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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a 1974 spy novel by British-Irish author John le Carré. It follows the endeavours of taciturn, aging spymaster George Smiley to uncover a Soviet mole in the British Secret Intelligence Service. The novel has received critical acclaim for its complex social commentary—and, at the time, relevance, following the defection of Kim Philby. It has been adapted into both a television series and a film, and remains a staple of the spy fiction genre. [2] [3]
It had me remembering the utter loneliness of mothering a newborn and emphasising with Soldier’s love, fears and anger. The rage that she felt at her husband and his ability to leave and go to work and his inability to "help" care for his son. Wowsers! The Soviet intelligence services, in particular the KGB and Karla's fictional "Thirteenth Directorate". Soldier Sailor is about motherhood and the loss of self (or identity) when a woman has a baby and sheds her old life to become a parent. Kilroy exposes the intensity and bittersweet emotions this can generate. Thief, of the words in this small piece, stands alone. It's only one syllable. It doesn't complete the rhyme. It's the only one that implies a kind of moral failing. On all three levels, it subverts the established pattern. And so the "thief" moment is the moment of prose—the moment I go after in my writing. I never achieve the regularity of tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor. I'm trying to achieve melodic and rhythmic beauty in prose that is expressed here in this nice little so-called poem. Eat it, smoke it, stay up all night for it because the memories of the damage you wreak upon your body when you are young will sustain your spirit when you are old.”John le Carré, whose real name was David Cornwell, worked as an intelligence officer for MI5 and MI6 (SIS) in the 1950s and early 1960s. [7] Senior SIS officer Kim Philby's defection to the USSR in 1963, and the consequent compromising of British agents, was a factor in the 1964 termination of Cornwell's intelligence career. [8] [9] Le Carré also drew from the paranoid atmosphere created by CIA counterintelligence chief James Jesus Angleton, who after Philby's defection became convinced that there were other moles operating at the highest levels of Western intelligence agencies. [10] a b c Stafford, David (2012). The Silent Game: The Real World of Imaginary Spies. University of Georgia Press. p.206. You open the door and look out into the rain and realise that there is nowhere for you to go; and even if there were, you cannot leave. You might as well try to walk away from your own arm.” This is Anne Enright, in typically brilliant form, on the invisible ties of motherhood, in her best-selling memoir Making Babies. It’s a quote that wouldn’t be out of place in Claire Kilroy’s new novel Soldier Sailor, a provocative and intriguing book that lays bare the delights and demands of new motherhood.
Civilian Identities: Usagi Tsukino • Ami Mizuno • Rei Hino • Makoto Kino • Minako Aino • Chibiusa Tsukino • Luna Tsukino Allies: Tuxedo Mask / Prince Endymion • Luna • Artemis • Princess Kakyuu • Queen Serenity • Neo-Queen Serenity • King Endymion • HeliosSolar System Sailor Senshi: Sailor Moon / Princess Serenity • Sailor Mercury • Sailor Mars • Sailor Jupiter • Sailor Venus
The novel concerns the post-partum depression of a new, young mother. Her husband is devoid of proper empathy and understanding. She seems to have few, if any, close friends, or supportive family members. The increasingly wilful infant doesn’t follow the supposed script (there isn’t one) and the resistance to eating, and staying quiet, and sleeping is a daily and weekly, and nightly occurrence. George Smiley – Formerly a senior officer in the Circus, who was pushed out upon the death of Control, his mentor. Smiley's timid nature and unassuming appearance belies his keen understanding of spycraft. He is called upon to investigate the presence of a Soviet mole in the Circus. Various inspirations for Smiley have been suggested, including le Carré's superior in MI5, John Bingham, and MI6 chief Maurice Oldfield (who took the position in 1973, a year before the book was published). [16] [17]Overwhelmed and exhausted and on the brink of collapse she is at times a risk to her child, to his safety, and yet somehow the idea coexists that she is his fiercest protector and will do anything for him. This idea is stretched to the point of suggesting the mother is the sacrificial lamb upon which the life of her baby depends. Meanwhile her husband continues with his normal life and regular routines and seems oblivious to the chaos that swamps them. Wow, this was intense. I'll never experience motherhood, but after reading this novel I'm quite relieved about that fact. Claire Kilroy imagines it all as psychological horror in this raw and visceral tale.
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