John le Carré

British novelist and spy (1931–2020)

John le Carré is remembered in literature for work that changed what came after it.

The record lists John le Carré as British novelist and spy (1931–2020).

John le Carré was born at Poole in 1931. His recorded nationality is the United Kingdom. He was educated at Lincoln College and Sherborne School.

The twentieth century made work collective, expensive and political, with consequences that reached well beyond the people doing it.

John le Carré is described as novelist, screenwriter and film producer.

His affiliations include MI5, Secret Intelligence Service and Eton College.

Among his principal works are The Honourable Schoolboy, Smiley's People and The Constant Gardener. A writer's real subject usually becomes visible only across the whole body of work.

His recorded fields of work are english-language literature and spy fiction.

His work was formally recognised with the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Somerset Maugham Award and Best Crime Novel in Swedish Translation.

Working from the United Kingdom shaped what was possible - the audiences within reach, the institutions that would have him, the language the work first appeared in.

Death came in 2020, at 89. By then the contribution had passed into the settled record.

Achievements

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