Despite the French pen name, novelist John le Carre wasabout as British as the Union Jack. He was a former British intelligence officer who started writing spy fiction in the early sixties. Due to his past as a foreign officer, le Carre was unable to publish books under his real name of David Cornwell. Unlike the James Bond series, le Carre’s protagonists are more ambiguous and his spy novels are more psychological than about physical action.
Le Carre passed on December 12, 2020.
Although John le Carre has written the George Smiley series, he mostly wrote standalone novels and had not published a series novel since 1990. Several of le Carre’s works have been adapted for film, television and radio. The most recent is the 2011 adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (with the commas dropped for the film title) starring Gary Oldman as George Smiley. Below is a list of John le Carre’s novels in order of when they were originally published:
Publication Order of George Smiley Books
Publication Order of The Karla Trilogy Books
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas
Publication Order of John le Carr Short Story Collections
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
Publication Order of Anthologies
Note: The collection Ox Tales: Fire also contains contributions by Geoff Dyer, Sebastian Faulks, Mark Haddon, Victoria Hislop, Vikram Seth, Lionel Shriver, Ali Smith, William Sutcliffe, Jeanette Winterson and Xiaolu Guo.
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RIP