Call for the Dead (1961)

Lighting the Pipes

1961's "Call for the Dead" was a striking premiere in spy fiction. Not only was it the careful, opening gambit in John le Carré's long and dominating career, it also marked the first appearance of George Smiley, the author's recurring intelligence officer of unlikely composition. Accented by a polite, unassuming conduct, Smiley is slightly overweight and a bit lovesick, too, all of which stood him in sharp contrast to the "known quantity" literary spy of the day. Drawing on his own experiences of work with Britain's intelligence services, John le Carré sculpts his inaugural text out of post-war mortar and emerging cold-war realism.