scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
Thankyou so much for that thougthful and insightful post Bill Tanner!
I am so happy that the series is working as a reference guide, as that is the main aim of the series. I saw it as an opportunity to provide a good resource for all Bond fans that want to know a little more about the literary Bond.
After Fleming, I will be going onto Kingsley Amis/Robert Markham with "Colonel Sun" which for me is perhaps the most Flemingesque of all the post-Fleming novels. Then I will bravely attempt the Gardner novels.
Any news on the next in the series? I'd like to see TB, OHMSS and YOLT, and Colonel Sun. Also, guides to the Gardners would be great.
Also I noticed your covers of LALD. I wish I had a scanner to send some of the different artwork I've got. (like the Jove and Signet editions) etc.
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
Hi Thunderball will be posted this week as I'm now on Easter break from Uni - I've been so busy that I haven't had time to post the article -it should be with you by Wednesday at the latest.
I'm still intending to write the whole series of all the official novels written -including the film tie-ins by Christopher Wood.
I'll be the first to chime in and complement what is a superbly written and researched article looking at many different aspects of Fleming's Thunderball, evidently you have scoured the net and a collection of books to find the wide variety of information. Although I prefer those of Goldfinger and From Russia With Love, Cape's first edition cover is another evocative and striking image.
A huge amount of work has clearly gone into these articles as a whole, they are well laid out and easy to read. The depth with which you approach the legal status of the novel, the inspiration for Thunderball and the publication details are highly interesting.
My only [trivial] complaint is the icon on the front page which has obviously been stretched, it is very unclear and difficult to read.
However, the Thuderball article in itself is both insightful and educational, and cheers for including the wide range of other front covers and reviews you've dug up. A great addition to an excellent series, sc1. Keep up the hard work!
Edit: Forget about my complaint, I see it has been changed.
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
edited April 2004
Thanks for those kind words Lazenby880. These articles do take a bit of research, but hopefully convey useful information. The additional book covers and original reviews I hope are really interesting to the site's members -as for the other information I try. Sometimes I'm able to find good stuff -at other times it is not so easy - but hopefully the articles do encourage those out there to pick up the novels and give them a go, as they hopefully give an individual a much greater idea of the world of 007 and where this fantastic phenomena originated.
I'd love to hear any other feedback on this article as there is some interesting stuff involved here.
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
edited September 2004
Ok -Firstly I want to apologise for how long it has been sice I last posted an article in this series. however I wish to remedy that by working on the next article tomorrow -so hopefully I can get this series up and running again. I have had many commitments recently that have prevented my adding to this series -but now hopefully I shall have more time to do them -so if anyone has any requests for what they want to see in the articles -please let me know. I will of course try and provide as many of the different book covers as I can, and any other information I can find that point towards the writing process of each novel. Anyway here is to the next ... {[]
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
Wow! Almost a half year without Licence To Read... And finally I learn something for this day as well. This novel is such an enigma to me...
Which reminds me I should get something to The Cat's Scrapbook...
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
Well Cat -the articles are there to educate members about the novels -and to encourage those members to try and read them. These articles are definitely not easy as it is hard to find the right information on novels that were written several decades ago. I endeavour to produce informative articles when I'm able -sometimes it may take a long time in between articles - but that is because I also have many other things going on in my life. As for what it is you have learned today -it would be interesting to know what fact it is that you hadn't known before -and also whether you have any information on TSWLM novel that I may have missed.
New info: The paperback after Fleming's death or the details on the Vespa. Vehicles are my absolute week points, so the details of the Studillac in DAF was also great.
Regarding the novel, I always found it intriguing how Fleming wanted to depict 'female narrative'. Speaking from the view of a woman, he certainly tries to mimic their style... Which sometimes comes of clumsy. TSWLM contains Fleming's longest sentences ever, and I'm sure that he had a purpose with that.
