About this Event
'Now that he is dead, we can know him better.'
Secrecy came naturally to John le Carré, and there were some secrets that he fought fiercely to keep. Nowhere was this more so than in his private life. Apparently content in his marriage, the novelist conducted a string of love affairs over four decades. To keep these relationships secret, he made use of tradecraft that he had learned as a spy: code names and cover stories, cut outs, safe houses and dead letter boxes. Such affairs introduced both jeopardy and excitement into what was otherwise a quiet, ordered life. Le Carré seemed to require the stimulus they provided in order to write, though this meant deceiving those closest to him. It is no coincidence that betrayal became a recurrent theme in his work.
Adam Sisman’s definitive biography, published in 2015, revealed much about the elusive spy-turned-novelist; yet le Carré was adamant that some of his subjects should remain hidden, at least during his lifetime. The Secret Life of John le Carré is the story of what was left out, and offers reflections on the difficult relationship between biographer and subject. More than that, it adds a necessary coda to the life and work of this complex, driven, restless man.
‘Not merely the conclusive homage to a compulsively fascinating character, but an insightful study into the biographical process itself’ – Nicholas Shakespeare
About Adam Sisman:
Adam Sisman is the author of 'Boswell’s Presumptuous Task', winner of the US National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography, and the biographer of John le Carré, A. J. P. Taylor, and Hugh Trevor-Roper. Among his other works are two volumes of letters by Patrick Leigh Fermor. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Honorary Professor at the University of St Andrews.
About Stewart Purvis:
Stewart Purvis CBE is a former Editor-in-Chief and Chief Executive of ITN, the TV news provider he joined in 1972 after being appointed one of the BBC’s first three news trainees in 1969. At ITN Stewart won Royal Television Society awards for news and documentaries and two BAFTA awards as Editor of Channel Four News. After retiring from ITN in 2003, Stewart became a Visiting Professor of Broadcast Media at Oxford University and the first Professor of Television Journalism at City University London. From 2007 to 2010 he was Ofcom’s Partner for Content and Standards and is now a regular broadcaster on media issues.
Stewart is the co-author of 'Guy Burgess, the Spy Who Knew Everyone'. His research into MI5’s files on Burgess led him to create a guided walk ‘the Hampstead Spies’ about the KGB’s activities in London NW3 in the 1930s. He has given many talks at Burgh House about the spies who lived in Hampstead.
Doors, bar, and bookshop open: 6.30pm
Talk: 7pm
The Burgh House Book Lab is supported by Osbornes Law.
Copies of the publication will be available to purchase on the night at Burgh House.
Please note: Burgh House is a small arts charity, and we rely on ticket sales to generate income and keep the House open for free. Therefore tickets for events at Burgh House are non-refundable.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Burgh House, New End Square, London, United Kingdom
GBP 6.00 to GBP 8.00
