John Le Carré, Call for the Dead

LynnDianne Beene (University of New Mexico)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1961

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel
Spy and Espionage

Resources

John le Carré and George Smiley entered literature at about the same time. John le Carré, literally John the Square, was the pseudonym chosen by David John Moore Cornwell when his employers, the British Secret Service (MI6), prohibited him from using his real name to publish his first novel, Call for the Dead (1961). Where the pseudonym came from is a mystery now even to Cornwell. Smiley’s origins, however, are less enigmatic. Based largely on the Reverend Vivian Green, Cornwell’s tutor at Lincoln College, Oxford (le Carré, 2016, 2), and John Bingham, le Carré’s former Security Service (MI5) mentor (Plimpton, 1997, 55), Smiley is introduced in Call </…

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3217 words

Citation: Beene, LynnDianne. "Call for the Dead". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 December 2019 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6076, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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