"WOKO announced forty minutes of `Music to Kiss By` and suddenly there were the Ink Spots singing `Someone`s Rockin` my Dream Boat` and I was back on the River Thames and it was five summers ago and we were drifting down past Kings Eyot in a punt and there was Windsor Castle in the distance and Derek was paddling while I worked the portable."
While this sentence is not the longest example (I didn't have the energy to tpye that in), I think it illustrates my point. This 60+ words long sentence contains six 'and's. Now, I consider Fleming to be a good writer, so I assume that he has a purpose with sentences which would be automatically crossed out in my university papers. Of course, one could claim, that this sentence is deliberately like this to follow the 'flow of remembrance' but the act wears thin after the second chapter and after many repetitions, it's a bit distracting.
Sorry to magnify this feature, but it's one of my pet peeves.
My other 'peeve' regards Fleming vision of women, which is I think basically a topic for large essays. However, I can't recollect one single more telling example than Vivienne here. If this novel were to be released these days, I think the critics would use the adjective 'chauvinistic' more like 'pornoggraphic'. As you mentioned, this is certainly a period piece of 60s retro, and I think that Fleming wouldn't be able to publish THIS novel in THIS form in todays PC world.
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
I actually disagree Cat - I don't think TSWLM would come under anywhere near as much criticism as it did back then. Vivienne is not a unique woman - like many she has been used unfairly by men in her earlier sexual encounters or has been naieve due to lack of experience -and as a consequence beomes a "wiser" woman who is stronger and more independent -the fact that she relies on Bond to help her is not really just because he's a man -anybody passing by would've been called on to help -and ultimately the story is again like the mythological fairtytales that both sexes enjoy -where the knight in shining armour is able to rescue the damsel in distress. The book if released now for the first time would more likely be criticised for the hackneyed characteristics of the gangsters more than anything else -and really as this novel is a thriller I doubt critics would be that bothered by it.
'And really as this novel is a thriller I doubt critics would be that bothered by it.'
I meant that if it was released on the scale and with the attention as it was released back than.
Hehe... I see you haven't taken up univesity courses by feminists... ) Belive me, they are not too fond of the novel. Certainly a minor opinion, but presented in a very loud voice.
Quoting The Cat:
Hehe... I see you haven't taken up univesity courses by feminists... ) Belive me, they are not too fond of the novel. Certainly a minor opinion, but presented in a very loud voice.
I have taken these courses, and--as a fully-fledged Ph.D. in English literature and as a card-carrying full-time academic--I think I can respond to this issue with some authority. Granted, I don't know how feminism is defined south of the Danube, but in western Europe and America no feminist worth her (or his) salt would demand that the novel not be printed or protest its publication. That's something a knee-jerk undergrad or a graduate student trying to get attention would do. A thoughtful, responsible feminist would take the novel seriously and try to understand what it has to say about women and society.
Furthermore, today it's understood that there's no such thing as "feminism." More properly, it is "feminisms," which shows how multifaceted the movement is. Feminists come in every stripe, from radical left to radical right, and therefore there are a multiplicity of "feminist" interpretations of The Spy Who Loved Me that one could make. To provide a few examples:
Psychological Feminist: This is a school of theory with its groundings in Freud and Lacan, and which owes a good deal to such French feminist critics as Julia Kristeva and Helene Cixous. A psychological feminist interpretation would focus on Vivienne's quest for a father figure (what has been dubbed the "Elektra Complex"). Vivienne describes herself as an orphan, and that "I loved my father and got on badly with my mother" (ch. 2; p. 15--Penguin ed.). The death of the father leaves her yearning for a replacement, from whom she can receive the approval she doesn't get from the absent father; and this drives her to a series of love-affairs, in all of which she plays a submissive role. That she believes "all women love semi-rape" shows her willingness to accept masculine discourse in order to please men. In Bond she finds what she's always desired: the daddy figure who rescues her and cares for her, if only for a short time.
