John le Carré (pseudonym for David Moore Cornwell) solidified his literary and popular reputation with his Cold War novels in which the unlikely hero, the portly, donnish George Smiley, often struggled with the dehumanizing demands of this ideological conflict. As the Cold War receded, le Carré turned more to themes that intertwine global corruption with espionage conventions. Neophyte protagonists work with but often defy intelligence services for their own non-ideological, typically sentimental reasons. Bartholomew “Barley” Scott Blair, for example, a bookseller turned reluctant British agent, betrays his government controllers for love (
The Russia House, 1989). Harry Pendel, a mild-mannered husband and father, natural chameleon, and most unlikely spy finds himself drawn between…
2858 words
Citation: Beene, LynnDianne. "The Night Manager". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 August 2018 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=42, accessed 25 November 2024.]
