The dragonfly (novel)

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Die Libelle is the title of the German translation of the novel The Little Drummer Girl by the British writer John le Carré from 1983. The German book title refers to a poem of the same name by Heinrich Heine .

The author begins with a foreword: "Many Palestinians and Israelis have helped me write this book" .

The novel is set in a present that is not exactly dated, such as the late 1970s and early 1980s in Europe and the Middle East . The background is the Middle East conflict , in particular the opposition between Israel and the Palestinians . After attacks in Western Europe against Israeli citizens, a group within the Israeli secret service developed a counter plan. A young English actress, Charlie , is given a legend as an agent , a partially faked biography, and is introduced to the head of the terrorist group Khalil . The mission seems successful, Khalil can be eliminated, but in the end Charlie is almost psychologically broken by the violence that she experienced during the course of the mission, because she increasingly feels sympathy and compassion for the "opponents", the Palestinians, and at the same time separates herself from hers Agent leader Joseph sees her need for love rejected. The novel ends in a weakly optimistic way when Charlie, after returning to "normal" life , meets Joseph , who has also been severely mentally wounded after years of work .

In this novel, John le Carré takes up motifs that also play a role in many of his other works: the functioning of the individual in secret service organizations and conspiratorial situations, as well as the question of which ends justify which means. What is unusual for Le Carré is that the main character is a woman. While at first the contrast between good and bad appears clear - it is about investigating and preventing assassinations of innocents - this blurs as the plot progresses and Charlie grows into her role. The motivation of the Palestinian assassins appears, in view of the detailed illumination of the background, if not justified, at least understandable. Ultimately, the novel can be interpreted as a rejection of violent "solutions" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

filming

The dragonfly was founded in 1984 by director George Roy Hill filmed , the film starred Diane Keaton as Charlie and Klaus Kinski as a case officer Kurtz.

On October 14, 2018, the six-part miniseries Die Libelle (OT: The Little Drummer Girl ) premiered at the London Film Festival . Directed by Chan-wook Park , the leading roles were played by Florence Pugh , Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Shannon (as Kurtz). Acted as producer - as in The Night Manager , the film adaptation of Le Carré's The Night Manager - AMC Networks , British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the production company The Ink Factory, which is led by Le Carré's sons Stephen and Simon Cornwell.

expenditure

also licensed editions for the German Book Association (1983), Gutenberg Book Guild ( 1984) and Bertelsmann Club (1985)