Tradecraft: Writers on John le Carré

Fascinating and original insights into John le Carré’s working methods by the people who worked alongside him.

John le Carré is one of the most significant political novelists in the English language. His early career in the secret service took him to West Germany at the height of the Cold War and subsequent novels prompted field trips all over the world, from Hong Kong to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He conducted hundreds of interviews with privileged observers, from freedom fighters to spies, bankers and gangsters. 

In this book, collaborators and friends take us behind the scenes to give original insights into le Carré’s extraordinary observational writing techniques, revealing his unique ‘tradecraft’ as a writer. His striving for artistic truth and historical precision is presented here through the words of those who worked alongside him, together with an analysis of the novels, which so often captured the zeitgeist. Illustrated with manuscript pages, family photographs, film stills and correspondence, this book provides a multifaceted portrait of the working life and legacy of a great writer.

About the editor

Federico Varese is Professor of Sociology at Sciences Po and researcher at the Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics (CEE). His research interests include organized crime, corruption, Soviet criminal history, social network analysis, and analytical social theory. He previously published three award-winning books, The Russian Mafia. Private Protection in a New Market Economy (2001), Mafias on the Move: How Organized Crime Conquers New Territories (2011) and Mafia Life. Love, Death and Money at the Heart of Organised Crime (2018).

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In the media 

• Article -  "Like an academic": private papers reveal John le Carré’s attention to detail, The Guardian
• Article - Exhibition to showcase John le Carré archive, BBC
• Article - John le Carré’s shadow world of secret informers, The Observer
• Article - A new exhibition explores John le Carré’s writing process and what it says about his political conscience, The Conversation
• Article - Inside the meticulous, marvellous mind of John le Carré, Independent