Showing results by narrator "John le Carré" in Art & Literature

'Out of the secret world I once knew, I have tried to make a theatre for the larger worlds we inhabit. First comes the imagining, then the search for reality. Then back to the imagining, and to the desk where I'm sitting now.' The Pigeon Tunnel, John le Carré's memoir and his first work of nonfiction, is a thrilling journey into the worlds of his 'secret sharers' - the men and women who inspired some of his most enthralling novels - and a testament to the author's extraordinary engagement with the last half century.

From his years serving in British Intelligence during the Cold War, to a career as a writer that took him from war-torn Cambodia to Beirut on the cusp of the 1982 Israeli invasion to Russia before and after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, le Carré has always written from the heart of modern times. In this, his first memoir, le Carré is as funny as he is incisive, reading into the events he witnesses the same moral ambiguity with which he imbues his novels.

John le Carré was a best-selling author whose books include and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. On this recording we hear - in his own words - about being brought up by his grandparents and feeling deserted by his mother and father. He talks about being creative as a means of escapism, by telling stories about his absent parents, as well as hating public school where he suffered severe beatings. 

Was macht das Leben eines Schriftstellers aus? Die Einsamkeit des Schreibens? Mit dem Welterfolg von Der Spion, der aus der Kälte kam gab es für John le Carré keinen Weg zurück in die Abgeschiedenheit. Er kündigte seine Stelle im diplomatischen Dienst, reiste zu Recherchezwecken um die halbe Welt und traf die Mächtigen aus Politik- und Zeitgeschehen, aber auch aus dem Filmgeschäft. So entstand eine realitätssatte Literatur, die den Nerv der Zeit trifft. John le Carré ist ein exzellenter und unabhängiger Beobachter, mit einem untrüglichen Gespür für Macht und Verrat.