As TOLSTOY ON SHAKESPEARE's ruthlessly rich revelry recedes into memory
it makes me hanker for something similar yet different. In the curious
case of le Carr‚ and Forsyth, it turns out the taletelling tickles me
more than tales told by the two.
"James [Fox] requested I ask you this 'cheeky question': was
John le Carr‚ a double agent from the start?"
Questions about the late espionage novelist's loyalties are the
stuff of internet chatroom conspiracies and whispered rumors in
the all-male (until last week anyway) salons of the exclusive
Garrick Club in London where members of MI6 like to gather for
cocktails. Le Carr‚ applied for, and received, Irish citizenship
shortly before his death in 2020. According to some, this was yet
another indication of the shaky nature of his fidelity to Britain.
Forsyth sat forward. Maybe this wasn't a softball question.
"Ah, le Carr‚," Forsyth seemed to be dusting off a memory of the
man. "You mean David Cornwell. John Le Carr‚ was just his penname.
He was recruited into MI5 or MI6, I can't recall which one, but
he was never, as they say, 'in harm's way' as I was in the East
Bloc."
"I find him too depressing," I added. "He's too nihilistic for me."
"Yes, well, there was that. I met him once, you know, at a
luncheon for writers." He didn't elaborate and did not indicate
whether he liked him or not, but I lean toward the latter. In
addition to political differences, Le Carr‚/Cornwell characterized
the pro-Brexit crowd as neo-fascists while Forsyth saw the European
Union as the embodiment of a rising "bureaucratic dictatorship,"
Forsyth did not share Le Carr‚'s cynicism. In short, Forsyth is
a patriot while Le Carr‚, in my opinion, was not.
<
https://thefederalist.com/2024/06/14/how-legendary-spy-novelist-frederick-forsyth-discovered-hed-been-bowdlerized/>
--
Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. veritas _|_ telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,. liberabit |
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.' vos |
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