All true, although John Gardner was at one time also very vocal about his dislike of the character! While I think you're absolutely right about LeCarre doing everything Ann Fleming feared Amis would, I'd personally kind of like to see it! If we're going to have a series of one-off, non-canonical novels by name authors, it would be cool to see LeCarre deconstructing 007. (Though I guess he already did that in Tailor of Panama, among others.)
Excellent point about Gardner, and one that crossed my mind...I agree too, however, that le Carre may have lost the sense of gentle humour he once had, that might allow him to write Bond.
I believe the closest he came to "deconstructing" our man was not Tailor of Panama (only in the film did Andy Osnard become a Bond parody, and then because of Brosnan), but Tinker Tailor. James Prideaux, the brilliant field agent, taken down by a bullet to the shoulder that ultimately shattered much more than bones and tendons. Forced into retirement and living in constant pain, he becomes a teacher at a posh boys' school where he impresses them all with his mystique and gives them strange nicknames. Every once in a while he awes them with his ability to break an owl's neck and kill it instantly. To me, this is le Carre's concept of Bond: useful, but disposable. No real loyalties except to his own virility and immortality, and when it's challenged, he falls apart.
Yes, lately ol' John has been getting extremely political. It doesn't suit him. He's turned into a radical leftist, a deconstructionist of Western culture, to the point where Kim Philby would be immensely proud of him. He was far more interesting when he was idealogically ambiguous, IMHO.
So, perhaps the le Carre of the 70s would have churned out a decent Bond story, but nowadays, who knows? Perhaps he'll follow in Gardner's footsteps and we'll all find out.
All of these suggestions are interesting. I didn't know Hugh Laurie was a novelist, but I'd love to see his take as well.
