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13PROTOTYPES OF LITERARY CHARACTERS AND THE ROLE OF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND (A CASE STUDY OF JOHN LE CARRE'S "TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY")
Kayavo Violetta Alexandrovna, Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg
E-mail: viola1-93@mail.ru
Abstract. The paper represents a study of possible prototypes of the characters and an analysis of the role of authenticity in spy novel "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" by John le Carré. The author comes to the conclusion on importance of historical and biographical background for creating a realistic work of spy fiction.
Key words: spy novel, prototype, authenticity, historical background.
John le Carré is one of the most successful contemporary spy novelists. His literary works are published in many foreign languages and are the basis for many TV and film adaptations. Furthermore, le Carré's books are of exceptional interest for many literary critics, journalists and, predominantly, for readers. The author, as a former intelligence officer who worked for British Security and foreign-intelligence services, describes the world of spies as monotonous, dull and full of immense mental processing, what actually makes his books and, especially "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" (1974), completely different from vivid, full of superior characters spy fiction created by Ian Fleming. The main questions that arise here are: where fiction in the novel by John le Carré ends and where reality is? Do the characters have prototypes and how is the historical background reflected in the book?
The historical background in "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" is the following: John le Carré shows the world of spies in the period of the Cold War, particularly in the 1970s. The author presents the work of the Secret Service in times of the decline of the Empire along with the development of the USA as hegemony and growing fear of Soviet overpower. The novel is set in London, at the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service, named "Circus". The protagonist, George Smiley, and his colleagues have to find the Russian "mole" at the Circus new authority; the reader plunges into the plot immediately, in medias res, being unaware of the prehistory and characters. John le Carre describes the process of investigation realistically, using his
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own experience, facts and creating dramatis personae with some character or appearance traits of people he worked with. Here it is necessary to pass to the analysis of characters and to describe the probable prototypes.
Le Carré scholar, Myron Aronoff, describes the protagonist of the novel, George Smiley, on the basis of 8 books of the writer. "Le Carré says he [Smiley] lacked a childhood. He attends an unimpressive school and unimpressive college at Oxford, where he specializes in baroque German literature " [1] (here the similarity with John le Carré's biography is shown, who also studied foreign languages and literature). In March 2014 le Carré wrote a letter for "The Telegraph" where he showed the connection between John Bingham, his friend and colleague, and Smiley. Long before that, in 1999, the writer had announced that Bingham is the prototype for Smiley: «He had been one of two men who had gone into the making of George Smiley. Nobody who knew John and the work he was doing could have missed the description of Smiley in my first novel» [2]. The second man was the Rev. Vivian Green, le Carré's university tutor. «Bingham was the physical inspiration for Smiley and Vivian Green the spiritual inspiration» [3]. Also there were rumors that the image of Smiley was based on Moris Oldfield, the former head of Secret Intelligence, but John le Carré f denied it: «...a little, tubby man with spectacles. Was never the model for Smiley, I didn't meet him till after I'd invented Smiley but the press wouldn't wear that...» [4]. In his work, «Jane Austen's Lovers and Other Studies in Fiction and History from Austen to le Carré» professor John Halperin suggests that George Smiley is Dick White, the head of MI-5 (1953-1956) and MI-6 (1956-1968) [5], but this idea has no proof.
Now it is necessary to pass on to the next character, who is to be blamed for the conflict in the novel - Bill Haydon. In the period of 1950-60s, John le Carre took part in unmasking of Soviet moles in the British Intelligence, known as "Cambridge Five". One of the moles, Kim Philby, served as a prototype for Haydon. In an interview for Channel 4 News, John le Carré announced that Philby revealed his position in the Intelligence, and that caused the author's resignation. «I had been betrayed by Philby, I actually refused to meet Philby in Moscow in 1988. For me, Philby was a thoroughly bad lot, just a naturally bent man» [6]. In the novel le Carré used Philby's codename for Haydon, "Gerald". Haydon's betrayal, like Philby's, does serious damage to anglo-american relations and relations between England and the Soviet Union. He betrays his country, and also his family, friends and colleagues. Le Carré intensifies his ambiguity by making him bisexual (it is known that Philby himself was bicurious).
