahatler. Aşk romanı yazmıyor sonuçta. Küçük Trampetçi Kız romanı için Ortadoğu bilinmezliğine Arafat'la görüşmeye gidiyor, insanların sadece şeytani tarafını çalıştırdıkları Afrika'ya Kongo'ya Gizemli Melodi romanına malzeme toplamak için gidiyor, bir zamanların meşhur mezbahası Kamboçya ziyaretini de not edeyim şuraya. Sadece seyahatlerin anlatılmadığını tahmin etmek güç olmasa gerek. 60'ların başında hortlayan Soğuk Savaş ortamı. Casuslar dünyası ve casus dostları. Londra'da sosyal yaşam yemek davetlerinde geçiyor. Le Carre'ın katıldığı davetler enteresan. Mesela saatlerce süren bir davette belli aralıklarla başka salonlara geçiliyor, haliyle masalarla birlikte konuklar da değişiyor! Bi bakmışsın ki gıcık olduğun tanıdık masada karşında duruyor, birazdan sohbet edeceksin. Neyse ki sorun yok. Maskelerin takıldığı sosyal yaşamdasın çünkü. Guantanamo'da haksız yere beş yıl şiddet görüp "pardon" denilerek serbest bırakılmış Murat Kurnaz adlı bir Türkün Almanya'daki hukuki mücadelesinden bahsediyor. Ve sinemacı dostlarını anlattığı bölüm; Sydney Pollack, Stanley Kubrick, Fritz Lang, Martin Ritt. Sahneler komik. Le Carre son bölümü dramatik ailesine ayırmış, ama daha çok 'iyi duygularla' anmadığı babasını anlatıyor. Sosyeteye davetler verecek kadar büyük oynayan efsane dolandırıcı babasının hapislerden ibaret hayatını anlatıyor. Le Carre kitabı bitirmeye yakın soruyor: "Babamın hangi yönlerini aldım diye hep merak ederim. Acaba masasının başına oturup boş bir sayfanın üstünde dalavereler uyduran Ben ile her sabah üzerine temiz bir gömlek geçirip cebine hayal gücünden başka hiçbir şey koymayan, kurbanını dolandırmak için yollara düşen babamla aramda büyük bir fark var mı sahiden? Şarlatan babam size olmadık bir hikaye uydurabilir, hiç yaşamamış bir karakteri anlatabilir ve önünüze ortada olmayan altın bir fırsat sunabilirdi. Uydurma ayrıntılarla gözünüzü kör etmesi veya ilk seferinde başvurduğu yöntemleri kavramakta geç kalmışsanız çetrefilli bir noktanın ortaya çıkmasına yardım etmesi işten bile değildir. Gizlilik gerekçesiyle büyük bir sırrı saklayabilir, sonra size güvenmeye karar verdiğini söyleyerek bir tek sizin kulağınıza fısıldayabilir.
Eğer bunların hepsi yazarlık sanatının ayrılmaz bir parçası değilse ne olduğunu siz söyleyin."
Arkadaşlar farkındaysanız Le Carre biz okurlara temizinden bir gol attı. Altından kalkılır mı, bilmem. Ben o golün bir yerden geleceğini hissediyordum. Durumu gevezeliğe vurarak örtbas ediyorum nicedir.
(Çeviri hassasiyetinden ötürü o bir yıldızı çakmadım.)
Gevezeliğimde karambole gitmesin diye baştan yazayım. Yola çıkarken de yazmıştım: Güzel Adam Le Carre'ın bu kitabını okuyun ve okutun. Nokta. Güvercin Tüneli okuma masamda yaklaşık bir ay kalmış. Bağımsız bölümlerden kurulu kitaplar zamana yayarak okuma fırsatını verir. Sık molalarla okumayı sevdiğimden bu 'zamana yayma' ortamlarını kovalar anında değerlendiririm. Le Carre hayatını değil yaşadıklarını anlatıyor, yazmaya değer bulduğu yaşadıklarını. Bu kitabın alt başlığını belirleme şansını bulsaydım, 'Bir Yazarın Serüvenleri' derdim. Le Carre romanlarını salondan değil sahadan yazıyor ve bunun için de seyahat halinde bir yaşam sürüyor. Enteresandır, Le Carre bir keresinde baskıya yeni giren romanının geçtiği Hong Kong'a gidiyor bakıyor ki yazdıklarıyla alakası yok şehrin. İsviçre'deki dağ evinde manzarayı bakan masasında turist rehberinin kitabına bakarak yazmış romanı. Tabii alakasızlığı görünce panik yapıyor, Londra/Amerika yayıncılarına telefonlar açıyor ki romanın basımı durdurulsun. Geç kalıyorlar tabii. İşte orada yemin ediyor Le Carre, bir daha asla olay yerlerini görmeden, araştırmasını da yapmadan roman yazmayacağım diyor. Sonrası kelle koltukta seyahatler. Aşk romanı yazmıyor sonuçta. Küçük Trampetçi Kız romanı için Ortadoğu bilinmezliğine Arafat'la görüşmeye gidiyor, insanların sadece şeytani tarafını çalıştırdıkları Afrika'ya Kongo'ya Gizemli Melodi romanına malzeme toplamak için gidiyor, bir zamanların meşhur mezbahası Kamboçya ziyaretini de not edeyim şuraya. Sadece seyahatlerin anlatılmadığını tahmin etmek güç olmasa gerek. 