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Smiley, reflecting on his long life, makes his
final, if brief, appearance in le Carre's new novel, "A Legacy
of Spies", which was published on Thursday.
"It was terribly hard to write this book during the period of
Brexit and the ascendancy of Trump," le Carre told BBC radio.
"And I'd like to think that Smiley was aware of the sense of
aimlessness which has entered into all of our minds - we seem to
be joined by nothing but fear," he said.
"Smiley, who has spent his life defending the flag in one way or
another, feels alienated from it, feels a stranger in his own
country, and that’s why we find him and indeed leave him in a
foreign place."
A Legacy of Spies sees the return of le Carre's familiar
characters from the MI6 intelligence agency, including Smiley's
right-hand man Peter Guillam, as their Cold War operations come
under scrutiny from a new, more morally scrupulous, generation
of intelligence officers.
Le Carre, now 85 and whose real name is David Cornwell, said
Smiley's dream was to see a unified Europe which helped him
justify his actions during the Cold War, a time of treachery and
moral ambiguity.
"The dream he had was of a second Reformation, and of a great,
peaceful, democratic Europe," he said.
"Because it's such a difficult period in which to write - with
Brexit which I detest and Trump whom I also detest - what we are
looking at is Europe as the squeezed middle, democratic rule as
we understand it being assailed from both sides of the Atlantic
and that for Smiley is a big thing to swallow," he said.
Smiley's appearance in the latest book will be his first for 25
years. He made his debut in 1961 in "Call for the Dead" and most
famously featured in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", "The
Honourable Schoolboy" and "Smiley's People."
(Reporting by Rachel Wood; Editing by William Schomberg and
Stephen Addison)
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