In TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY, John Le Carre accomplishes the rare and admirable feat of transcending the genre and his customary themes of duty, duplicity and the ambiguities involved in a profession where violence, mendacity and amorality are intrinsic and necessary. At the center of the novel is the unprepossessing scholar George Smiley who reluctantly accepts the task of unmasking a high-level double agent who has burrowed (hence, the term "mole")into the highest echelon of the British Intelligence Service and is wrecking havoc not only with its own operations but with credibility in partnership with the increasingly powerful and arrogant American CIA. "The sun" is, indeed, setting on the British Empire and it is Smiley"s job to both "gracefully" superintend this historical reality with the thankless job of tracking down a gifted traitor. (The Kim Philby "mythology" is focal here) Le Carre has written in "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy" a piece of literature with the murky world of espionage as background. His major concern, however, is an exploration of the human condition in its typical state of conflict and self-created confusion. In my estimate, Smiley is one of the most complex, engaging and compassionate characters in modern literature. Graham Greene attempted such characterizations in his "entertainments"/adventure stories; yet I do not feel any of his characters are as memorable as this...seemingingly...unlikely spy master. TTSS is, of course, the first in a wonderfully written trilogy (The Honorable Schoolboy is probably least successful but most recognizable as a tale of calculated vengeance and the show-down story is SMILEY'S PEOPLE where the scholar/spy faces down his arch-enemy in the KGB). Sir Alec Guiness played Smiley in the BBC tele-video of the story and is magnificent in conveying the humanity of a hero..cuckholded by a family friend and colleague...whose duty requires him to guard this humanity at personal and historical (the passing of power to the USA)crossroads in the face of class vanity, political realities and very recognizable individual weakness (and an ultimate act of treachery). The other two books are good. TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY, however, is...I believe...a masterpiece of literature. It has virtually nothing in common with stories written by "thriller" writers like Fleming, Deighton, Clancy or Forsyth. The works of the latter are...usually...exciting and highly entertaining. George Smiley, however, has much more in common with Sir Thomas More than 007 or even Le Carre's own Alec Leamas (The Spy Who came in From the Cold). If you are a reader who enjoys the "spy" novel, this will satisfy you with its revelations about how a "secret service" probably works. If you are a student of literature, you may find this work ranking with the best written in modern British literature......
