Irish Examiner view: He made fiction seem all too real

Cold War espionage author David Cornwell, known by his pen name John le Carre.

Netflix recently came under pressure to remind viewers that The Crown was fictional, even if it occasionally veered towards suggesting it might not be. This was because the very best of today’s writers can seem as committed to reportage — even if they are not — as they are to literature. John Grisham and Tom Clancy were skilled in this genre but John le Carré, who has died aged 89, was its undoubted master.

His thrillers, and what a shortchanging it is to describe his great works in that shorthand, were beautifully written and demanded concentration. Described as “an undisputed giant of English literature”, le Carré always presented the bill for how the West holds its place in the world. He also articulated, probably better than any politician, the global disappointment following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Like most, he hoped for something more than an insecure kleptocracy.