This talk explores John le Carré’s relationship to world literature. Le Carré’s novels address some of the key developments in global politics in the twentieth century, and beyond. We will look closely at the two major phases into which his writing falls: how he established himself as a leading commentator on the psychological and political impacts of a world divided by confrontational ideologies; and how he fearlessly explored the crises of a still-polarised late-century world order.

In both phases, le Carré’s fiction, characters and plots register some of the definitive preoccupations of our time and the shrinking possibilities of hope.

Elleke Boehmer, FRSL, frhists, is Professor of World Literature in English at Oxford University and Fellow at Wolfson College, specializing in world literature and postcolonial studies. She has written extensively on the literature of empire, nationalism and the figure of the writer in the twentieth century.

Steven Matthews is a professor at the University of Reading, specializing in modern and contemporary poetry, literature and literary theory. His work often focuses on the relationship between poetry and place, including environmental and ecological themes, as well as on Samuel Beckett, 1930s writing and postcolonial poetry.