A psychological feminist would also focus on Fleming himself. As someone who lost his father when he was very young and who was brought up by a strong, dominant mother, he developed a good deal of resentment toward women and toward female authority, which he manifested in his depictions of torture, and in his own well-known fetish for whipping his wife. Fleming clearly feared women gaining authority over strong men, and he gleefully partakes in the systematic "putting down" of Vivienne through her humiliating relationships, her near-rape by the loathsome hoods, and by her eventual mastering by the uber-male James Bond, who is defined by his dominating, phallic gun.
Another approach would be Marxist Feminist, in which the critic would focus not so much on Viv herself but on the society and culture that surrounds her. In western culture, everything has a price, and Vivienne is clearly valued--or "commodified"--by her sex appeal. She has no inherent worth; this value is put upon her by capitalistic society, and in her effort to escape such objectifying constructions of the self, she becomes alienated from her class, her nationality, and her inherent sense of self. The climax of the novel puts Viv at the center of a battle between the forces of mercantile capitalism (Horror and Sluggsy, themselves alienated from their identities, made subservient to capitalist masters, and even deprived of proper names) and the representative of Imperial Control, James Bond. Though Bond eventually "wins," the win is actually a defeat, for by allowing Bond to make love to her, Vivienne signals her ultimate acceptance of the dominance of the State.
Finally, there is also a brand of feminism, nameless as of now, largely espoused by Camille Paglia and others, which argues that a woman's deployment of sexuality actually empowers her. In this line of thinking, Vivienne understands early on that her looks and her body are the means by which she can control men and thus work her way up in the world. She actually seduces the men in her life, and each romantic relationship manages to advance her position somewhat. The final words in the book are hers, not the male Bond, which shows her own ability to narrate and control her story.
What I've presented here are only a very few, very possible "feminist" interpretations of the novel. It's all a complicated issue, so saying that the book is bound to court disapproval from feminists is clearly a matter of which feminist you're talking to.
I think my teacher would be something of a radical feminist. I can't really recall many details, as her classes were rather dire and uninteresting (she read from a paper all the time), and she just kept on romping on various XX. century authors. She only touched upon TSWLM for a good-time of 15 minutes, and I understood very little from it. My clearest memory is that she wasn't all that happy about the 'self-rape' phenomenon and she used this to illustrate how chauvenistic Fleming was and how little he understood from women... Or something like that. To tell the honest, I try to forget everything she said. In fact, after she kept refferring to one of the villains as Muggsy, I had a slight feeling that she didn't read the novel that throughoutly to explore deeper meenings. However, it was the mental image of her that made me write what I have.
P.S. She might not even be a feminist at all... Perhaps she was just mad.
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
Quoting Hardyboy:
Quoting Hardyboy: Quoting The Cat:
Hehe... I see you haven't taken up univesity courses by feminists... ) Belive me, they are not too fond of the novel. Certainly a minor opinion, but presented in a very loud voice.
I have taken these courses, and--as a fully-fledged Ph.D. in English literature and as a card-carrying full-time academic--I think I can respond to this issue with some authority. Granted, I don't know how feminism is defined south of the Danube, but in western Europe and America no feminist worth her (or his) salt would demand that the novel not be printed or protest its publication. That's something a knee-jerk undergrad or a graduate student trying to get attention would do. A thoughtful, responsible feminist would take the novel seriously and try to understand what it has to say about women and society.
Furthermore, today it's understood that there's no such thing as "feminism." More properly, it is "feminisms," which shows how multifaceted the movement is. Feminists come in every stripe, from radical left to radical right, and therefore there are a multiplicity of "feminist" interpretations of The Spy Who Loved Me that one could make. To provide a few examples:
Psychological Feminist: This is a school of theory with its groundings in Freud and Lacan, and which owes a good deal to such French feminist critics as Julia Kristeva and Helene Cixous. A psychological feminist interpretation would focus on Vivienne's quest for a father figure (what has been dubbed the "Elektra Complex"). Vivienne describes herself as an orphan, and that "I loved my father and got on badly with my mother" (ch. 2; p. 15--Penguin ed.). The death of the father leaves her yearning for a replacement, from whom she can receive the approval she doesn't get from the absent father; and this drives her to a series of love-affairs, in all of which she plays a submissive role. That she believes "all women love semi-rape" shows her willingness to accept masculine discourse in order to please men. In Bond she finds what she's always desired: the daddy figure who rescues her and cares for her, if only for a short time.
