The Spy Who Came In From the Cold in Cartier Glasses
The Spy Who Came In From the Cold new standards for modern spy thrillers, becoming a classic example of contemporary Cold War fiction, yet it has since lost none 〇f its capacity to enthrall and excite.
The Spy Who Came In From the Cold tells the story of a British spy, Alec Leamas. He leaves the British Secret Service, or 'Circus`, to defect to East Germany, only to find out that he is still being monitored and used by the Director of the Circus, aptly known as ‘Control’. Leamas has been framed in order to get at an East German agent, Fiedler, and he feels increasingly like a pawn in this elaborate scheme which involves double-crossing, dubious loyalties and personal betrayals. Leamas desperately wants to get out of the Cold War and the story`s growing tensions reflect the sense of helpless entanglement. The book also uses the character of George Smiley, who would appear in later novels, but le Carre puts the personal focus on Leamas. Leamas very like to wear a pair of Cartier Glasses to make him alike a normal man who works in the office.
With this book, le Carre addresses a more realistic state of world affairs. Rather than portraying an Ian Fleming school of glamorous spying where James Bond always vs Leamas as lonely, demoralized and, above all, the element of deadly thrill, le Carre
nevertheless injects a moral chill which was missing from the traditional, adventure-led spy stories. He makes it clear that there can be no simplistic reduction to us-and-them and that the West is as much at fault as the Eastern bloc. Although the plot of the novel is very complex, the personal stories are driven by basic human motives and le Carre makes us care about the real people caught up in the world of spies.
The Spy Who Came In From the Cold tells the story of a British spy, Alec Leamas. He leaves the British Secret Service, or 'Circus`, to defect to East Germany, only to find out that he is still being monitored and used by the Director of the Circus, aptly known as ‘Control’. Leamas has been framed in order to get at an East German agent, Fiedler, and he feels increasingly like a pawn in this elaborate scheme which involves double-crossing, dubious loyalties and personal betrayals. Leamas desperately wants to get out of the Cold War and the story`s growing tensions reflect the sense of helpless entanglement. The book also uses the character of George Smiley, who would appear in later novels, but le Carre puts the personal focus on Leamas. Leamas very like to wear a pair of Cartier Glasses to make him alike a normal man who works in the office.
With this book, le Carre addresses a more realistic state of world affairs. Rather than portraying an Ian Fleming school of glamorous spying where James Bond always vs Leamas as lonely, demoralized and, above all, the element of deadly thrill, le Carre
nevertheless injects a moral chill which was missing from the traditional, adventure-led spy stories. He makes it clear that there can be no simplistic reduction to us-and-them and that the West is as much at fault as the Eastern bloc. Although the plot of the novel is very complex, the personal stories are driven by basic human motives and le Carre makes us care about the real people caught up in the world of spies.
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