Choice (June 1999) "Aronoff (political science and anthropology, Rutgers univ.) demonstrates the popular perception that an increasing number of works in the postmodern era are in a minor form--intrigue, spying, detective stories, and other melodrama. The book's detail will make any le Carré fan's heart glow: a closely argued analysis that includes and extended list of characters, extensive notes and cross-references, a 16-page bibliography, and two thorough indexes. Aronoff's careful, meticulous dissection of the ethical and political ramifications of le Carré's spy novels makes a strong case for viewing le Carré as a major contemporary cultural commentator. Aronoff shows how spying or intrigue in le Carré's spy novels generates complex moral conflicts and by its nature threatens the very values it is seeking to protect. Aronoff's perspective is distinctly that of the social scientist, not a literary analyst. Recurring terms pepper his text and reveal his main concerns: ‘loyalty,' ‘betrayal,' ‘bureaucratic politics,' ‘culture and craft of espionage,' ‘real world espionage,' ‘ethical and political imperatives.' Highly recommended for libraries wishing to strengthen collections in popular culture and related areas, as well as detective literature. Undergraduate and graduate collections." (emphasis added) T. Loe (SUNY College at Oswego)

Chronicle of Higher Education (April 2, 1999) "Myron J. Aronoff . . . describes how the contemporary British writer uses espionage as a metaphor for politics; also draws parallels between his self-parody and ambiguous moralism and that of The 17^th century Dutch artist Jan Steen."

Rutgers Focus (January 29, 1999) "‘We scarcely paused to ask ourselves how much longer we could defend our society by these means and remain a society worth defending,' observes British agent George Smiley in John le Carré's novel ‘The Secret Pilgrim.' This statement succinctly sums up the political, ethical, and personal dilemmas posed in the writings of one of the outstanding spy novelists of our time, says Myron Aronoff, professor of anthropology and political science. Aronoff has written ‘The Spy Novels of John le Carré: Balancing Ethics and Politics' (St. Martin's Press). Author or editor of many books and articles, Aronoff says this one ‘was the most fun to write.' And while many dismiss spy novels as potboilers, Aronoff believes that le Carré's pot is deeper than most.

‘He's a wonderful storyteller. His novels are an enjoyable read,' says Aronoff, who began reading le Carré several years ago and, like many people, enjoyed his books as a good spy yarn and put them aside. ‘But the curse of the academic is that one starts thinking about things that one reads,' Aronoff reflects. ‘With le Carré it was not difficult at all to start seeing that there was much more to his novels than entertaining spy stories.' He soon discovered there were complex layers of meaning in le Carré's work and started reading him more carefully. ‘I then used le Carré as The subject of an interdisciplinary honors seminar for Rutgers College,' says Aronoff. ‘It was popular with students, who found, as I did, that he was fun to read, but that there was just so much more to be gotten out of the books than simply the adventure.'

He next presented a paper on le Carré at the 1994 meeting of The American Political Science Association, where his analysis received a ‘very enthusiastic response' among colleagues who encouraged him to expand on it. However, Aronoff found there were already 10 books dealing with le Carré alone and several others that dealt with him along with other writers. ‘One of the things I had to decide was, is there a place for yet another book. If I had been a professor of literature I would have come to the conclusion: probably not,' he says. ‘But I had a very different slant.' While others look at the literary influences on le Carré's work and how it fits within the genre of the spy novel, Aronoff deals with the political, sociological, psychological, and ethical matters that lead the book's protagonists to confront such moral dilemmas as using undemocratic tactics in efforts to secure the fundamental freedoms of democracy.

This is the major dilemma faced by George Smiley, le Carré's most intriguing and enduring character, who appears in eight of the 16 [spy] novels as a member of the Circus, le Carré's name for the branch of the British Secret Service where Smiley works. ‘Smiley's moral conscience constantly questions the price paid by democracies for attempting to protect political freedoms through the covert world of espionage. Smiley did his work through patriotism and was always troubled by its moral implications,' Aronoff relates. Control, Smiley's boss in several of the novels, says of him, ‘His fever. . .is recurrent' referring to Smiley's conscience. On capturing a Soviet ‘mole' in the British Secret Service, Smiley asserts: ‘Nothing is worth the destruction of another human being. Somewhere the path of pain and betrayal must end.' Smiley's dilemma is shared by Gadi Becker and Charlie (‘The Little Drummer Girl'), who, spying for Israel, gradually grow empathetic to the Palestinian cause and suffer emotional damage after they assassinate the head of a terrorist cell.