60'ların başında hortlayan Soğuk Savaş ortamı. Casuslar dünyası ve casus dostları. Londra'da sosyal yaşam yemek davetlerinde geçiyor. Le Carre'ın katıldığı davetler enteresan. Mesela saatlerce süren bir davette belli aralıklarla başka salonlara geçiliyor, haliyle masalarla birlikte konuklar da değişiyor! Bi bakmışsın ki gıcık olduğun tanıdık masada karşında duruyor, birazdan sohbet edeceksin. Neyse ki sorun yok. Maskelerin takıldığı sosyal yaşamdasın çünkü. Guantanamo'da haksız yere beş yıl şiddet görüp "pardon" denilerek serbest bırakılmış Murat Kurnaz adlı bir Türkün Almanya'daki hukuki mücadelesinden bahsediyor. Ve sinemacı dostlarını anlattığı bölüm; Sydney Pollack, Stanley Kubrick, Fritz Lang, Martin Ritt. Sahneler komik. Le Carre son bölümü dramatik ailesine ayırmış, ama daha çok 'iyi duygularla' anmadığı babasını anlatıyor. Sosyeteye davetler verecek kadar büyük oynayan efsane dolandırıcı babasının hapislerden ibaret hayatını anlatıyor. Le Carre kitabı bitirmeye yakın soruyor: "Babamın hangi yönlerini aldım diye hep merak ederim. Acaba masasının başına oturup boş bir sayfanın üstünde dalavereler uyduran Ben ile her sabah üzerine temiz bir gömlek geçirip cebine hayal gücünden başka hiçbir şey koymayan, kurbanını dolandırmak için yollara düşen babamla aramda büyük bir fark var mı sahiden? Şarlatan babam size olmadık bir hikaye uydurabilir, hiç yaşamamış bir karakteri anlatabilir ve önünüze ortada olmayan altın bir fırsat sunabilirdi. Uydurma ayrıntılarla gözünüzü kör etmesi veya ilk seferinde başvurduğu yöntemleri kavramakta geç kalmışsanız çetrefilli bir noktanın ortaya çıkmasına yardım etmesi işten bile değildir. Gizlilik gerekçesiyle büyük bir sırrı saklayabilir, sonra size güvenmeye karar verdiğini söyleyerek bir tek sizin kulağınıza fısıldayabilir.
Eğer bunların hepsi yazarlık sanatının ayrılmaz bir parçası değilse ne olduğunu siz söyleyin."
Arkadaşlar farkındaysanız Le Carre biz okurlara temizinden bir gol attı. Altından kalkılır mı, bilmem. Ben o golün bir yerden geleceğini hissediyordum. Durumu gevezeliğe vurarak örtbas ediyorum nicedir.
(Çeviri hassasiyetinden ötürü o bir yıldızı çakmadım.)
November 19, 2016
Having only read five or six of Le Carre books and being a big fan of the adapted television movies and films I thought I'd be ready for this book. And while I certainly enjoyed it, part of me (the completists/slight OCD part of me) wishes I had read more of his novels before taking part in this autobiography (it's more a loose collection of various memories and stories each chapter reading more like an essay or story).
But the man, at 84 years old, is one hell of a writer. So that even when I wasn't familiar with the characters or novels he was describing I was enthralled. My enjoyment was in no doubt increased when I got my hands on the audiobook that is read by the man himself. There is something wonderful about listening to Le Carre read these vulnerable yet still somewhat guarded stories himself. By the end of the book, you feel that you have spent some quality time listening to a very private man illuminate just enough of himself for you to feel you know him, and that you are better off for it.
One of the better autobiographies I've ever read. Worth checking out in print or audiobook (though obvious I prefer the latter).
But the man, at 84 years old, is one hell of a writer. So that even when I wasn't familiar with the characters or novels he was describing I was enthralled. My enjoyment was in no doubt increased when I got my hands on the audiobook that is read by the man himself. There is something wonderful about listening to Le Carre read these vulnerable yet still somewhat guarded stories himself. By the end of the book, you feel that you have spent some quality time listening to a very private man illuminate just enough of himself for you to feel you know him, and that you are better off for it.
One of the better autobiographies I've ever read. Worth checking out in print or audiobook (though obvious I prefer the latter).
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