I began writing when I was still in the British Foreign Service, and it was then understood that even if you wrote about butterfly collecting, you used another name.
John Le CarreRead
In my day, MI6 - which I called the Circus in the books - stank of wartime nostalgia. People were defined by secret cachet: one man did something absolutely extraordinary in Norway; another was the darling of the French Resistance. We didn't even show passes to go in and out of the building.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the allure and mystique of secretive service during wartime.
John Le Carre's quote evokes a sense of nostalgia for the era of espionage during and after the war, highlighting how individuals were defined by their extraordinary contributions to secretive operations. It suggests that the mystique of MI6, referred to as 'the Circus,' was deeply intertwined with the personal stories of bravery and intrigue, emphasizing a time when the very act of being part of such a secretive world carried an exceptional significance.
Themes
EspionageNostalgiaWarSecret ServiceMi6CourageHistory
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the romanticism of espionage in literature and history.
More from John Le Carre
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Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen.
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If I had to put a name to it, I would wish that all my books were entertainments. I think the first thing you've got to do is grab the reader by the ear, and make him sit down and listen. Make him laugh, make him feel. We all want to be entertained at a very high level.
John Le CarreRead
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