A psychological feminist would also focus on Fleming himself. As someone who lost his father when he was very young and who was brought up by a strong, dominant mother, he developed a good deal of resentment toward women and toward female authority, which he manifested in his depictions of torture, and in his own well-known fetish for whipping his wife. Fleming clearly feared women gaining authority over strong men, and he gleefully partakes in the systematic "putting down" of Vivienne through her humiliating relationships, her near-rape by the loathsome hoods, and by her eventual mastering by the uber-male James Bond, who is defined by his dominating, phallic gun.
Another approach would be Marxist Feminist, in which the critic would focus not so much on Viv herself but on the society and culture that surrounds her. In western culture, everything has a price, and Vivienne is clearly valued--or "commodified"--by her sex appeal. She has no inherent worth; this value is put upon her by capitalistic society, and in her effort to escape such objectifying constructions of the self, she becomes alienated from her class, her nationality, and her inherent sense of self. The climax of the novel puts Viv at the center of a battle between the forces of mercantile capitalism (Horror and Sluggsy, themselves alienated from their identities, made subservient to capitalist masters, and even deprived of proper names) and the representative of Imperial Control, James Bond. Though Bond eventually "wins," the win is actually a defeat, for by allowing Bond to make love to her, Vivienne signals her ultimate acceptance of the dominance of the State.
Finally, there is also a brand of feminism, nameless as of now, largely espoused by Camille Paglia and others, which argues that a woman's deployment of sexuality actually empowers her. In this line of thinking, Vivienne understands early on that her looks and her body are the means by which she can control men and thus work her way up in the world. She actually seduces the men in her life, and each romantic relationship manages to advance her position somewhat. The final words in the book are hers, not the male Bond, which shows her own ability to narrate and control her story.
What I've presented here are only a very few, very possible "feminist" interpretations of the novel. It's all a complicated issue, so saying that the book is bound to court disapproval from feminists is clearly a matter of which feminist you're talking to.
Thankyou HB! This is definitely what I meant. Feminism is very different and diverse indeed today, and if TSWLM was published today they would look at it in a different way than back then.
The number of History lectures and English lit lectures, and even political lectures that I have been to, that have looked at points of view from the different genders are enough that I feel confident in my interpretation of how the novel would be received today -and you have reenforced my understanding. So thankyou.
My pleasure, SC1. . .and I forgot to say this earlier: yours is a fine contribution to your excellent series!
Vox clamantis in deserto
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
edited January 2005
Quoting Hardyboy:
My pleasure, SC1. . .and I forgot to say this earlier: yours is a fine contribution to your excellent series!
Thankyou HB. It is nice to know the series is appreciated -I will endeavour to be a little more regular with installments from now on. Although once I get past Colonel Sun, I think the Gardner books will have to take a different approach as I do not have the same sort of resources as I have for Fleming's books.
I'll just chime in with Hardyboy in noting that the Licence to Read series provides us with an outstanding consideration of Ian Fleming's James Bond stories.Scaramanga 1 approaches each essay in what I think is the correct fashion.Rather than simply deliver a bald plot outline,SC1 gives us enough of an example of the material to make it interesting.And then he delves into the book and brings up points of interest not always apparent at first glance.
Indeed,through SC1's perceptive analysis, I'm now seeing new elements in the Bond books than when I first read them.For example,as far as I'm concerned,and due to SC1's essay,The Spy Who loved Me has now taken on an important position in the Bond canon.Thanks to the current essay SC1 has provided, I have every intention of rereading this book--the most experimental novel Fleming ever penned.
