∎ Libro Free John le Carre The Biography Adam Sisman 9780062106278 Books

John le Carre The Biography Adam Sisman 9780062106278 Books

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John le Carre The Biography Adam Sisman 9780062106278 Books

At times quite enjoyable but a rather disappointing biography of a most interesting man. While the information that Mr Sisman has mined is as intriguing as his subject and well-referenced/footnoted, it is presented badly. Repetitive in places - disjointed in others - frequently long-winded, it reads like an early draft and would have benefited by much more critical editing. The brilliant David Cornwell (Le Carre), one of the clearest writers of his generation, deserves better.


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John le Carre The Biography Adam Sisman 9780062106278 Books Reviews

While perhaps overlong and detailed, it was gripping. At the end one was well aware of what had made him tick over the many years and many books of his career. It did help to gain an understanding of books when reading - I read "Smiley's People" afterwards, and the biographical detail helped.
Sometimes the length might appear to be caused by some correspondence or document having all the detail wrung out of it - it's possible that resisting this temptation might result in a more abbreviated and readable book.
That is not a reflection on the quality of the book, but the subject often led me to extended periods of reflection between stints of reading. I would say that if you are a fan of LeCarre's books that you will enjoy this biography. I generally find biography to be one extreme or another. Either fawning or cutting. I found this one to be balanced and well researched and written. It will give insight into the life experiences and thought processes surrounding the authorship of his various books, which I found very interesting.
If one asks the question Who is the audience for a writer’s biography? The easiest answer is Fans of that writer. If the author is important enough there may be sales to academics, but this is not for whom the biographer toils. Following this question, a potential reader might want to know of this is a fawning, family sponsored memorial or an attack piece by an author with any of several axes to grind.

In writing John Le Carre’, Adam Sisman had the full access to the living John Cornwall, pen name John Le Carre’ as well as his friends and papers, but the writing evidences a critical eye as well as a fan’s infatuation. The result is a very good biography. Something about it keeps me from calling it the definitive biography. The easy reason is that man is still living and still writing but it is possible that Sisman got too close to his subject.

Against the complaint that Sisman can be repetitious, it is true. But there are repetitions in Cornwall’s life and in Le Carre’s writing. John’s father was a criminal con man on a very high level. This fact highly colors the son’s experience of the world and relations with people from his mother to his women and across through his publishers and friends.
The John Le Carre` books that made of him more than an author of popular popular fiction are those about espionage, the cold war and later the competing demands of take all capitalism and the protection of human dignity. The subtext for all of these books are the limits of the demands of duty and the duty owed to love.

Citing from the books that made me a Le Carre` fan, the Quest for Karla Trilogy. The movies’ James Bond with his super gadgetry was certainly the stuff of fantasy. All of us have had the pleasure of pretending we had machine guns mounted in our car just in time to nail that ruder driver. The reality based, poorly dressed, bookish and decidedly un-cool George Smiley digging through files and working the bureaucracy is much closes to who many of us are.
Going deeper, the question is not just who is Karla’s mole? But what is their motive. How far can governments go in protecting their respective interests? This questions tends to be easy to answer at the grand scale, but are the answers the same when decisions are made at face to face range?

The Man Who Came in from the Cold, the first of the great le Carre’ books is entirely about this question. We are cautioned that spies, more correctly secret agents are people. Often sordid people with motives remote from King and country and just as often seedy and marginal. What then is a spy if not one of their countries heroes?
And so this same question, usually in the same tired, disenchanted voice echoes across a very large portion of John Le Carre’s oeuvre.

Sisman grasps the subtext of these books and as they are repetitious so he repeats. More than this he critically reviews both the novels and the later movies.

Something about the movie coverage seems less serious. These portions can get somewhat gossipy. It is clear that Cornwell/Le Carre’ takes his movie adaptations seriously but somehow the history of the movie making cannot help but be tinged with the Hollywood reporter. Many of his books have made the jump to both the wide and small screen and have consistently been good box office. A reasonable speculation is that this additional vote of public interest is part of why Le Carre’ has not benefited from more of the staid but prestigious awards from within the literary community.

