John le Carré: The Biography - Couverture souple

Sisman, Adam

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1408849461 ISBN 13 : 9781408849460

Editeur : Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2016

A propos du livre

Revue de presse :

“This is the best biography of 2015—a rare achievement that invites rereading.” —Edward Wilson, The Independent

“Sisman’s life of the British secret-service-veteran-turned-novelist is admiring without toadyism, highly readable and, above all, knowledgeable about the books.” —The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)

“Sisman’s book answered all the questions le Carré watchers had been asking for years. . . . [A] shrewdly forensic anatomising of le Carré’s eighty-something years. . . . Paradoxically, and perhaps irritatingly for the author, [le Carré’s] autobiography [The Pigeon Tunnel] serves to underline the general excellence of Sisman’s biography.” —William Boyd, The Guardian

“[A] long, full and revealing work, written in blessedly readable prose, and makes a three-dimensional figure of a subject who can come across as something of a superman. . . . Sisman’s account of Cornwell’s espionage work is particularly good. . . . [N]obody will ever come closer than Sisman has to cracking the great le Carré enigma.” —The Telegraph 

“[T]he biography one imagines le Carré wanted: admiring without being toadying, detailed without being overstuffed, highly readable and, above all, knowledgeable about the work. . . . [John le Carré: The Biography] offers a knowing refresher course, and what we take away is a new appreciation of le Carré’s full range.” —Joseph Kanon, The New York Times 

“[A] fascinating truce between candour and guile. . . . [T]his book fulfils almost every expectation. Sisman has immersed himself in an extraordinary life story and reported it with exemplary dedication, following le Carré’s footsteps and, like a literary Jeeves, quietly correcting his master’s narrative with here a discreet cough, there a raised eyebrow, anon a sharp intake of breath. . . . Rarely has there been a more passionate marriage between life and art.” —Robert McCrum, The Observer

“[An]  intriguing biography. . . . [T]his is biography as detective work, or, if you like, as espionage. . . . This book is a substantial achievement. It confirms Sisman’s reputation as one of the best literary biographers now working in English.” —The Washington Free Beacon

“Adam Sisman’s biography of John le Carré is a masterpiece.” —Irish Examiner

“[A] respectful and unsycophantic biography.” —The Telegraph

“Sisman has done his work diligently and he’s very smart. One reads avidly.” —John Sutherland, The Times

“Splendid. . . . Smiley himself could not have done a better job.” —Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times

“[Sisman] has got behind Mr. le Carré’s mask to unravel the enigma. . . . [A] balanced, focused and compelling study of a man of depth and individuality. . . . This biography expertly shows how distance, distrust and even disillusionment have informed Mr. le Carré and influenced his bestselling fiction.” —The Economist 

“In Sisman’s telling, [le Carré] is fascinating and enigmatic. . . . Sisman’s portrait is cogent, tirelessly researched, and always absorbing.” —Adam Woog, The Seattle Times

“[O]ne of the best biographies to be written about a living subject. It combines a thoroughly researched account of le Carré’s eventful life with incisive and often brilliant insights into his peerless writing career. . . . [A]s thrilling and detailed as any of its subject’s novels and an equally essential read. . . . Sisman’s hugely confident and gripping storytelling makes this biography a pleasure to read over its six hundred pages. Le Carré himself may struggle to better it.” —Charlotte Heathcote, Daily Express

“To his craft as a biographer, Sisman adds the tradecraft of the spy. He waits and watches, gathering intelligence on his subject for us. We are individual members of his ‘Joint Intelligence Committee’ as much as we are his readers.” —Vin Arthey, The Scotsman

“[A] model of exposition and tact. While not hagiography, it is certainly very admiring. . . . Sisman, a trustworthy exegete, teases out the strands of a contradictious life.” —Ian Thomson, The Irish Times

“[A]dmirably detailed and judicious.” —Roger Lewis, Daily Mail

“Sisman is up to the challenge. He has just the style for a biographer: questioning, clear-eyed and honest. . . . Sisman equally knows how to write and this magnificent book is testament.” —The Buffalo News 

Quatrième de couverture :

Over half a century since The Spy Who came in from the Cold made John le Carré a worldwide, bestselling sensation, David Cornwell, the man behind the pseudonym, remains an enigma. He has consistently quarried his life for his writing, and his novels seem to offer tantalizing glimpses of their author - but in the narrative of his life fact and fiction have become intertwined, and little is really known of one of the world's most successful writers.

In Cornwell's lonely childhood Adam Sisman uncovers the origins of the themes of love and abandonment which have dominated le Carré's fiction: the departure of his mother when he was five, followed by 'sixteen hugless years' in the dubious care of his father, a man of energy and charm, a serial seducer and conman who hid the Bentleys in the trees when the bailiffs came calling - a 'totally incomprehensible father' who could 'put a hand on your shoulder and the other in your pocket, both gestures equally sincere'. And in Cornwell's adult life - from recruitment by both MI5 and MI6, through marriage and family life, to his emergence as the master of the spy novel - Sisman explores the idea of espionage and its significance in human terms; the extent to which betrayal is acceptable in exchange for love; and the endless need for forgiveness, especially from oneself.

Written with exclusive access to David Cornwell himself, to his private archive and to the most important people in his life - family, friends, enemies, intelligence ex-colleagues and ex-lovers - and featuring a wealth of previously unseen photographic material, Adam Sisman's extraordinarily insightful and constantly revealing biography brings in from the cold a man whose own life has been as complex and confounding and filled with treachery as any of his novels. 'I'm a liar,' Cornwell has written. 'Born to lying, bred to it, trained to it by an industry that lies for a living, practised in it as a novelist.'

This is the definitive biography of a major writer, described by Ian McEwan as 'perhaps the most significant novelist of the second half of the twentieth century in Britain'.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Date d'édition: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1408849461
• ISBN 13: 9781408849460
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 672