{"product_id":"9780241550106","title":"A Private Spy : The Letters of John le Carre 1945-2020","description":"\u003cp\u003eJohn le Carre was a defining writer of his time. This enthralling collection letters - written to readers, publishers, film-makers and actors, politicians and public figures - reveals the playfully intelligent and unfailingly eloquent man behind the penname. A Private Spy spans seven decades and chronicles not only le Carre's own life but the turbulent times to which he was witness. Beginning with his 1940s childhood, it includes accounts of his National Service and his time at Oxford, and his days teaching the 'chinless, pointy-nosed gooseberry-eyed British lords' at Eton. It describes his entry into MI5 and the rise of the Iron Curtain, and the flowering of his career as a novelist in reaction to the building of the Berlin Wall. Through his letters we travel with him from the Second World War period to the immediate moment in which we live. We find le Carre writing to Sir Alec Guinness to persuade him to take on the role of George Smiley, and later arguing the immorality of the War on Terror with the chief of the German internal security service. What emerges is a portrait not only of the writer, or of the global intellectual, but, in his own words, of the very private, very passionate and very real man behind the name.\u003cbr\u003eIncludes letters to:\u003cbr\u003eJohn Banville\u003cbr\u003eWilliam Burroughs\u003cbr\u003eJohn Cheever\u003cbr\u003eStephen Fry\u003cbr\u003eGraham Greene\u003cbr\u003eSir Alec Guinness\u003cbr\u003eHugh Laurie\u003cbr\u003eBen Macintyre\u003cbr\u003eIan McEwan\u003cbr\u003eGary Oldman\u003cbr\u003ePhilip Roth\u003cbr\u003ePhilippe Sands\u003cbr\u003eSir Tom Stoppard\u003cbr\u003eMargaret Thatcher\u003cbr\u003eAnd more...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"book-contributors\"\u003e\n  \u003cp class=\"contributor-item\"\u003e\n    \u003cspan class=\"contributor-role\"\u003eAuthor\u003c\/span\u003e\n    \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=Author+John+le+Carre\" class=\"contributor-link\"\u003eJohn le Carre\u003c\/a\u003e\n  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"John le Carre","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47380546388131,"sku":"9780241550106","price":505.0,"currency_code":"ZAR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0741\/7836\/3555\/files\/img_9780241550106_4a28ce45-6c55-402e-a6a1-2f2e6c881e20.jpg?v=1776467109","url":"https:\/\/graffitibooks.co.za\/products\/9780241550106","provider":"Graffiti Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}