Other characters are also worth analyzing from the point of view of their "authenticity". George Smiley was an assistant of Control, the head of the Circus. His real name is unknown and the only information given only according to rumors and memories; his image is demonstrated only through the prism of other characters' relation towards him. Control usually signed the documents with letter "C" - this
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peculiarity resided in Mansfield Cummings ("Later directors have also been called C, but it is said to stand for "Chief rather than "Control") [3]. This information was confirmed on John le Carré's official website. It is necessary to mention Smiley's rival, named Karla, the head of Moscow Secret Centre. Some critics say, that Karla resembles Markus Wolf, the chief of Stasi. Even Wolf himself was pleased with the fact, how le Carré had managed to create his image in the book. But le Carré rejected it immediately: «What similarities Wolf could have with Karla is a total mystery to me. Both were communists, I suppose. Both served disgusting regimes... But that hardly makes them blood brothers» [7]. To some extent, Karla is a generalized character, and to speak about traces of authenticity does not make any sense.
Another character of prime interest in the novel is Jim Prideaux. John Halperin emphasizes similarity between Prideaux and Guy Burgess, who also was a member of "Cambridge Five", arguing that Burgess was bisexual, suffered from being an alcoholic and he was a friend of Philby's (as Prideaux and Haydon were friends too). But by such kind of a reference we cannot say definitely that Jim Prideaux has a prototype.
The problem is what criteria are relevant and suitable while defining the f prototypes of literary characters. The question of historicism arises here. Should literature be analyzed from the point of authenticity and the point of possible prototypes appearance? Some critics say, that it is wrong to consider fiction as a source of real facts or events, otherwise it is not fiction; fiction has to be intriguing and just reflect some points of reality. But while creating a work of fiction, an author one way or another uses certain details, and personal experience. Having done this research, we can admit that John le Carré reflects his own experience in the book, and his novel is interesting from the point of view of its numerous references to reality. Bernard Bergonzi coined a term "fictions of history", when the authors (especially in the period of 1960-70s) tried to create fiction analyzing some historical events, in the tradition of "Victorian novel", making it close to every-day life. By creating characters based on prototypes, le Carré makes his novel realistic "fiction of history" and then valuable from the historical point of view; what is more, this fact forces us to reconsider our relation towards the genre of spy novel.
To sum up, we can say that due to the role of historical background and characters based on prototypes John le Carré's novel can be referred in some way to historical prose, because the author shows impact of events on his characters.
Literature:
1. Aronoff M. J. The Spy Novels of John Le Carre: balancing ethics and politics. -New York: Palgrave, 1999. - C. 232-233.
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2. J. Copping, B. Farmer, H. Dixon. John le Carré on the inspiration for George Smiley // The Telegraph. - 2014. - 4 March. - URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ culture/books/10676670/John-le-Carre-on-the-inspiration-for-George-Smiley.html (accessed date: 02.12.2014).
3. Gordon C. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: John Le Carre and reality // BBC Magazine. -2011. - 11 September. - URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14846154 (дата обращения: 02.12.2014)
4. Oldfield, Maurice. URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Oldfield (дата обращения: 10.04.2015)
5. Halperin John. Jane Austen's Lovers and Other Studies in Fiction and History from Austen to Le Carré. - Houndmills etc. : Macmillan Press , 1988. - P. 233-234.
6. Le Carré betrayed by 'bad lot' spy Kim Philby // Channel 4 News. - 2010. - 13 September. - URL: http://www.channel4.com/ (дата обращения 17.11.2013).
7. Hoffman, Tod. Le Carre's Landscape. - McGill Queens University Press, 2001. - P. 142
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