John Le Carré Contributor(s): Homberger, Eric (Author) |
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ISBN: 0367352788 ISBN-13: 9780367352783 Publisher: Routledge OUR PRICE: $118.80 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: October 2019 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Modern - 20th Century |
Dewey: FIC |
Series: Routledge Library Editions: Modern Fiction |
Physical Information: 114 pages |
Themes: - Chronological Period - 20th Century |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Since the heyday of Ian Fleming's fantasy superspy James Bond, the novels of John le Carr have held up to readers across the world a sombre, fascinating picture of decline, deception and ethical ambiguity. In this study, originally published in 1986, the first to include an interpretation of A Perfect Spy, Eric Homberger argues that within the tradition of the spy thriller of John Buchan and 'Sapper' a 'space' was created by Somerset Maugham, Eric Ambler and Graham Greene for serious writing. From The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1963) to The Little Drummer Girl (1983) and A Perfect Spy (1986), le Carr has used that space to make a searching investigation of the nature of post-Imperial Britain. In the process he has become the peer of Conrad and Greene in the recognition that the spy novel is a literary form capable of the highest artistic seriousness. |