Reading and Re-reading Bond
I own a complete set of Ian Fleming’s James Bond books; all the novels and the short stories.
I don’t often admit that to people because their immediate perception is the big-screen version of Bond and they can’t understand how anyone could be interested in reading such stories. The truth is, the movies do not in any way resemble the books nor does the silver-screen Bond resemble the protagonist of Fleming’s books.
Mark Steyn has written a good piece on the enduring quality of Ian Fleming’s writing.
…Fleming understood the sleight of hand involved in each book — the strange disquisitions on short men or American road signs or the ghastliness of tea that glide you over the not quite convincing plot twist and on to the next magnificent set piece. He kept it up almost to the end, until sickness and boredom ground him down. But, as an exercise in sheer style, the Fleming of Casino Royale is hard to beat. It’s not about the plot. Unlike almost any other thriller writer, he can be read over and over and over.
Macleans.ca The name’s Fleming. Ian Fleming.
Incidently, another good read on the subject is The James Bond Dossier, by Kingsley Amis; also in my library.
[tags]writing, James Bond, Ian Fleming, Mark Steyn[/tags]
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