Question for SILHOUETTE MAN (and others too)

chrisisall

Just wondering, and you seem to be the go-to guy for such a question: do you see big differences between the Fleming novels and today's Bond (and non-Bond for that matter) novels, specifically, that less lush visual description is included in the more recent books because newer generations of readers have such an expanded pre-existing visual awareness of the world, its cities and various indigenous customs and dress due to films, TV & the internet?

davidelliott101

For me, the earlier films were very Flemingesque in that you saw the locations he described. The last few films don't seem to be that way...

chrisisall

davidelliott101 wrote:

For me, the earlier films were very Flemingesque in that you saw the locations he described. The last few films don't seem to be that way...

The written word here, my friend. )

Silhouette Man

Hi chrisisall,

Firstly, let me say how flattered I am to have a thread named after my online moniker. I appreciate your praise. Secondly, sorry for my delay in replying, but I've been ruminating the question rather like a cow with its four stomachs. I've come to some brief conclusions that I'm happy to share with you here on your questions, which is essentially on the differences between the original canon James Bond novels and short stories by Ian Fleming and their post-Fleming James Bond Continuation novel counterparts (1968-2011). You have raised a very interesting question here which requires much thought to answer. However, here are some of the conclusions that I have come to:

1. What is missing from all of the Continuation Bonds (apart of course from the first: Colonel Sun, published in 1968) is the feeling of the time setting - i.e. the Cold War 1950s and 1960s backdrop. This was the Britain of The Land of Lost Content, that of the so-called (by the Socialists) "13 Years of Tory Missrule". This was Fleming's Time - the counter-culture anfd Hippy revolution of the late 1960s had still to happen. As Philp Larkn wrote in his great review of Licence Renewed (1981) in the Times Literary Supplement in May 1981. Larkin wrote of how the fashions of Carnaby Street in London was so different from the world of James Bond c. 1952-1964. The October 1964 General Election where Labour leader Harold Wilson won and became Prime Minister, defeating the 'lordly amateur' style former Lord Home, Sir Alec Douglas-Home as Prime Minister (for less than a full year). This was the End as we Know It of Bond and Fleming's Britain.

2. There's also a review by someone that said that the essential difference between Fleming's Bond novels and the Contuniations was the smoky Mayfair drawl of Fleming himself - his views on certain subject areas. This is largely missing from most of the Continuation Bonds - there are no Flemingesque mini-essays anymore. This was said, appropriately enough in a review of Raymond Benson's last Bond novel The Man with the Red Tattoo (2002).

I'll get back to you with more thoughts later.

chrisisall

Silhouette Man wrote:

there are no Flemingesque mini-essays anymore.

Yes!! That's it!

always shaken

Silhouette man ,you never fail to amaze me,

Silhouette Man

always shaken wrote:

Silhouette man ,you never fail to amaze me,

Thank you, always shaken. What a nice thing to say. Stick around here. I have some new things coming up on the blog I want to share with World Bondom if they'll let me.

James Suzuki

That's why I love long, description scenes where you see what the room looks like etc.

The Domino Effect

You're absolutely right about the Cold War and the continuation novels. I have read most of John Gardner's and enjoyed most of them for what they were, but it's almost like non-alcoholic beer: the flavour maybe similar but there's just no buzz. Colonel Sun is the only one that comes even close to Fleming's works and I believe this is partly because Amis was a truly great writer, partly because he knew Fleming very well...and mostly because it was written at the same time. I liked Faulks probably almost entirely because it was at least set at the right time. Almost everything about Bond was due to the age. His WW2 experiences, the world climate...and mostly Britain at that time. You have to remember that Bond was rather naughty back then, rather cutting-edge and controversial. With the exception of a few racial/gendre issues, it's hard to imagine that today. Some of the continuatiom novels are fine, but literary Bond struggles to be dragged into the current day because his very essence was a product of 1950s/60s Britain. Had Fleming lived longer perhaps he could have dragged him kicking and screaming into the 1970s or early 1980s, but I think he would have given up!

chrisisall

The Domino Effect wrote:

I have read most of John Gardner's and enjoyed most of them for what they were, but it's almost like non-alcoholic beer: the flavour maybe similar but there's just no buzz.

Wow, well put!

always shaken

I 2nd that