The Russia House:
Bannon, Barbara A
THE RUSSIA HODSE John le Carre Knopf, $19.95, 353 pp. Barbara A. Bannon Tantalizingly unlike anything he has written before, even though it deals with the world of spies and counterspies, le...
...Thus begins le Carre's in-depth probe of the lengths to which secret agents of any country will go...
...Barley and Katya, the Russian woman, fall in love, naturally and believably...
...The fact that he has now permitted himself to be interviewed in some depth by the Washington Post, New York Times, and other media says a lot about all that The Russia House means to him personally and professionally...
...That timing, which leaves the reader fascinated, might have come right out of today's newspaper headlines...
...Espionage is a filthy game that must be played at times and becomes at other times so self-involving for the participants that they cannot escape from it, cannot live without it...
...Along the way we encounter the intense and often bitter rivalry between British and American Intelligence who distrust each other almost as much as they do the Russians...
...One thing is made clear...
...When a bewildered Polish-born Briton turns up with a highly secret manuscript, which a Russian woman gave him at a trade fair to smuggle out of that country, it is to "The Russia House" that he eventually finds his way...
...Even as one longs to learn what may lie ahead for these very credible Russians, British, and Americans, there is an even more arresting thought in mind...
...After The Russia House , anything more about "Smiley's People" seems impossible...
...There are some wonderful scenes involving Barley, a saxophone player, and Russian jazz enthusiasts...
...Step by exciting step things begin to happen...
...What will John le Carre write about next...
...To do so, he must first find the Russian woman courier...
...The reader is lured into thinking, "This must certainly be the way things will work out," and then forced to wonder, "Why do I think that...
...Unlike many best-selling authors, Cornwell has always stood aloof from personal publicity...
...But there is much more to what this former member of Britain's Foreign Service has to say in his most important work to date...
...There is the astonishing disclosure that in any important joint Intelligence operation the Americans officially have the final say...
...In his last novel, The Perfect Spy, David Cornwell (le Carre's real name) gave us a sardonic and moving semi-fictional portrait of a charming scoundrel, based on his real life father, someone who has haunted his life for years...
...Are the hair-raising revelations in the manuscript true or is the whole thing a Soviet plant...
...There is also talk of the Australian director, who is filming the book based on Tom Stoppard's screenplay, going to Russia to receive permission to film scenes in Moscow and Leningrad...
...He is not afraid to make moral judgments, to place his people, both Russian and British, in situations where they must consciously reach decisions of choice where "good" and "evil" are far from easy to define and even more difficult to act upon...
...First comes the hunt for the hard-drinking, womanizing, not very successful British publisher, Barley, to whom the Russian author wants to assign his manuscript...
...The Russia House" is the unofficial name given in London to the building that houses Britain's top secret anti-Soviet Intelligence operations...
...And it is le Carre's sympathetic characterization of this man, code named "Bluebird," that makes it so incredible that The Russia House is scheduled for syndication in the Soviet Union magazine, OgoHyok...
...Can Barley be persuaded to go to Moscow and Leningrad and seek out the mysterious author, always under careful topnotch British supervision...
...Some of the Intelligence operatives are likable, some are despicable...
...The ending to any suspense novel should never be disclosed, but it is fair to say le Carre's finale is as deliberately enigmatic as he wants it to be...
...Now, in The Russia House, he goes even further...
...There is a charming countryside picnic scene involving the two of them, Katya's two children, and her elderly uncle...
...What he is telling us in this novel is what he truly believes and sometimes despairs of ever being made public...
...Barbara A. Bannon Tantalizingly unlike anything he has written before, even though it deals with the world of spies and counterspies, le Carre's twelfth novel explores the craft of espionage and its practitioners, professional and amateur, in the era of glasnost andperestroika...
...The most intriguing and ultimately touching figure in the novel is the Soviet scientist who wants to get word to the West of worldwide significance...
...Things have changed...
...And he does all this without ever letting up on the tension and suspense of superb storytelling...
...What is the connection between the two men...
...Idealistic, more than a little mad, he is a Russian the likes of whom we have not met before in espionage fiction...
...Spies do not like to be made fools of and lose their jobs any more than the rest of us do...
Vol. 116 • July 1989 • No. 13
