The British master of detective novel John Le Carre has died of pneumonia at the age of 89. He has sold over 60 million books worldwide.
“It is with great sadness that I should announce that David Cornwell, better known as John Corn, passed away in Cornwall on Saturday evening, December 12, after a brief illness (unrelated to Kovid-19). 2020. He We were 89. Our heart goes out to his four sons, their families and his loving wife, Jane, ”said Johnny Geller, CEO of Curtis Brown Group, a London-based arts agency.
“It is with great sadness that we must confirm that David Cornwell – John le Carre – died of pneumonia Saturday evening after a brief battle with the disease,” his family confirmed in a message relayed by his agent .
Twenty five novels
John Le Carre has written twenty-five novels and a volume of memoirs, “The Pigeon Tunnel” (2016). He has sold over sixty million books worldwide.
He was inspired by his career as a secret agent, ruined by British double agent Kim Filby who revealed his cover and many of his compatriots in the KGB. John le Carre – David Cornwell, his real name – then had to resign from MI6.
We have lost a great man in english literature
Johnny Geller, CEO of Curtis Brown Group
“We have lost a great man in English literature,” Mr. Geller said, praising his “great intelligence”, “kindness”, “humor” and “wisdom”.
The King of Horror novel, American Stephen King, took to Twitter to mourn the death of a “literary veteran” and “human spirit”. British writer and historian Simon Sebag Montefor said he was “overwhelmed” by the death of the “title of English literature” on the same social network.
“Great and Popular”
John Le Carre achieved international success following the publication of his third novel, “The Spy Who Came from the Cold” (1964), which he wrote at the age of 30, “eating out of his boredom”. The British Embassy in Bonn in Germany provided it to him.
The manuscript was commissioned by the Secret Services, which concluded that it was a “pure fantasy from beginning to end”, wrote John le Carre in the 2013 The Guardian. But the press had taken a different approach, he said, deciding that the story was “not only real, but like a revealing message from the other side.”
The novel, which has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, tells the story of Alec Limas, a British double agent who moved to East Germany. Its adaptation to the big screen, with Richard Burton in the title role, marks the beginning of a long collaboration with film and television.
One of those writers, who was not only a prolific writer, but also entered popular culture – and this is very rare.
Robert Harris, novelist
Novelist Robert Harris has described Le Carre as “one of those writers who was not only a prolific writer, but also entered popular culture – and it is very rare”.
“Spy from the Cold” is a masterpiece, “Harris told SkyNews Television.” It’s an incredibly entertaining and very dark story, and it changed the writing of the detective novel. It was about espionage, betrayal and British power. There was a great psychological picture of the fall, ”he said.
In his latest novel published in October 2019, Eurofile John le Carre portrayed an indomitable portrait of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, portrayed as an “ignorant pig” and Brexit called “insanity”.
John le Carre in a few dates
David Cornwell, aka John le Carr, who was a British writer, specialized in detective novels, which have been translated into about 40 languages.
- October 19, 1931: Born in Porsche in Dorset in the south of England.
- 1936: His mother leaves the family home and moves in with her father, who will be imprisoned twice for insurance fraud.
- 1948 to 1956: studied French and German at Bern and then Oxford.
- 1954: Marries Alison Sharp, who has three sons and whom they divorced in 1971. A year later, he remarries Valerie Eustace, an editor, and has a fourth son.
- 1958: Starts working for British Intelligence (MI5) and writes his first novel, “Call of the Dead” (1961), translated into French in 1963.
- 1960: Started working for the Secret Service (MI6) as the second secretary of the British Embassy in Bonn, Germany.
- 1963: Publication of “The Spy that Came from the Cold” (in 1964, in French) under the pseudonym John le Carré.
- 1964: Betrayed by double agent Kim Philby, who reveals his true identity, he resigns from MI6 and dedicates himself to writing.
- 1974: Publication of “La Tup”, followed by “Comme un Collège” (1977) and “Les Gains de Smiley” (1979).
- January 2003: Published in The Times, Bush’s statement against America “The United States has gone mad” (The United States has gone mad)
- 2017: Publishing Day Son 24 E Roman “A Legacy of Spies”.
- October 2019: Publication of his latest novel, Agent running in the region (return of service for French version)
- December 12, 2020: Death from pneumonia in Cornwall.
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