Conflicting emotions arising from a harrowing life in espionage effect even less-heroic characters like Magnus Pym (‘A Perfect Spy') and Harry Pendel (‘The Tailor of Panama'), who fed up with their lives of betrayal and deception, commit suicide.

Le Carré's message, ‘artistically wrapped in wonderful entertainment, offers lessons in citizenship for everyone,' writes Aronoff. ‘He dramatically demonstrates that all actions have consequences--frequently unintended ones--for which individuals and societies must take responsibility. . . .He portrays examples of how to deal with conflicting personal [and] institutional loyalties and warns of the price paid for making too-great sacrifices for raison d'état.'

In The writer's early novels the enemy is the Soviet bloc, and the line between right and wrong is often very thin. ‘With le Carré, you are sometimes not sure who the good guys and who the bad guys are,' Aronoff says. Although his reputation was built on these Cold War spy tales, le Carré seems to have no trouble finding subjects to write about after the fall of Communism. His later works deal with The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the illegal drug and arms trade, the rebellion of a former Soviet state, perestroika and glasnost.

Aronoff hopes this book will be of interest to a ‘broader audience that just my fellow academics--it is for le Carré buffs as well as for those who may not have read many (or any) of his novels.' Included are short biographies of the major characters in all of the novels, for the reader not familiar with the works. There are also extensive footnotes for scholars, which can be ignored by the casual reader ‘without guilt,' Aronoff says with a grin. The author's engaging and readable style of analysis will no doubt serve to encourage aficionados to reread their favorite le Carré novels and the uninitiated to explore some of his works.

Much of the fun of writing the book, Aronoff, relates, came from the correspondence he carried on with le Carré over the course of the year he was writing it. "I wanted to interview him, but he refused, saying that his job was to write the books and mine was to analyze them and that if he would participate he would be doing both of us out of a job. He turned me down in a very nice way and then sent me lovely handwritten letters.'" Douglas Frank

Rutgers Magazine (Spring 1999) "Spy vs. Spy: The Spy Novels of John le Carré."

"When is a spy thriller not a spy thriller? When it springs from the pen of John le Carré, the best-selling author of novels like The Night Manager, The Russia House, and The Spy Who Came in from The Cold. In fact, le Carré writes Myron J. Aronoff (FAS-NB), professor of anthropology and political science, is far more than a genre writer; he's ‘one of our preeminent political novelists.' In le Carré's post-Cold War tales of political intrigue and international double-dealing, the writer--a former spy himself--explores the central ethical dilemmas of our time through the prism of espionage. The struggles of his characters (like The British agent George Smiley. . . . ) to achieve a balance between their acts as spies and their integrity as human beings, says Aronoff, reflect the deeper moral and political quagmire faced by democratic nations: How can the West claim ‘to honor the rights of the individual when it repeatedly violates those rights, along with other hallowed principles like open and accountable government, in the name of protecting those very rights and principles?' Although le Carré doesn't pretend to answer these unresolvable liberal dilemmas, Aronoff finds in the author's works ‘an enthusiastic support of perestroika and glasnost [that] makes him much more hopeful for the chance of cooperation between East and West.'"

The Washington Times (March 7, 1999) "Readers who are fascinated by the writer but have trouble keeping his characters straight will want to acquire Myron Aronoff's 'The Spy Novels of John le Carré: Balancing Ethics and Politics." Mr. Aronoff, a professor of anthropology and political science at Rutgers University, is an unabashed admirer of Mr. le Carré and believes the novelists message, 'artistically wrapped in wonderful entertainment, offers lessons in citizenship for everyone." Well, maybe. Some of us aren't quite sure about that. But Mr. Aronoff makes his case well. And he has not only produced a thoughtful critique of the writer's work, he also has included an appendix listing all the major characters of the 16 le Carré novels preceding "Single & Single." Peter Jay