The Spy Novels of John Le Carre: Balancing Ethics and Politics

Rating:
Summary: A meticulous study of the secret world of John le Carre
Review: Frequently the blurbs on book jackets have little relevance to the actual contents of the book, but this is not the case with Myron Aronoff's "The Spy Novels of John le Carre: Balancing Ethics and Politics". On the back cover, Wilson Carey McWilliams of Rutgers University states, "Aronoft's analysis is worthy of George Smiley: careful, relentless and desperately shrewd, with an eye for subtle relationships and connections, invariably probing below the appearances." I don't think I can improve upon McWilliams's words.

There is no doubt from the very first paragraph of the preface that Aronoff has embarked on an earnest, thoughtful examination of le Carre's espionage fiction, covering all the novels from "Call for the Dead" through "The Tailor of Panama"(but excluding "The Naive and Sentimental Lover"). He performs a methodical analysis, book by book, of le Carre's recurring themes and character types, relating these to the liberal humanism which he considers - correctly, I believe - to be the core of le Carre's view of the world. Make no mistake about it: this is a book with serious intent, not a breezy light survey of a favorite author's works, filled with frothy anecdotes.

Aronoff is a professor of political science and anthropology and, he tells us in the preface, the genesis of this book was in university seminars which then led to a paper about le Carre that he presented before the American Political Science Association. Although careful reading is at times demanded by the academic timbre of some of the text (he discusses how "le Carre emphatically rejects predetermined doctrines that offer noncontextualized set formulas"), Professor Aronoff's analysis is far from being a barren exercise in arcane literary theory. Everything is specifically grounded in le Carre's own words, with Aronoff's observations directly connected to the incidents and characters he cites. Numerous interviews given by le Carre over the years are a rich source of pertinent information. What emerges from this meticulous study is a perceptive portrait of a master author and his works. Moreover, the relationship of le Carre's fiction to the real Intelligence world is discussed at length, with a strong case made for his novels being genuine instruments of political education. Lastly, a handy appendix is provided to describe the "Dramatis Personae", the main characters who inhabit the tales.

Already the pages of my copy of "The Spy Novels of John le Carre" are covered with highlighted sentences and paragraphs, many containing keen insights new to me. To my way of thinking,Aronoff has captured the essence of who le Carre is and what he has accomplished. I will not attempt to summarize the book's conclusions here, other than saying that a reader should come away with a greatly enhanced appreciation of le Carre's focus upon ambiguity, skepticism and balance. Instead, I will simply encourage anyone sincerely interested in John le Carre's espionage fiction to read this book. It belongs on the bookshelf right alongside "Smiley's People" and "A Perfect Spy".

Rating:
Summary: A meticulous study of the secret world of John le Carre
Review: Frequently the blurbs on book jackets have little relevance to the actual contents of the book, but this is not the case with Myron Aronoff's "The Spy Novels of John le Carre: Balancing Ethics and Politics". On the back cover, Wilson Carey McWilliams of Rutgers University states, "Aronoft's analysis is worthy of George Smiley: careful, relentless and desperately shrewd, with an eye for subtle relationships and connections, invariably probing below the appearances." I don't think I can improve upon McWilliams's words.

There is no doubt from the very first paragraph of the preface that Aronoff has embarked on an earnest, thoughtful examination of le Carre's espionage fiction, covering all the novels from "Call for the Dead" through "The Tailor of Panama"(but excluding "The Naive and Sentimental Lover"). He performs a methodical analysis, book by book, of le Carre's recurring themes and character types, relating these to the liberal humanism which he considers - correctly, I believe - to be the core of le Carre's view of the world. Make no mistake about it: this is a book with serious intent, not a breezy light survey of a favorite author's works, filled with frothy anecdotes.

Aronoff is a professor of political science and anthropology and, he tells us in the preface, the genesis of this book was in university seminars which then led to a paper about le Carre that he presented before the American Political Science Association. Although careful reading is at times demanded by the academic timbre of some of the text (he discusses how "le Carre emphatically rejects predetermined doctrines that offer noncontextualized set formulas"), Professor Aronoff's analysis is far from being a barren exercise in arcane literary theory. Everything is specifically grounded in le Carre's own words, with Aronoff's observations directly connected to the incidents and characters he cites. Numerous interviews given by le Carre over the years are a rich source of pertinent information. What emerges from this meticulous study is a perceptive portrait of a master author and his works. Moreover, the relationship of le Carre's fiction to the real Intelligence world is discussed at length, with a strong case made for his novels being genuine instruments of political education. Lastly, a handy appendix is provided to describe the "Dramatis Personae", the main characters who inhabit the tales.

Already the pages of my copy of "The Spy Novels of John le Carre" are covered with highlighted sentences and paragraphs, many containing keen insights new to me. To my way of thinking,Aronoff has captured the essence of who le Carre is and what he has accomplished. I will not attempt to summarize the book's conclusions here, other than saying that a reader should come away with a greatly enhanced appreciation of le Carre's focus upon ambiguity, skepticism and balance. Instead, I will simply encourage anyone sincerely interested in John le Carre's espionage fiction to read this book. It belongs on the bookshelf right alongside "Smiley's People" and "A Perfect Spy".

Rating:
Summary: A riveting study of how Le Carre established his politics.
Review: Myron Aronoff has done this British novelist's followers a great service. By pursuing Le Carre, the man, Aronoff gives the reader a clear image of a political moralist for our times. The pursuit is dominated by the efforts of Carre's main character, George Smiley, and his fascination for ambiguity and ambivalence in secret political work. The purpose of the book is a neat criticism of contemporary politicians wherever they advocate closed-minded nationalism, self-destructive patriotism and murderous deception. Generally speaking this book is a fine contribution to the use of literature to political discourse; and, in particular, it has a most valuable appendix of major characters in Le Carre's novels. This is a perfect gift for Le Carre buffs.

Rating:
Summary: A riveting study of how Le Carre established his politics.
Review: Myron Aronoff has done this British novelist's followers a great service. By pursuing Le Carre, the man, Aronoff gives the reader a clear image of a political moralist for our times. The pursuit is dominated by the efforts of Carre's main character, George Smiley, and his fascination for ambiguity and ambivalence in secret political work. The purpose of the book is a neat criticism of contemporary politicians wherever they advocate closed-minded nationalism, self-destructive patriotism and murderous deception. Generally speaking this book is a fine contribution to the use of literature to political discourse; and, in particular, it has a most valuable appendix of major characters in Le Carre's novels. This is a perfect gift for Le Carre buffs.

Rating:
Summary: Highly specific audience
Review: This book is not for everyone-- actually it is not for most people. If you are not very interested in the work of John Le Carre, this book is certainly not for you-- which is to be expected. If you are a fan of Le Carre, however, this book is probably not for you either. The book encompasses Le Carre's entire body of work, engaging in in-depth analysis of many topics from ambiguous morality to skeptical balance and using examples from many novels to support others. If you have not read all of Le Carre's work, and are planning on reading more, you may find yourself upset when crucial plot points are casually revealed. The main audience for this book are those who have read close to every Le Carre novel and are looking for more academic analysis of certain characters and points-- or, of course, students who wish to use the book as reference only. Content-wise, the book provides many insights into more subtle points of Le Carre's style, and is useful as a reference source (including a very organized index and an alphabetical list of characters with descriptions and appearances). The writing style is somewhat pedantic at times, but generally very readable (though at times it comes off as term-paper-ish). On the whole, it is a book that is quite good, if only for a very small portion of the reading public.