This may start off by sounding as if I'm going off-topic but bear with me:
(1) Raymond Chandler was an inspiration for Fleming, and without going into too much detail his hero Philip Marlowe was at least in part an idealised version of himself as Bond was for Fleming.
(2) Again without going into too much detail, parallels can be drawn between Bond and Marlowe as characters. For example, Chandler marries Marlowe off in what was to be his last novel, only a few years before Fleming marries Bond off in OHMSS- here's an audio which features the two of them discussing the pros and cons of doing so: http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/james_bond/12601.shtml
(3) In his The Long Goodbye (published a few years before Thunderball, which introduces Blofeld) Chandler created a character called Roger Wade who embodied other traits of his own personality (an alcoholic writer, for example) and large chunks of that novel involve Marlowe and Wade, two different embodiments of their creator, in extended dialogue sequences.
Therefore I'd suggest that if Chandler created Marlowe as a glorifed version of the "good" parts of his own personality, and Wade as the embodiment of the "bad" parts, then given Fleming's respect and admiration for Chandler it isn't unreasonable to suppose that he did a similar act with Bond and Blofeld.
Any further interest in this little theory of mine? -{
Just a heads up that your site is not accessible. Every time I click to it, the main page comes up for a moment, followed by a total redirect to some retail site or another.
Edit: On a fourth try the main page stayed up.
I'm sorry about that. It may have been because I was in the AdSense section of my blog and clicked on something there but I have removed the ads section there so the blog should be fully accessible again. I've been trying to improve the blog with a Twitter feed and a few other little additions as well as working on the all-important new content I have planned for 2015.
If anyone else has had problems accessing The Bondologist Blog in any way please do PM me to let me know so I can get to the bottom of the problem. -{
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
Silhouette ManThe last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,870MI6 Agent
This may start off by sounding as if I'm going off-topic but bear with me:
(1) Raymond Chandler was an inspiration for Fleming, and without going into too much detail his hero Philip Marlowe was at least in part an idealised version of himself as Bond was for Fleming.
(2) Again without going into too much detail, parallels can be drawn between Bond and Marlowe as characters. For example, Chandler marries Marlowe off in what was to be his last novel, only a few years before Fleming marries Bond off in OHMSS- here's an audio which features the two of them discussing the pros and cons of doing so: http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/james_bond/12601.shtml
(3) In his The Long Goodbye (published a few years before Thunderball, which introduces Blofeld) Chandler created a character called Roger Wade who embodied other traits of his own personality (an alcoholic writer, for example) and large chunks of that novel involve Marlowe and Wade, two different embodiments of their creator, in extended dialogue sequences.
Therefore I'd suggest that if Chandler created Marlowe as a glorifed version of the "good" parts of his own personality, and Wade as the embodiment of the "bad" parts, then given Fleming's respect and admiration for Chandler it isn't unreasonable to suppose that he did a similar act with Bond and Blofeld.
Comments
(1) Raymond Chandler was an inspiration for Fleming, and without going into too much detail his hero Philip Marlowe was at least in part an idealised version of himself as Bond was for Fleming.
(2) Again without going into too much detail, parallels can be drawn between Bond and Marlowe as characters. For example, Chandler marries Marlowe off in what was to be his last novel, only a few years before Fleming marries Bond off in OHMSS- here's an audio which features the two of them discussing the pros and cons of doing so: http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/james_bond/12601.shtml
(3) In his The Long Goodbye (published a few years before Thunderball, which introduces Blofeld) Chandler created a character called Roger Wade who embodied other traits of his own personality (an alcoholic writer, for example) and large chunks of that novel involve Marlowe and Wade, two different embodiments of their creator, in extended dialogue sequences.
Therefore I'd suggest that if Chandler created Marlowe as a glorifed version of the "good" parts of his own personality, and Wade as the embodiment of the "bad" parts, then given Fleming's respect and admiration for Chandler it isn't unreasonable to suppose that he did a similar act with Bond and Blofeld.
The actor Toby Stephens, who has played Bond and Marlowe on radio (as well as the villain in DAD) had this to say: https://screenwritingfromiowa.wordpress.com/2013/01/15/james-bond-is-philip-marlow/
Whether all this was an influence on Tom Mankiewicz I can't say- but his father Joseph would certainly have known Chandler.
I'm sorry about that. It may have been because I was in the AdSense section of my blog and clicked on something there but I have removed the ads section there so the blog should be fully accessible again. I've been trying to improve the blog with a Twitter feed and a few other little additions as well as working on the all-important new content I have planned for 2015.
If anyone else has had problems accessing The Bondologist Blog in any way please do PM me to let me know so I can get to the bottom of the problem. -{
Thank you for that - much food for thought there!