''The Naïve and Sentimental Lover'' is

John le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. A "sophist ...

's sixth novel, and one of only two non-spy novels in his oeuvre, along with ''

A Murder of Quality A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient ...

'' (1962).

Background and plot

The novel follows Aldo Cassidy, a young entrepreneur. As the

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...

webpage summarizes, Aldo soon meets a "writer whose first and only novel blazoned across the firmament twenty years earlier. The two develop a passionate friendship that draws Aldo—smitten also with his new friend’s luscious wife—into a life of reckless hedonism that threatens to consume them all." The story has autobiographical elements, as it is based on the author's relationship with

James James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (disambiguation), various kings named James * Prince Ja ...

and Susan Kennaway following the breakdown of le Carré's first marriage. The novel was published in the year of his divorce from Ann Sharp, his first wife.

Reception and legacy

Upon its release, the novel was poorly reviewed by critics ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' book review felt that by abandoning the spy novel, le Carré was not playing to his strengths. They wrote that "it isn't that le Carré is out of his depth here, or that he has lost his way with apposite atmospherics and scene‐settings; it isn't that his prose has surrendered its characteristic irony and tough precision. It is rather that he has chosen to relinquish his fundamental perception, to unhand the lever that lifted his tales—the truth that in this world of gray little men, gray little men shake the world." In an interview in 1983, le Carré reflected on the novel's poor reception and how he responded in his career. He told ''The New York Times'': "I thought, they he negative reviewerswere right. And if you can do one thing well, stick with it." After the failure of this novel, he returned to the spy genre and his most famous character

George Smiley George Smiley OBE is a fictional character created by John le Carré. Smiley is a career intelligence officer with " The Circus", the British overseas intelligence agency. He is a central character in the novels '' Call for the Dead'', '' A ...

with the acclaimed ''

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' is a 1974 spy novel by the author and former spy John le Carré. It follows the endeavours of the taciturn, ageing spymaster George Smiley to uncover a Soviet mole in the British Secret Intelligence Service. Th ...

'' and subsequent sequels in The Quest for Karla trilogy.

References

Novels by John le Carré 1971 British novels British autobiographical novels Hodder & Stoughton books {{1970s-autobio-novel-stub