I Did Not Know This

On Tinker Tailor:

During the writing of an early draft of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," recalls John le Carré in an introduction to his classic spy novel, now reissued by Penguin Books along with a selection of his other works, he was banging his head against the wall. For a long time, he tried to make the story of a quest to ferret out a double agent in the British secret service succeed without flashbacks.

After months of frustration, Le Carré took the manuscript into his garden and burned it. Such is the diligence of the master craftsman. Then he went back to work with a new take. The version of the book that he completed and published in 1974 — now regarded as perhaps the greatest spy novel written — is so complex precisely because its form itself is a journey of exploration into the "inside-out logic of the double-agent operation," into the past and into the complex natures of loyalty and betrayal.

There are times as a writer when stories come easy. If I remember correctly, Le Carre wrote The Spy Who Came In From the Cold in a mere 6 weeks. But it is important to remember some things don't come easily and take time to develop. One isn't better than the other. Certainly one is more pleasurable than the other, but perhaps those one's you struggle with become the one's you love the most. Tinker Tailor is most certainly Le Carre's best work (not that I've read all, but I find it almost impossible to imagine a better one), on any short list of the best spy novel ever written, and one of the master works of all 20th century novels.

I certainly see the logic of trying to do the story without flashback. Flashback is a lame device in movies, too. But sometimes, when the story begs for it, it works.