About
John le Carré, born David John Moore Cornwell, was a British novelist born in 1931 and died in 2020. After studying at Oxford, he taught at Eton and then worked for the British intelligence services (MI5 and MI6) in the 1950s-1960s. He published his first novel, Call for the Dead, in 1961 under a pseudonym, as Foreign Office officers were forbidden to publish under their own names. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963), became an international bestseller and allowed him to write full-time. He is best known for his character George Smiley, a spymaster, and for his realistic and critical spy novels about the Cold War. He wrote 26 novels, including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Constant Gardener, and A Legacy of Spies.
* 1931-10-19 — † 2020-12-12
Major works
- Call for the Dead (1961)novel
- The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963)novel
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974)novel
- The Constant Gardener (2001)novel
- A Legacy of Spies (2017)novel
Key milestones
- 1963Publication of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, which became an international bestseller.
- 2011Awarded the Goethe Medal for outstanding service to the German language and international cultural dialogue.
- 2019Awarded the Olof Palme Prize and donated the entire prize money to Médecins Sans Frontières.
Themes
EspionageCold WarBetrayalMoralityIdentity
Sources: britannica.com · penguinrandomhouse.com · bbc.com