SPECTRE and the Yellow Peril

Gassy Man

The other day, I was reviewing an article on the Yellow Peril with my class, and we came across other terms, including "the Yellow Spectre." I've not read of exactly where the term originated with Fleming, though, of course, the famous lawsuit between McClory and him suggests possibilities. Fleming would have been born right around the height of the Yellow Peril (where white westerners, looking to colonize the East, were terrified that Asians would conquer them and steal their women, among other things), and certainly as a young man, he would have encountered any numbers of its expressions, including in pop culture, such as Flash Gordon (Ming, the Merciless, of the planet Mongo -- clever, right?) and Fu Manchu, which helped inspire Dr. No. Any confirmation along literary lines, though, that Fleming was thinking of "the Yellow Spectre" with his own incarnation?

Barbel

Hmm, this sounds like a job for Silhouette Man- right up his street! But this thread may be of interest: http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/35481/

caractacus potts

Fleming liked the word, he used it for two completely unrelated plot elements years before Thunderball

Gassy Man

Barbel wrote:

Hmm, this sounds like a job for Silhouette Man- right up his street! But this thread may be of interest: http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/35481/

Ah, excellent -- thanks!

Gassy Man

caractacus potts wrote:

Fleming liked the word, he used it for two completely unrelated plot elements years before Thunderball

Good to know -- appreciate it.

superado

Fleming's brother, Peter, wrote the book, "The Siege At Peking: The Boxer Rebellion." The ensuing military response of US and European coalition forces, particularly Imperial Germany’s reprisal campaign against Chinese civilians, were rife with the xenophobic “Yellow Peril” ideology that began to be promoted by Emperor Wilhelm II a few years earlier.

ggl007

Check this: http://flemingsbond.com/spectre-before-s-p-e-c-t-r-e/

LALD: a malignant spectre from the centre of the earth,
DAF: Spectreville
FRWL: the spectre of a false move, and, of course, the Spektor
GF: the spectre of the big swing