It’s become one of the classic rejection stories but in case any of you haven’t yet heard about it: After reading John le Carré’s The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, a publisher apparently forwarded the mss to a colleage with a note that read “You’re welcome to Le Carré. He hasn’t got any future.” The book went on to become a bestseller and Publisher’s Weekly named it “best spy novel of all-time”.
It’s a wonderful quote and inspirational to anyone who has ever had a negative review. Although this quote has been widely circulated, however, I’ve been unable to track its original source (e.g. proof that this actually happened). If anyone can help me, I’d be grateful.
Pushcart Press: Rotten Reviews and Rejections uses the quote on their book page (saying it came from a rejection), but I have a copy of the first edition book and was unable to find the quote anywhere in its pages; it must have been added to a later edition. If anyone out there has the new edition, I’d very much appreciate it if you could check for an attribution and let me know.
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold was le Carré’s third novel, not his first; I mention this because several of the sites who used this quote had this fact wrong. And if the quote was indeed taken from a publisher’s note to a colleague, then how did the contents of that note get circulated? Why would the colleague keep the note?
In trying to track down the quote, I did come across interesting info about the author and thought I’d share:
John le Carré rarely gave interviews and when he did, he even more rarely talked about himself.
A good writer is an expert on nothing except himself. And on that subject, if he is wise, he holds his tongue. Some of you may wonder why I am reluctant to submit to interviews on television and radio and in the press. The answer is that nothing that I write is authentic. It is the stuff of dreams, not reality. Yet I am treated by the media as though I wrote espionage handbooks.
And to a point I am flattered that my fabulations are taken so seriously. Yet I also despise myself in the fake role of guru, since it bears no relation to who I am or what I do. Artists, in my experience, have very little centre. They fake. They are not the real thing. They are spies. I am no exception.
On writing habits:
According to his brief message on his website, le Carré still writes by hand.
On categorization:
Le Carré believed that authors should not try to categorize their own books. “I think that is a job for the literary bureaucracy and not for the writer.”
On isolation:
I am at a stage in my life — now quite late — where I am completely reconciled to what I am as a writer. I know what I can and can’t do. I love writing. I feel it is my best time. But I still feel, as I think most creative people do, absolutely isolated.
On writing at a later age:
When you’re my age and you see a story, you better go for it pretty quickly. I’d just like to get a few more novels under my belt. Then I’d like to have somebody standing behind me with a hammer who says, “Okay, that’s enough.” Thank heaven, though, one of the few mistakes I haven’t made is to talk about the unwritten book.
Random facts about the author you may not have known:
His early books were popular reading at the KGB.
John le Carré is a pen name. The author’s real name is David Cornwell.
One of the framed letters he has up on his wall comes from his publisher, Victor Gollancz, in 1963, saying that his advance for The Spy Who Came in From the Cold has been increased from £25 to £150.
Quotes by John le Carré
Writing is like walking in a deserted street. Out of the dust in the street you make a mud pie.
A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.
Sources:
Times Online interview
Salon interview
Johnlecarre.com/biography.html
The Globe & Mail interiew
Kirjasto.sci.fi bio
Wikipedia entry on John le Carré
Pushcart Press: Rotten Reviews and Rejections
On the Survival Of Rats in the Slush Pile
