after the war and before the cold
Before he was given an assignment that involved hours of staring at the Berlin Wall while he grew angrier and angrier, with the eventual result of him tearing into the page with The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, John le Carre wrote two mystery novels. Call for the Dead and A Murder of Quality star a familiar figure for le Carre fans- George Smiley. But this is a somewhat different Smiley than the one who became famous in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; le Carre rewrote Smiley's backstory for the later novels in order to have him fit the timeline, and characters such as Peter Guillam received some much more extensive retconning.
"You know, Fielding," he said at last, "we just don't know what people are like, we can never tell; there just isn't any truth about human beings, no formula that meets each one of us."
In Call for the Dead the disillusioned middle-aged spy George Smiley finds that a man he recently interviewed on account of some Communist activity when he was in university has apparently killed himself. This alone would be bad for Smiley's career, but what Smiley finds really compelling is the ways in which this suicide just doesn't add up. So he devotes himself to uncovering the truth. Call for the Dead is, well, definitely a first novel. There are passages in which you can really feel the influence Graham Greene had on le Carre, the pacing is uneven and things end up unfortunately drawn out, the heroes whose intelligence the narration assures us of take way too long to spot the obvious answer, and there is at least one really remarkable coincidence. In a lot of ways it's also a warm-up for The Spy Who Came in from the Cold- it has a definite interest in East Germany and in the aftermath of the war for particularly affected groups (most importantly, the Jews). There are some flashes of le Carre's style, characterization, and thematic interests, but they're still being developed here.
A Murder of Quality is, on the other hand, a quite competent mystery novel. Smiley, now retired, is called up by a friend of his who he worked with during the war and asked to look into events at a school which bears no resemblance at all to Eton or other prominent public schools, really. The plotting is much tighter in this one, the characterization is competent if not as focused, and the whole thing has a sort of Agatha Christie format (and it has a twist at the end which I associate with a particular Christie work and which I have to admit I particularly dislike). It's a decent little whodunit to read during the long nights. It's also, actually, a very angry book in its way- it's very clear that le Carre has serious issues with the post-war behavior of the upper class (though the way the issue of class is treated in the book is not without problems).
I have to say that in spite of its flaws, I like Call for the Dead more. You can feel le Carre reaching for the character-based drama in a spy setting that he achieves in later books, and the ambiguity and themes brought up in the end are pointed but very much in keeping with his work as a whole. Call for the Dead feels like le Carre straining to create his own formula, for better or worse, while A Murder of Quality feels like le Carre slotting a few of his characters and interests very neatly into someone else's formula. A Murder of Quality is undeniably a better book, but I don't find it as interesting a read. One has to wonder what would have happened if le Carre hadn't gotten that assignment in Berlin- would he have just ended up a decent mystery writer with some espionage flourishes to distinguish him a bit?
In the end, I'd only recommend these two to someone who is as interested in Smiley's character as I am. They're an interesting quick read for fans, but not quite skilled or original enough to justify a recommendation to anyone else. If you're starting on le Carre, I say skip ahead to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
"You know, Fielding," he said at last, "we just don't know what people are like, we can never tell; there just isn't any truth about human beings, no formula that meets each one of us."
In Call for the Dead the disillusioned middle-aged spy George Smiley finds that a man he recently interviewed on account of some Communist activity when he was in university has apparently killed himself. This alone would be bad for Smiley's career, but what Smiley finds really compelling is the ways in which this suicide just doesn't add up. So he devotes himself to uncovering the truth. Call for the Dead is, well, definitely a first novel. There are passages in which you can really feel the influence Graham Greene had on le Carre, the pacing is uneven and things end up unfortunately drawn out, the heroes whose intelligence the narration assures us of take way too long to spot the obvious answer, and there is at least one really remarkable coincidence. In a lot of ways it's also a warm-up for The Spy Who Came in from the Cold- it has a definite interest in East Germany and in the aftermath of the war for particularly affected groups (most importantly, the Jews). There are some flashes of le Carre's style, characterization, and thematic interests, but they're still being developed here.
A Murder of Quality is, on the other hand, a quite competent mystery novel. Smiley, now retired, is called up by a friend of his who he worked with during the war and asked to look into events at a school which bears no resemblance at all to Eton or other prominent public schools, really. The plotting is much tighter in this one, the characterization is competent if not as focused, and the whole thing has a sort of Agatha Christie format (and it has a twist at the end which I associate with a particular Christie work and which I have to admit I particularly dislike). It's a decent little whodunit to read during the long nights. It's also, actually, a very angry book in its way- it's very clear that le Carre has serious issues with the post-war behavior of the upper class (though the way the issue of class is treated in the book is not without problems).
I have to say that in spite of its flaws, I like Call for the Dead more. You can feel le Carre reaching for the character-based drama in a spy setting that he achieves in later books, and the ambiguity and themes brought up in the end are pointed but very much in keeping with his work as a whole. Call for the Dead feels like le Carre straining to create his own formula, for better or worse, while A Murder of Quality feels like le Carre slotting a few of his characters and interests very neatly into someone else's formula. A Murder of Quality is undeniably a better book, but I don't find it as interesting a read. One has to wonder what would have happened if le Carre hadn't gotten that assignment in Berlin- would he have just ended up a decent mystery writer with some espionage flourishes to distinguish him a bit?
In the end, I'd only recommend these two to someone who is as interested in Smiley's character as I am. They're an interesting quick read for fans, but not quite skilled or original enough to justify a recommendation to anyone else. If you're starting on le Carre, I say skip ahead to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.