As with all of the Bond books,TSWLM is very much of it's time--something both Hardyboy and SC1 are quick to point out.And in order for it to be judged fairly,this must always be kept in mind.It's a period piece written by a man who greatly appreciated women and who also readily acknowledged that he couldn't begin to understand them.Still,it's an interesting book and to some degree controversial--although for it's era it's rather tentative and even quite conservative, compared to the romance fiction published during that period.
As Ian Fleming always said,the James Bond books were his variations on the St.George legend-updated,with 007 taking the place of St.George and with bizarre criminal masterminds standing in for the dragon.And in these tales all of the colorful (and often colorfully) named femmes fatale subsituting for the fair princess the valiant knight rescues.It's a good plot -it's simple and direct, and Fleming's florishes add to each piece's enjoyment.
That said,it can't be easy for Scaramanga 1 to read each of these novels with an eye towards offering a critique of the book's contents.That he continually succeeds at this is admirable.Let's not try to hurry him along.After all,you can't rush quality...;)
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
Quoting Willie Garvin:
I'll just chime in with Hardyboy in noting that the Licence to Read series provides us with an outstanding consideration of Ian Fleming's James Bond stories.Scaramanga 1 approaches each essay in what I think is the correct fashion.Rather than simply deliver a bald plot outline,SC1 gives us enough of an example of the material to make it interesting.And then he delves into the book and brings up points of interest not always apparent at first glance.
Indeed,through SC1's perceptive analysis, I'm now seeing new elements in the Bond books than when I first read them.For example,as far as I'm concerned,and due to SC1's essay,The Spy Who loved Me has now taken on an important position in the Bond canon.Thanks to the current essay SC1 has provided, I have every intention of rereading this book--the most experimental novel Fleming ever penned.
As with all of the Bond books,TSWLM is very much of it's time--something both Hardyboy and SC1 are quick to point out.And in order for it to be judged fairly,this must always be kept in mind.It's a period piece written by a man who greatly appreciated women and who also readily acknowledged that he couldn't begin to understand them.Still,it's an interesting book and to some degree controversial--although for it's era it's rather tentative and even quite conservative, compared to the romance fiction published during that period.
As Ian Fleming always said,the James Bond books were his variations on the St.George legend-updated,with 007 taking the place of St.George and with bizarre criminal masterminds standing in for the dragon.And in these tales all of the colorful (and often colorfully) named femmes fatale subsituting for the fair princess the valiant knight rescues.It's a good plot -it's simple and direct, and Fleming's florishes add to each piece's enjoyment.
That said,it can't be easy for Scaramanga 1 to read each of these novels with an eye towards offering a critique of the book's contents.That he continually succeeds at this is admirable.Let's not try to hurry him along.After all,you can't rush quality...;)
Thankyou also WG! It is nice to know the series is appreciated. Like with the fanfiction -feedback is necessary. To know that perhaps the two most well read members of the site appreciate my labours make me feel very happy indeed.
I really appreciate these articles, SC1, they're informative and objective. The research you must put in is no sneezing matter - I'm not the kind to say it if I didn't mean it. Excellent essays, all of them.
I've printed them all out. Not for a web site, but for my own personal and private enjoyment. Combined with the online novels you do a lot! (although a task I'm sure you enjoy!)
So, I just sit back, sip a cup of coffee, and enjoy reading a blast from the past. :007)
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
Quoting Alex:
I really appreciate these articles, SC1, they're informative and objective. The research you must put in is no sneezing matter - I'm not the kind to say it if I didn't mean it. Excellent essays, all of them.
I've printed them all out. Not for a web site, but for my own personal and private enjoyment. Combined with the online novels you do a lot! (although a task I'm sure you enjoy!)
So, I just sit back, sip a cup of coffee, and enjoy reading a blast from the past. :007)
Well Alex -it seems my articles are popular with the other moderators at least!
I'd like to hear from other members who have read the latest installment, and see if they have anything new to offer -including anything they may think I've missed.
Quoting scaramanga1:
I'd like to hear from other members who have read the latest installment, and see if they have anything new to offer -including anything they may think I've missed.
