There is one Jewish character that Le Carre invented that he seemed to like. That was Dieter in the first Smiley book, I can’t remember the name now. He murders three people and comes near to killing a fourth. He is an East German spy who had worked for Smiley during the War, but went East because he preferred the Communists and hated the Americans.

Le Carre belongs, I think, to the conservative trend in Britain that envies America for its power and resents Britain’s decline from Empire, and romanticizes the Arabs. Le Carre also romanticizes the Communists as revolutionaries I think. He is pretty copacetic with spying in their favor, as the sympathetic character of Bill in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy illustrates.

And I quite liked that uncle, by the way – don’t know what exactly caused you such a reaction.

The married uncle who carried on an affair with his non-Jewish employee, and who hired the protagonist to commit arson as part of an insurance scam and then left the nephew to take the blame? Likeable fellow, I guess.

As for Little Drummer Girl, the one Mossad employee you mention is the only developed Jewish character. The other Israelis simply move the plot forward, with no insight into their character or motivation. The only remotely sympathetic characters are Charly (whom the Mossad agent manipulates), the Palestinian bomb maker and his sister. (Yes, there are unlikable Muslims in the book, such as the head of the training camp in the refugee village).

And reread LeCarre’s description in LDB of what the newspapers did NOT print but could have when the Israeli diplomat’s son was killed by the bomb –as though Israel deliberately targets civilians for its aerial bombings.

Yes, most of LeCarre’s non-Jewish characters are no prizes either, but every now and then he presents someone admirable. If LeCarre has ever presented an admirable or likable
Jewish character, I’d appreciate your calling it to my attention.
Yankev

I read all of Le Carre books and respectfully disagree with your take on them. In the In Little Drummer Girl he shows all kinds of Jews and Palestinians, and it is a mistake in my opinion to base your conclusion on two negative remarks about one Mossad employee. A sure exaggeration on your part.

As for the Tailor of Panama – so Le Carre has chosen a half-Jew to be his chief protagonist. Cannot say I have never encountered a Jewish tailor and cannot claim all of them are of sterling character. And I quite liked that uncle, by the way – don’t know what exactly caused you such a reaction.

The body of work of Le Carre includes, probably, hundreds of negative characters, 99.9% of them non-Jewish. Should we blame him in being a secret Zionist? No, of course. He veered into the dark conspiracies lately, as I have already mentioned, and his books lost their appeal to me. But labeling him an anti-Semite? Nah…

BTW, if it will make you feel better, one of his friends was Joseph Brodsky RIP. Of course, it does not prove anything, as we know ;-)

Tailor of Panama is even worse; LeCarre drops the anti-Zionist facade and centers his book around a greedy, scheming but politically naive, morally and physically weak, philandering, lying “half Jew” and his embezzling and philandering Jewish arsonist uncle. The former ends up provoking an invasion and getting his trusting, idealistic gentile friend murdered through his greed and dishonesty.

Those are the only two LeCarre books I’ve read; I never had the stomach to try any others. I realize that many of his characters are far from paragons, but some at least have a redeeming feature or two. I’ve not seen him give us a Jewsih character with any redeeming features.