Smiley’s People (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: John le Carre
- First Published: 1980
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Spy
- Time of Work: The early and mid-1970’s
- Setting: England, Germany, Russia, France, and Switzerland
- Genres: Long fiction, Suspense, Spy fiction
- Subjects: 1970’s, Politics, Socialism, France or French people, Europe or Europeans, Betrayal, England or English people, Good and evil, Mysteries, Adventure, Germany or German people, Russia or Russian people, Defectors, Intelligence service, Secret service, Switzerland or Swiss people
- Locales: France, England, Germany, Russia, Switzerland
Characters Discussed
George Smiley, who is known as a “case man” for British intelligence. He is called out of retirement when one of his agents, General Vladimir, is murdered. Oliver Lacon, the foreign office liaison with the intelligence service, wants Smiley to wrap up the case quickly, but the dogged Smiley scents a trail that leads directly to his arch nemesis, Karla, the head of Soviet intelligence. Twenty years earlier, Smiley had caught Karla and had tried to convince him to defect, but Karla had refused and was later sent back to the Soviet Union in a deal between...
[The entire page is 812 words long]
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