Not clear to me, or to Sisman is why Cornwall has a history of resisting British government recognition for so many decades of contributing to England’s culture, and so ready to accept similar and lessor recognition from other countries.

I am a long time John Le Carre’ fan. Sisman has reminded me of titles I had missed and deepened my appreciation for the author. He has not made me feel that this is the only book I need to best appreciate one of my favorite authors.
Adam Sisman has written the consummate biography of one of the world's most popular and enigmatic novelists, David Cornwell, better known to the world as John le Carré. For over 60 years, John le Carré wrote novels that defined his times. From the ultimate early Cold War spy thriller, The Spy Who came In from the Cold; to the semi-autobiographical, 60s existential crisis novel, The Naïve and Sentimental Lover; through the masterful George Smiley/Circus collection of novels; to his brilliantly crafted stand-alone novels, The Little Drummer Girl and A Perfect Spy (also semi-autobiographical); down to his outstanding post-Cold War books depicting the nefarious worlds of arms dealers, washed out secret agents, ruthless international corporations and earnest but corruptible non-government agency do-gooders -- nobody caught the mood of the moment better than John le Carré. And few authors since Joseph Conrad have ever transcended genre to create such genuine literary examinations of the human condition. Part of le Carré's success had to do with the mystique he created about himself and his past. This was due to his complicated and tormented early life at the hands of his father, the infamous con man, Ronnie Cornwell whose ability to lie and manipulate others reached socio-pathic levels. While le Carré hinted at the dark and mysterious forces that made him who he was in many of his novels, he wasn't able to really purge himself of his father's shadow until the elder Cornwell died and le Carré was able to write about him freely as the con man father, Rick, of the tormented MI6 traitor Magnus Pym in A Perfect Spy. For the last 25 years, several notables have offered to write le Carré's biography. All met with stiff resistance from their complicated potential subject. Thank goodness for Adam Sisman. Not only has he written a brilliant biography, he has managed to capture some of the spirit of le Carré's own writing spirit in unraveling a most complicated human being. This is a tastefully wrought "warts and all" biography. Gorgeous and delicious (two words I never thought I would ever use to describe a book) despite clocking in at 600 pages, the devoted le Carré fan will find it difficult to put down for more than a few moments (to eat and breathe, one hopes). And oddly enough, le Carré authorized this biography, a real triumph for Sisman as le Carré has not only been secretive over the years but downright bristling with moral outrage when slighted. Sisman unravels the real le Carré, David Cornwell, son of Ronnie and one-time MI5 and MI6 operative, a sometimes contradictory and bitter moral conscience for the decline of Great Britain in the 20th century, and a man who finds himself re-writing his own past as fact and fiction blur his recollections. Sisman, in fact, bravely and often exposes le Carré's "false memories" and acknowledges these as the result of a life mired in duplicity and fictionalized in art. And this is more than just a biography of a man, it captures the entire post-war era in its depictions of other creative minds and the events that shaped them. For this reason alone I would recommend this book to non-le Carré fans (who will be seduced into reading le Carré's novels by the time they finish this biography). The accompanying photographs and comments are well done. Adam Sisman has performed a wonderful service here. Some may be disturbed by the reality behind the legend -- Sisman is unafraid to correct misconceptions that have morphed into mythology -- but the end result is better than legend anyway. Highly, highly recommended.
At times quite enjoyable but a rather disappointing biography of a most interesting man. While the information that Mr Sisman has mined is as intriguing as his subject and well-referenced/footnoted, it is presented badly. Repetitive in places - disjointed in others - frequently long-winded, it reads like an early draft and would have benefited by much more critical editing. The brilliant David Cornwell (Le Carre), one of the clearest writers of his generation, deserves better.