I read Sisman's biography when it came out, hotly followed by le Carre's own autobiographical memoir The Pigeon Tunnel, which was obviously meant to eclipse Sisman's work, even though le Carre had co-operated with it and even proof read it. At le Carre's request Sisman excised the salacious bits on a promise that he could publish a revised, expanded edition once those it would upset had died.
This left Sisman with a problem. David Cornwell became rich and famous in his early thirties with his pseudonymous debut The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963). For the next half century he continued to produce bestselling novels but lived a deeply dull semi-reclusive life. The only interesting thing about him in later life were his endless extra-marital affairs.
This raised a secondary problem. Cornwell/le Carre was a deeply unpleasant person, an untrustworthy friend, an unreliable source of information, a duplicitous philanderer, an egoist with a slightly inflated concept of his own talent (he was extremely good at writing but lacked the humanity necessary for the Nobel Prize he felt was his due).
The Secret Life is a reworking and reconsideration of what was excised from the biography. Since le Carre died in December 2020 (followed soon after by his second wife Jane) several of the mistresses have come forward. One, Susan 'Suleika' Dawson, published her own memoir in 2022. Sisman had contacted them all over the years but because he has a text by Dawson to forensically examine his coverage of that affair far eclipses the others, which seems to me a little unfair.
What most interested me was Sisman's account of working with his subject, who just happened to be the son of a conman, a professional fabricator of truth as a low-level spy and prominent author, afflicted with both priapism and a degree of monomania. Sisman's account of where his obligations as an unofficial biographer is in itself worth acquiring The Secret Life.
No comments:
Post a Comment