John le Carré

In John le Carre’s artful espionage novels, the most prominent “spy” might well be the author himself, for throughout his fiction readers see a worried, conscientious man peering into the deformed hearts of those who would betray his people and warning us of their trickery. Le Carre (the pen name of David John Moore Cornwell) has amassed broad popular and critical appeal by exploring difficult subjects while keeping his books engaging, lucid, and within the boundaries of the genre he now defines. Using his constant theme of the meretricious relationship of love and betrayal, he exploits the conventions of espionage fiction to show that no absolute standards of public or personal conduct exist, that humanism, no matter how ponderously examined, cannot avoid inhumanity.