Cornwell was born
in 1931 to Ronald and Olive Cornwell. It was a dysfunctional family. Each parent had a negative
impact on his life.
His
father was unfaithful to his wife and a dishonest businessman with permanent
amnesia over his transgressions. He was
sent to jail several times. His earliest prison terms were for forgery and
false pretences. Ronald’s cheery personality masked his life long practice of
deceit in business and his personal life. He was a character if you did not
have him for a father. Ronald proudly proclaimed that he had never read a book.
Olive
came from a family of strict Non-Conformists, Baptists. She derided Ronald for
being from a class below her. Unable to cope with Ronald she left him for
another man and abandoned Cornwell and his older brother. Cornwell was 5 years old.
Ronald
dealt with the situation by sending the boys to boarding school. I can imagine
the loneliness of the boys. I went to boarding school at 15 and it was as
lonely a time as I have experienced as I adjusted to life away from home.
Ronald was an appalling father by that action alone.
Fortunately
I never had the beatings that were suffered by the Cornwell brothers and all
other students. He has bitterly resented the beatings all his life.
After reading about
his childhood I could understand how Cornwell might spent a lot of his youth
living in his imagination.
Encouraged by a
teacher he was writing “lurid short stories” at 13 years of age.
At Sherborne School
the Cornwell boys were encouraged to live by the principles of “service,
fortitude, self-denial, fair play and courage”. With his father’s unprincipled
life in contrast Cornwell was extremely conflicted.
While at Sherborne
he won a prize for a long free verse poem.
Cornwell showed an
aptitude for languages and was fascinated by German. He eventually reached such
proficiency in German that he served as a translator.
In the midst of his
chaotic family life Cornwell was a gifted performer. Sisman wrote of him being
able to control the circumstances around him as a performer.
He is also a talented
artist and considered a career in art. In a book filled with many details about
Cornwell’s life Sisman did not explore why Cornwell did not pursue life as an
artist.
After attending
Oxford he taught for a few years. At 26, while teaching at Eton, he started writing
a murder mystery set in a “fictional” public school. Years later it became A Murder of Quality.
Asked to compile a
German reader he offered the publisher, Bodley Head, a short story “about a
pavement artist who one afternoon produced a masterpiece in pastels on the
paving stones in Trafalgar Square, outside the National Gallery; and then the
rain came, and washed it away”. The story was rejected.
A few years later
while working at MI 5 he started writing a spy novel:
‘I began writing because I was going mad with
boredom,’ he would later declare: ‘not the apathetic, listless kind of boredom
that doesn’t want to get out of bed in the morning, but the screaming, frenetic
sort that races round in circles looking for real work and finding none.’
It became his first
book, Call for the Dead.
The origins of Le Carré as a pseudonym have been
lost. Cornwell speaks French well and carré means square in French. In reflection Cornwell
indicated:
‘I thought that to break up a name and give it a
slightly foreign look would have the effect of printing it in people’s
memories.’
When his third book
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
became a best seller he became a full time author.
In the
book Sisman does not ignore Cornwell’s warts. He can be a prickly friend. He is
truly thin skinned about reviews critical of his books. His greatest issues
have been with regard to his relationships with women.
It would
be best not to read the biography if you have not read the books as the plots
are fully discussed.
The book is
well written.
I learned
a lot about Cornwell but I regret that Sisman had but passing references to
Cornwell’s children and essentially nothing about his grandchildren. Where
there were long sections about his relationships with Cornwell’s parents Sisman
did not deal with Cornwell’s ongoing family relationships.
More
frustrating is that beyond a few pages Cornwell’s personal life after 55 is
absent from the book. Having reached 60 plus in my life I think a writer’s
senior years are as interesting as his younger years.
I expect
it will be the signature biography of David Cornwell for at least a generation.
As I read your post, Bill, I couldn't help thinking how very unhappy Cornwell was for so many years. As you say, it's no wonder, really, that he sought escape in writing. It's interesting, too, that there's so little in this book about his adult years (his family, etc). It makes me wonder why Sisman made that choice. In any case, this sounds like a fascinating read.
ReplyDeleteMargot: Thanks for the comment. There is a significant amount of information as a young to even middle aged adult but then the information ebbs.
ReplyDeleteA very interesting post, Bill. I would love to read this biography, but as you say, I should read more of the books first. We recently watched The Spy Who Came in from the Cold with Richard Burton, and on the Blu-Ray, there was an interview with Cornwell about the making of the movie, his participation, etc. He seemed very down to earth and it was a good interview.
ReplyDeleteTracyK: Thanks for the comment. I do not think I ever watched The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. I think I should look it up. With Cornwell's acting skills I am not surprised he was a good interview.
DeleteTonight I am watching the new BBC adaptation of The Night Manager! I find his books of varied quality, but he seems like a fascinating man.
ReplyDeleteMoira: Thanks for the comment. I did not know there is a new adaptation. I agree he is fascinating.
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