Questions tagged [john-le-carre]
Questions about the works of John le Carre (1931-2020) or his life as a writer. Le Carré is the pen name of David John Moore Cornwell. The British author is best known for his George Smiley espionage novels such as *Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy* (1974) and *The Spy who Came in from the Cold* (1963).
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What type of rent would make more sense here?
From John Le Carré's Smiley's People:
“More coffee, George?”
“No, thank you, Peter. No, I don’t think so. No.”
“They seem to have soup of some sort. Unless that was the coffee.”
“Thank you, I think I’...
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Does this borrow the opening style from "A Tale of Two Cities"?
From John Le Carré's Smiley's People:
She stopped and gazed at him, and held him away from her, trying to read his answer. She whispered, “For goodness’ sake,” and he could see the doubt, the pride, ...
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Who is Maud here?
From John Le Carré's Smiley's People:
Enderby sauntered back towards the centre of the room and poured himself some plain soda from the sideboard; he stared at Smiley with what seemed to be honest ...
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What Bible passages are related to this notion?
From John Le Carré's Smiley's People:
With a sense of everything ending, Ostrakova deliberately cocked her dead husband’s pistol, and advanced with firm if painful steps, upon the door. She advanced ...
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What does "She human or the other thing" mean?
From John Le Carre's Smiley's People:
A deep, masculine voice, very slow, issued out of the darkness behind her. “What is it, Hils?” growled the voice. “Bogweevil, budgie, or giraffe?”
The question ...
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What does "Wild horses can puff and blow their snivelling hearts out" mean?
From John Le Carré's Smiley's People:
“Connie’s not coming back, George,” she called as she hobbled ahead of him. “Wild horses can puff and blow their snivelling hearts out, the old fool has hung up ...
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Why Saxon was worse than East German?
From John Le Carré's Smiley's People:
“Otto Leipzig never settled anywhere in his life,” said Toby with contempt. “George, that guy’s a drifter, a total bum. Dresses like he was a Rothschild, owns a ...
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Does "Two legs good, two legs bad" from "Smiley's People" allude to George Orwell's "Animal Farm"?
From John Le Carre's Smiley's People:
Returning to bed, he opened a copy of Cobbett’s Rural Rides and tried to read it while he loosely pondered, among other weighty matters, his sense of civitas and ...
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What does "She was already suited" mean?
From John Le Carré's Smiley's People:
To ring her? To throw on his clothes and hurry round there, to be received as her secret lover, creeping away with the dawn?
Too late. She was already suited.
...
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What does "those mythical relations started needing her to cure their mythical ailments in far-off places" mean?
From John Le Carre's Smiley's People:
To forget the hurts, the list of lovers; to forget Bill Haydon, the Circus traitor, whose shadow still fell across her face each time he reached for her, whose ...
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What does "The telephone had never been a bother to her. It gave her no sense of urgency." mean?
From John Le Carre's Smiley's People:
“How are you?” she asked.
“Very well, thank you. How are you? What can I do for you?”
“I meant it,” Ann insisted. “How are you? I want to know.”
“And I told you ...
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How come there are Buddhist monks from a seminary?
From John Le Carré's Smiley's People:
There were even two Buddhist monks from a local seminary, complete with saffron robes and lace-up boots and knitted woolen caps, who offered their assistance.
I ...
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What does "hanging on to their virility" mean?
From John Le Carré's Smiley's People:
He knew that sometimes old spies, even the best of them, were a little like old lovers; as age crept up on them, they began to cheat, out of fear that their ...
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What does "the last day" and "the first" mean?
From John Le Carré's Smiley's People:
Till today again, when they were back. Except that today was about fifty thousand times worse, because today was now, and the street today was as empty as on the ...
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What does "the Offices" refer to?
From John Le Carré's Smiley's People:
(After an ex-agent Vladimir was shot, Lacon asked Smiley to do the clean-up work.)
“It’s a yes or no, George,” Lacon said. “There’s cleaning up to be done. ...
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