Having not read The Spy Who Loved Me, I cannot comment on whether you have missed anything or not, however once again I very much enjoyed your latest article.
As I said previously these are informative, interesting with clearly a significant amount of work and research having been carried out. The depth with which you explore the novels in this article series, sc1, ensures that they can be used as a reference guide for those who are not so well-acquainted with the novels as you (such as myself). Not only that, they are a pleasure to read.
Please continue with Licence To Read, indeed I hope you cover the Gardners too.
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
edited January 2005
Quoting Lazenby880:
Quoting Lazenby880: Quoting scaramanga1:
I'd like to hear from other members who have read the latest installment, and see if they have anything new to offer -including anything they may think I've missed.
Having not read The Spy Who Loved Me, I cannot comment on whether you have missed anything or not, however once again I very much enjoyed your latest article.
As I said previously these are informative, interesting with clearly a significant amount of work and research having been carried out. The depth with which you explore the novels in this article series, sc1, ensures that they can be used as a reference guide for those who are not so well-acquainted with the novels as you (such as myself). Not only that, they are a pleasure to read.
Please continue with Licence To Read, indeed I hope you cover the Gardners too.
I will be covering all of the Bond novels -although the format of the articles will no doubt change due to information that is available, and perhaps lack of variety in covers etc.
When can we expect to see the next part in this great series of enlightening articles?
OHMSS is due next I belive.
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
I have to apologise for being so lapse in this regard -I do hope to write the next article soon -although my life gives me little time these days to write these articles. However I do already have some information to hand -which will no doubt help greatly when I write the next article.
Scaramanga1 and I are pleased to present the return of A Licence To Read with On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Please feel free to comment on the article or indeed the novel itself.
:007)
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
As Golrush007 so rightly says A Licence To Read is back! Having teamed up with Golrush007 the two of us will endeavour to complete at least the Ian Fleming part of the series. I will also be hoping to continue with the other novels -however this will be a little harder as resources are not so easy to come by.
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,993Quartermasters
edited May 2008
Great article, guys! {[]
OHMSS was the first Fleming book I ever read cover-to-cover. I had graduated from lesser action/adventure fare such as Nick Carter and Don Pendleton's The Executioner, and I was at once gripped by Fleming's prose style, which I realized from Chapter One was a cut above what I'd been reading:
"It was one of those Septembers when it seemed that the summer would never end."
The book opens with an unusually reflective James Bond sitting on the beach, recalling bits of his childhood and considering where his adult life had taken him. He even rehearses, in his own mind, what he will say to the girl named Tracy...
Perhaps, following his first heart attack in 1961, Ian Fleming's dawning awareness of his mortality was spurring him on to new heights of prose---this one, and YOLT to follow, are the two grandest and most haunting of his novels, in my opinion, regardless of their flaws---but whatever the cause, here is James Bond's creator at the absolute zenith of his form.
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
An interesting write-up on On Her Majesty's Secret Service chaps. A nice way to recognise Ian Fleming's centenary.
I very much enjoyed the novel when I first read it, and I don't recognise some of the less favourable reviews identified in the article. I think it is tense, pulp-y and with a discrenible streak of melancholy, although I do prefer the subsequent You Only Live Twice, a haunting and rich Bond novel.
Comments
I am so happy that the series is working as a reference guide, as that is the main aim of the series. I saw it as an opportunity to provide a good resource for all Bond fans that want to know a little more about the literary Bond.
After Fleming, I will be going onto Kingsley Amis/Robert Markham with "Colonel Sun" which for me is perhaps the most Flemingesque of all the post-Fleming novels. Then I will bravely attempt the Gardner novels.
Also I noticed your covers of LALD. I wish I had a scanner to send some of the different artwork I've got. (like the Jove and Signet editions) etc.
I'm still intending to write the whole series of all the official novels written -including the film tie-ins by Christopher Wood.
Looking forward.
