Nov 16, 2009

The Russia House | Characters

Le Carre's characterization is an outstanding feature of almost all of his fiction. His studies of the effect of a world predicated on mistrust, lying, and betrayal on individuals add depth to his fiction, making the stories meaningful in simple human terms. The impact of espionage on the world is almost always destructive. Lying becomes habitual, even preferable to straightforward truth. Betrayal turns into a complex game in which the loss of human lives is merely a way of keeping score. The reaction of many of le Carre's characters to deceit and death is to deny the reality of the...