John Le Carré, The Quest for Karla

LynnDianne Beene (University of New Mexico)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1982

Places

United Kingdom (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Anthology/ Collection
Spy and Espionage

Resources

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In 1982, John le Carré (pseudonym for John David Moore Cornwell) brought together three of his best-selling Cold War novels—

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

(1974),

The Honorable Schoolboy

(1977), and

Smiley’s People

(1979)—in an omnibus edition published as

The Quest for Karla

. In the novels, the sometimes reluctant but committed and honourable British spymaster, George Smiley, confronts his Soviet doppelgänger, Karla, as the two spymasters launch and thwart complicated operations designed to compromise the other’s intelligence agency and undermine the political values each spy espouses. Le Carré uses the ongoing confrontations between the two to explore his favorite ethical dilemmas including means versus ends, democratic versus socialist ideologies, political expediency versus…

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2152 words

Citation: Beene, LynnDianne. "The Quest for Karla". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 October 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39422, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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