A huge amount of work has clearly gone into these articles as a whole, they are well laid out and easy to read. The depth with which you approach the legal status of the novel, the inspiration for Thunderball and the publication details are highly interesting.
My only [trivial] complaint is the icon on the front page which has obviously been stretched, it is very unclear and difficult to read.
However, the Thuderball article in itself is both insightful and educational, and cheers for including the wide range of other front covers and reviews you've dug up. A great addition to an excellent series, sc1. Keep up the hard work!
Edit: Forget about my complaint, I see it has been changed.
I'd love to hear any other feedback on this article as there is some interesting stuff involved here.
http://www.ajb007.co.uk/articles/007/a_licence_to_read_the_spy_who_loved_me/
-feel free to comment on it folks -and once again sorry for the long delay in continuing this series.
Which reminds me I should get something to The Cat's Scrapbook...
Regarding the novel, I always found it intriguing how Fleming wanted to depict 'female narrative'. Speaking from the view of a woman, he certainly tries to mimic their style... Which sometimes comes of clumsy. TSWLM contains Fleming's longest sentences ever, and I'm sure that he had a purpose with that.
"WOKO announced forty minutes of `Music to Kiss By` and suddenly there were the Ink Spots singing `Someone`s Rockin` my Dream Boat` and I was back on the River Thames and it was five summers ago and we were drifting down past Kings Eyot in a punt and there was Windsor Castle in the distance and Derek was paddling while I worked the portable."
While this sentence is not the longest example (I didn't have the energy to tpye that in), I think it illustrates my point. This 60+ words long sentence contains six 'and's. Now, I consider Fleming to be a good writer, so I assume that he has a purpose with sentences which would be automatically crossed out in my university papers. Of course, one could claim, that this sentence is deliberately like this to follow the 'flow of remembrance' but the act wears thin after the second chapter and after many repetitions, it's a bit distracting.
Sorry to magnify this feature, but it's one of my pet peeves.
My other 'peeve' regards Fleming vision of women, which is I think basically a topic for large essays. However, I can't recollect one single more telling example than Vivienne here. If this novel were to be released these days, I think the critics would use the adjective 'chauvinistic' more like 'pornoggraphic'. As you mentioned, this is certainly a period piece of 60s retro, and I think that Fleming wouldn't be able to publish THIS novel in THIS form in todays PC world.
I meant that if it was released on the scale and with the attention as it was released back than.
Hehe... I see you haven't taken up univesity courses by feminists...
I have taken these courses, and--as a fully-fledged Ph.D. in English literature and as a card-carrying full-time academic--I think I can respond to this issue with some authority. Granted, I don't know how feminism is defined south of the Danube, but in western Europe and America no feminist worth her (or his) salt would demand that the novel not be printed or protest its publication. That's something a knee-jerk undergrad or a graduate student trying to get attention would do. A thoughtful, responsible feminist would take the novel seriously and try to understand what it has to say about women and society.
Furthermore, today it's understood that there's no such thing as "feminism." More properly, it is "feminisms," which shows how multifaceted the movement is. Feminists come in every stripe, from radical left to radical right, and therefore there are a multiplicity of "feminist" interpretations of The Spy Who Loved Me that one could make. To provide a few examples:
Psychological Feminist: This is a school of theory with its groundings in Freud and Lacan, and which owes a good deal to such French feminist critics as Julia Kristeva and Helene Cixous. A psychological feminist interpretation would focus on Vivienne's quest for a father figure (what has been dubbed the "Elektra Complex"). Vivienne describes herself as an orphan, and that "I loved my father and got on badly with my mother" (ch. 2; p. 15--Penguin ed.). The death of the father leaves her yearning for a replacement, from whom she can receive the approval she doesn't get from the absent father; and this drives her to a series of love-affairs, in all of which she plays a submissive role. That she believes "all women love semi-rape" shows her willingness to accept masculine discourse in order to please men. In Bond she finds what she's always desired: the daddy figure who rescues her and cares for her, if only for a short time.
