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THE NEW YORK TIMES, FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1964. BRARY Books of The Times. TO N.Y.U. The Brutal Business of Espionage Ring Council Atran Center DonatesHis By ORVILLE PRESCOTT 10:30A.M. THE sPy WHO'CAME IN FROM THE COLD. is that a secret agent has no business lov- ative Eugene Collection ing anybody, particularly not loving a girl Meeting,W Cann.$4.50. foolish enough to have joined the-Communist Association Queens Cour ENJAMIN 50 Alec Leamas was old for operational party. Another is that a spy has nearly as House125-01 te library of work. He had been working in Berlin much reason to fear his superiors in his own for a long time, perhaps too long. At Judge Peter been given organization as the members of the opposi- The McNaug tersity by his first he had obtained excellent results, but tion. Another is that any given plan is prob- wesley Frost now that a series of deaths had eliminated ably much more complicated and much more Lecture,_Me all the important members of his network dangerous to operate than the spy suspects. of Art Fifth poet's tastes in the German Democratic Republic it was Street2:30P. theology,his- Alec's boss had some interesting ideas -Light and t nd travel, and not surprising that he was summoned back about espionage: "we do disagreeable things, Farwell nearly 1,000 to London. but we are defensive. That, I think, is still the works of Tough, clever, contemptuous of instruc- Lecture, Frick fair. We do disagreeable things so that ordi- 70th Street,3 P a Mare, Mase- tions and worn by brutal experience into a nary people here and elsewhere can sleep the Frick ke and others, Richardson. Co state of angry cynicism, Alex was about safely in their beds at night. Is that too py these poets ready to retire from the organization. A man romantic? Of course, we occasionally do very Dinner meeti can't go on being a secret agent indefinitely. formerly in wicked things. And, in weighing up the mo- Iowa alumni If only he had some money he wouldquit. in Cambridge ralities, we rather go in for dishonest com- h a year ago How Alec tried to earn a tidy nest egg on one last dangerous operation is the story told parisons; after all, you can't compare the to his daugh- ideals of one side with the methods of the h New York by John Le Carre in his "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" other, can you, now? husband,Dr. tine, a mem- "I mean, you've' got to compare method Graham Greene, who has written several faculty who of the best spy stories of modern times, says with method, and idealwith ideal. I would ese culture. that this is the best spy story he has ever say that since the war our methods-ours pllection was and those of the opposition-have become iniversity at much the same. I mean you can't be less remainder of read. The verdict, of course, depends on in boxes in one's taste in these matters. Those who en- ruthless than the opposition simply because Sapartment, your Government's policy is benevolent, can joy glamour, sex, impudent daring and mas er to the uni- terful heroics in their spy stories may not you,now?" are examined. Gosnell, direc- care for "The Spy Who Came in From the University Li- Cold." library would But this cold-blooded tale's harsh emphasis seminar room on the ruthlessness, treachery and deliberate w library build- frightfullness of contemporary espionage available to cataloguing should fascinate and appall hordes of admir- ing readers, And while they shudder over adquarters for the double and triple crosses of Mr. Le ill be in the Carre's superbly intricate plot they will find ty Library at that its slow start, accelerating pace and Square East.. final explosive denouement leave them limp of Mr.Frost's from excitement. orrespondence John Le Carre is the pseudonym of a Brit- pictures, tions will be ish civil servant employed in one of the rary by Mrs. Whitehall ministries.Whether he has had riends of Mr. personal experience of intelligence operations is an intriguing question. If he hasn't, he ilton, N.H. should be recruited at once by some sinister lecture tour, hush-hush outfit. He has the ability to imag- id the library ine the most devilish conspiracies and a thor- other things ough respect for practical details. poetry which Since each step of Mr. Le Carre's plot is n the Latin erican history, surprising in itself, it is no easy task to sug- ation and con- gest what it is all about without revealing The Conquest too much. Perhaps it will be sufficient to say ott's account 46855-Q6j that Alex Leamas's last operation required the South him to assume the part of a disgruntled de- and archeol- fector. That wasn't too difficult, for Alec was a talented actor. But maintaining his said Mr. written assumed personality while dealing 'with en- 15, had been emy agents was harder. It was still harder ENCLOSURE ding of the Mexico. rogated, beaten and tried for his life in East- collection ern Germany. (pecause There are numerous conclusions, none of ant to them pleasant, to be drawn from reading keep "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. one