Unfinished Fleming Manuscript Rumour about Amis's Colonel Sun? (Page 1 of 5)

Although I'm not familiar with the novel I haven't heard this. An interesting theory yet perhaps had it been true it would have been far more widely reported? As it stands my cynical side suggests urban myth or that it may have been a marketing ploy by the publishers in order to drum up in interest & (free) publicity?

I though Amis had already stated it was all his own work ?

My recollection is a bit like Sir Miles but IIRC this rumour ran in the 70s in places like mags on the films - the mags released wirh LALD and TMWTGG for example - with foot notes as a sop to the books, often concluding with "Fleming was working on his next novel, COLONEL SUN, when he died. This was finished by Kingsley Amis writting as Robert Markham".

Of course, back then Glidrose didn't do much monitoring of such nonsense. Or much else. So for a time it became an urban myth

It's an interesting theory, but it's my first time hearing it as well. It seems highly unlikely that Fleming, in failing health, could have done anything with CS given the difficulties he was having with TMWTGG (according to one Fleming bio I read) even before his passing.

Does anyone else want to share their thoughts on this one?

Have you by chance heard this rumour?

The article is being written as I type!

All help is mightily appreciated!

Well thank you for commenting anyhow, clublos.

I want this to be the first comeback article of 2016 for The Bondologist Blog.   

I believe K Amis himself discounted that rumour in an interview, prob in the James Bond Fan Club mag in the 1980s if I recall.

Better get your facts right, SM, or his son will be upon you with vengeance... he's got your number.   

I'd love to read that interview.

Apologies if I've brought this up before, which I surely have done with some variation, but SM, I must confess I think it was possible that KA did finish TMWTGG because (1) he was given a copy of the unpolished draft for "review," (2) at that point, Amis was a published author and well qualified to provide enough of a polish, perhaps just an adequate amount to still maintain that "it was all Fleming."  (3) a ghostwriting arrangement would have stipulated confidentiality, (4) the recounting of events of his "review" in The New Statesman could have been promulgated to ward off ideas of ghostwriting, since points 1 and 2 had the potential of being publicly divulged.

Are there indications for or against this based on what his son had to say, or from Benson's interview of Amis?

I don't want to seem like a conspiracy nut, but I just find points 1 and 2 such an incredible convergence of fact, happenstance and opportunity that beg for the possibility of Amis' ghostwriting role for TMWTGG.  Also, IMO, I don't think that the staunch "purist," "that's absolutely impossible" and "it was all Fleming" biases of some people (like a certain power-tripping admin at CBN named Dustin  ), have a place in any attempt to rationally examine this phenomenal singularity in the Fleming canon.  All I'm after is acceptance of the possibility, however unlikely or remote.

Thanks, Barbel, I appreciate your objectivity!  Thanks too for the link.  Yes it seems that this is an occasionally recurring topic.  In response to the "no, it was all Fleming" perspective from that older thread, the rewrite and polish process that Fleming undertook was not as simplistic as assumed (there are several recent sources that attest to that) and anything purported by Amis against a more involved role, could possibly be the result of the points 3 & 4 that I posted above.  Again, these two points are compelling and obvious conclusions based on my points 1 & 2. 

What I forgot to add regarding Amis' credentials is that, not only was he personally acquainted professionally with Fleming as a writer, but by that point he was already recognized by Fleming's publishers (Jonathan Cape was also his publisher, of which interests related to TMWTGG was represented by Plomer) as a knowledgeable "Flemingologist" ...who happened to be published author. 

What would be the motive?  Two come to mind; the desire from the perspective of the publishers to honor a deceased friend and celebrated author with a proper treatment of one of his last works; and of course, profits, from what would otherwise have been wasted without an adequate rewrite and polish.

Last edited by superado (27th Feb 2016 16:54)

...which is why the real Dr. John Watson became a fictionalized character!

I'm not sure if it's the same incident, but I read in the CBN Fleming forum that John Cork examined the TMWTGG manuscript(s), which is part of the Ian Fleming collection in the Lilly Library in Indiana, and it was Cork who concluded that the differences were very minor.  What I would appreciate seeing is the piece in which Cork says this, and better yet, a fairly detailed analysis of the comparisons made.