59 pages • 1 hour read
John le CarréA Perfect Spy
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1986A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Ideological Context: The Cold War
A Perfect Spy is set during the Cold War, a long period of tense rivalry that began in the immediate aftermath of World War II. The US and the Soviet Union were uneasy allies during the war, but once it was over, their ideological differences cast them as adversaries. The US and allies like Great Britain perceived the Soviet Union as a military and ideological threat to their stability, especially given that after the war, the Soviet Union installed several communist, left-wing, or non-capitalist governments in Eastern Europe. Capitalist countries feared the spread of communist ideology to Western Europe, while the Soviet Union feared that capitalist countries would seek to undermine its new governments. As such, the Cold War was a period of competition and tension between—in broad terms—the communist east and the capitalist west for ideological control.
The term Cold War refers to the absence of explicit conflict. The US, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union didn’t attack one another directly. Both sides had nuclear weapons—and, fearing the use of these weapons, neither directly attacked the other. Instead, the war was fought using propaganda, spying, economic sanctions, and other means, which occasionally spilled over into proxy battles between the sides, such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (in which the Western countries funded and armed the opponents of the Soviets) or the US invasion of Vietnam (in which the Soviets funded and armed the North Vietnamese).
A Perfect Spy concerns intelligence in European cities such as Vienna and Prague. In the aftermath of World War II, Vienna (like Berlin) was divided between the Soviets, the US, Britain, and France. Each country controlled a different part of the city and, until the city was reunified, intelligence agents often moved among the different parts of Vienna. Czechoslovakia was occupied by the Nazis during World War II and, at the end of the war, fell under Soviet influence until 1989. Alexander Dubček took control of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and sought to institute a more broadly democratic version of socialism in the country, though the Soviet Union limited his efforts. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1988-1991), Czechoslovakia split into Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Historical Context: Postwar Britain
Great Britain was on the winning side in World War II, but the postwar period brought an immediate decline in its power, authority, and influence on the world stage. At the beginning of the 20th century, Great Britain and the British Empire was the nominal world power. With colonies across the world and large armies and navies, the country was wealthy and prosperous. Before World War II, Britain controlled India, Burma, Kenya, Palestine, Hong Kong, and many other colonies (often through brutal and violent means), contributing to what was history’s largest empire. World War II ushered in the end of the British Empire. Not only did fighting the war nearly bankrupt the country, but the call for the end of colonialism and the institution of self-determination increased in many colonies. In countries such as India and Kenya, local movements campaigned for independence. Although the British Empire violently pushed back against these demands, Britain lacked the funds and resources to maintain its vast empire.
Needing a huge loan from the US and facing demands to grant independence to its colonies, the British Empire collapsed in the aftermath of the war. The Suez Crisis in 1956 illustrates the collapse of British influence in the postwar period. Following nationalization of the Suez Canal by Egyptian President Gamar Abdel Nasser, Britain (with France and Israel) invaded Egypt to reclaim what was once a colonial possession. The US didn’t approve of this invasion and threatened to cut financial aid to Britain. Unable to win militarily and unable to gain public support, Britain and its allies withdrew from Egypt in humiliating fashion. The Suez Crisis thus demonstrates the former empire’s collapse in influence and power.
In a domestic sense, postwar Britain was a changing place. Despite the empire’s collapse, British postwar governments created public institutions such as the National Health Service and the Welfare State. The postwar period’s brief boom (backed by American money) fell apart in the 1970s, however, and many public institutions began to crumble under conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath. Several labor strikes, the oil crisis, and the forced introduction of a three-day work week suggested that the British state was on the verge of collapse. A Perfect Spy is set in the 1970s and 1980s, a time when the British government was reckoning with hollowed-out public institutions and a diminished role on the world stage. After the height of imperial power almost 50 years earlier, Great Britain endured the so-called Winter of Discontent (1978-79), which demonstrated the severity of public discontent in a country struggling to adjust to its diminished status.
Authorial Context: Parallels with John le Carré’s Life
John le Carré described A Perfect Spy as his most autobiographical novel. The novel functions as a thinly veiled account of his life, including the depiction of the intelligence services, a criminal father, and British boarding schools. The author was born David Cornwell in 1931 in Dorset, England. His mother left the family when he was only five years old, and he was raised by his father, Ronnie. As in the life of the fictional Magnus Pym, le Carré’s family was perpetually in debt, and Ronnie was jailed for committing insurance fraud, leading to a strained relationship between young le Carré and his father. He was sent to several British boarding schools but disliked them, finding their disciplinarian environments harsh and cruel. Leaving school early, le Carré spent a year abroad studying languages in Bern, Switzerland, and then returned to Great Britain in 1950 to join the Army as part of his National Service. While in the Army, le Carré first began working in intelligence. He was stationed in Austria because of his command of the German language, and he helped defectors cross over from Soviet-controlled parts of Austria or Germany into British controlled regions. After returning to Britain to study at Oxford, le Carré began working for the British Security Service (MI5). He joined left-wing student organizations and passed along information to MI5. After two years teaching, he joined MI5 in 1958. As part of his job, he worked with agents, set up phone taps, and broke into officers’ quarters to gather information. Later, le Carré transferred to MI6 and worked in foreign intelligence.
During this time, le Carré began writing novels informed by his work as a spy. They were published under a pen name to keep his identity a secret. He stopped working as an intelligence agent after the exposure of notorious double agent Kim Philby, who secretly worked for the Soviet Union and passed along information about many undercover agents. By the time le Carré left MI6, his writing was successful enough that it became a full time career. His novels depicted a very different world of intelligence than that shown in novels and films such as the James Bond franchise. In novels such as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, intelligence and intelligence agents are often unheroic and psychological. Loyalties and institutions are brittle, and conflicts are often internal rather than external. In A Perfect Spy, le Carré combines this depiction of exhausted, hollow British institutions with many details from his own life. The criminal father, the year in Bern, the spying on left-wing student organizations, and the role of double agents feature prominently in the story just as they did in le Carré’s life. However, while Magnus Pym spends decades as a double agent, le Carré quietly retired from the intelligence services to a life of writing. In this respect, le Carré had the career that Pym always wanted.
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