Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a spy novel by John le Carré, published in 1974.

Related Topics:
Spy novel - John le Carré - 1974

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The story of Tinker, Tailor has an archetypal simplicity reminiscent of the Odyssey: the scorned outsider investigates the running of the kingdom, tests the loyalty of his subjects and kin by means of plausible stories before disposing of the usurpers and restoring right rule. In Le Carre's modern story the elements are transposed onto the landscape of conflicted modern Europe in the throes of Cold War. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was followed by Smiley's People.

Related Topics:
Odyssey - Cold War

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The protagonist, George Smiley, is recalled from retirement to again work for the British Secret Intelligence Service (which the book's characters refer to as "The Circus", for its supposed location at London's Cambridge Circus) to find a mole who has infiltrated the highest levels of the intelligence organization.

Related Topics:
George Smiley - London - Cambridge Circus - Mole

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some people suspect Le Carré sought to recreate, fictionally, the revelations of the 1950s and '60s that exposed many British Intelligence officers, including Kim Philby, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, as double agents in the employ of the KGB, events that rocked the British establishment.

Related Topics:
Kim Philby - Guy Burgess - Donald Maclean - KGB

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A botched espionage operation in Czechoslovakia ensures that Control (Head of British Intelligence) and his associates are discredited. Shortly after, Control dies, George Smiley his able lieutenant is retired and the two are succeeded by Percy Alleline, Bill Haydon, Roy Bland and Toby Esterhase. A year later Ricki Tarr, a maverick and discredited Far Eastern agent, turns up in London with a story suggesting there is a mole (a deeply concealed double agent) in the Circus (intelligence HQ, located at Cambridge Circus). Smiley--who finds in Tarr some confirmation of his own long-held suspicions--is enticed out of retirement to investigate the claims; he is formally backed by Oliver Lacon of the Cabinet Office and aided by Peter Guillam, a junior high-ranking Circus official and former Smiley protege. Smiley gradually pieces together the story by analyzing files, interrogating witnesses and trawling through his own memory and those of other retired Circus personnel until he finally unmasks the mole "Gerald" at the heart of the Circus.

Related Topics:
Percy Alleline - Bill Haydon - Roy Bland - Toby Esterhase - Peter Guillam

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The novel's title is from the children's rhyme "Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, richman, poorman, beggarman, thief." Some of the professions mentioned are used as codenames assigned to the five mole-agent suspects: (i) current head of the Circus, Percy Alleline (Tinker), (ii) chief of the London branch, Bill Haydon (Tailor), (iii) Roy Bland, Bill Haydon's second-in-command (Soldier), (iv) head of internal security, Toby Esterhase (Poorman), and (v) Smiley himself (Beggarman).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~