Why "Quantum of Solace"?

Smoke_13 · August 2007

I've just finished reading Quantum of Solace and found it a very compelling story. Other than the fact that it was Bond who was listening to the story being told it has nothing really to do with Bond at all.

Okay, Bond learned a couple minor lessons at the end of the story with regards to being judgmental and not dismissing someone as boring or uninteresting until you know their whole life story. He also learned how humans without weapons can cause hurts that are even deeper than those who use conventional weapons. However, I feel there has to be some other reason Fleming wrote this short story.

Did he do it to prove to the literary world that he could write stories that focused solely on the joys and angst that blend together to create a human relationship? Was he trying to prove that he had the ability to spin a compelling tale even when there weren't guns and car chases involved? Perhaps he or someone he was close to was hurt in a similar fashion and he wrote it as a tribute piece.

Does anybody have any ideas? I've read the intro to the book as I always do and it hasn't yielded any information. I think it's a great little story that likely has one heck of a history behind it.

Barbel · August 2007

Fleming was a great admirer of Somerset Maugham, and this story was written in an attempt to mimic Maugham's manner. Unlike most of the other stories in FYEO, it wasn't initially written with television in mind and thus stands apart from them both in style and content.

ToshTogo · August 2007

I was pleasantly suprised that i enjoyed that story, it was a nice break from the usual Bond novels

7289 · August 2007

Despite his protests to the contrary, Ian Fleming was a serious author, and I think longed to write a non-Bond novel in the fashion of his friends and contemporaries - one of whom was Maugham!

"Solace" was indeed a tribute to Maugham, and is a wonderful story. I enjoyed seeing Bond out of his "normal" realm, and enjoyed the story too!

I wish Fleming had written MORE!!! He was a fantastic writer!

spynovelfan · August 2007

According to Andrew Lycett's biography, the story used details from a story Fleming's lover Blanche Blackwell told him about a real couple. I would guess he wrote it to stretch his mind a bit, perhaps at a time when he was bored of the Bond formula and to see if he could take things in a different direction. It is obviously influenced by Maugham's short stories, but what nobody ever says is that it's not merely a mimicking of Maugham or an equalling of him: it's better. Better written, subtler, cleverer, more haunting than every Maugham story I've read, and I've read most of them and like them. This isn't said because Bond fans haven't usually read Maugham and Maugham fans haven't usually read Fleming, but I think it's worth pointing out. I don't think it was simply a foray that was kind of successful: he beats Maugham at his own game, hands down in my view.

Silhouette Man · February 2013

I'm very interested in writing a piece on the 'Quantum of Solace' short story, so I thought I'd revive this thread to get things going in the literary Bond sub-section here on AJB. This is another gem of a threrad tucked away in the AJB archives.

Napoleon Plural · February 2013

Now, you see, it's the sort of Holmes-style story that might pop up in a Jeremy Brett adventure, a bit low key, so wouldn't it have been great to cheaply film Craig in that very story, a 30-min special, and have it as a DVD extra for fans? Craig would be great as Bond in that, with his boredom at the Nassau gathering.

Plus it has a Chris Hughne Vicki Pryce feel about it.

It's quite similar to Maughn's Painted Veil, a very easy read.

AlphaOmegaSin · February 2013

Isn't that the short Story where Bond is told of a Couples marriage?

Napoleon Plural · February 2013

Yep, that's it.

Why "Quantum of Solace"?

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