A psychological feminist would also focus on Fleming himself. As someone who lost his father when he was very young and who was brought up by a strong, dominant mother, he developed a good deal of resentment toward women and toward female authority, which he manifested in his depictions of torture, and in his own well-known fetish for whipping his wife. Fleming clearly feared women gaining authority over strong men, and he gleefully partakes in the systematic "putting down" of Vivienne through her humiliating relationships, her near-rape by the loathsome hoods, and by her eventual mastering by the uber-male James Bond, who is defined by his dominating, phallic gun.
Another approach would be Marxist Feminist, in which the critic would focus not so much on Viv herself but on the society and culture that surrounds her. In western culture, everything has a price, and Vivienne is clearly valued--or "commodified"--by her sex appeal. She has no inherent worth; this value is put upon her by capitalistic society, and in her effort to escape such objectifying constructions of the self, she becomes alienated from her class, her nationality, and her inherent sense of self. The climax of the novel puts Viv at the center of a battle between the forces of mercantile capitalism (Horror and Sluggsy, themselves alienated from their identities, made subservient to capitalist masters, and even deprived of proper names) and the representative of Imperial Control, James Bond. Though Bond eventually "wins," the win is actually a defeat, for by allowing Bond to make love to her, Vivienne signals her ultimate acceptance of the dominance of the State.
Finally, there is also a brand of feminism, nameless as of now, largely espoused by Camille Paglia and others, which argues that a woman's deployment of sexuality actually empowers her. In this line of thinking, Vivienne understands early on that her looks and her body are the means by which she can control men and thus work her way up in the world. She actually seduces the men in her life, and each romantic relationship manages to advance her position somewhat. The final words in the book are hers, not the male Bond, which shows her own ability to narrate and control her story.
What I've presented here are only a very few, very possible "feminist" interpretations of the novel. It's all a complicated issue, so saying that the book is bound to court disapproval from feminists is clearly a matter of which feminist you're talking to.
I think my teacher would be something of a radical feminist. I can't really recall many details, as her classes were rather dire and uninteresting (she read from a paper all the time), and she just kept on romping on various XX. century authors. She only touched upon TSWLM for a good-time of 15 minutes, and I understood very little from it. My clearest memory is that she wasn't all that happy about the 'self-rape' phenomenon and she used this to illustrate how chauvenistic Fleming was and how little he understood from women... Or something like that. To tell the honest, I try to forget everything she said. In fact, after she kept refferring to one of the villains as Muggsy, I had a slight feeling that she didn't read the novel that throughoutly to explore deeper meenings. However, it was the mental image of her that made me write what I have.
P.S. She might not even be a feminist at all... Perhaps she was just mad.
Thankyou HB! This is definitely what I meant. Feminism is very different and diverse indeed today, and if TSWLM was published today they would look at it in a different way than back then.
The number of History lectures and English lit lectures, and even political lectures that I have been to, that have looked at points of view from the different genders are enough that I feel confident in my interpretation of how the novel would be received today -and you have reenforced my understanding. So thankyou.
Thankyou HB. It is nice to know the series is appreciated -I will endeavour to be a little more regular with installments from now on. Although once I get past Colonel Sun, I think the Gardner books will have to take a different approach as I do not have the same sort of resources as I have for Fleming's books.
Indeed,through SC1's perceptive analysis, I'm now seeing new elements in the Bond books than when I first read them.For example,as far as I'm concerned,and due to SC1's essay,The Spy Who loved Me has now taken on an important position in the Bond canon.Thanks to the current essay SC1 has provided, I have every intention of rereading this book--the most experimental novel Fleming ever penned.
As with all of the Bond books,TSWLM is very much of it's time--something both Hardyboy and SC1 are quick to point out.And in order for it to be judged fairly,this must always be kept in mind.It's a period piece written by a man who greatly appreciated women and who also readily acknowledged that he couldn't begin to understand them.Still,it's an interesting book and to some degree controversial--although for it's era it's rather tentative and even quite conservative, compared to the romance fiction published during that period.
As Ian Fleming always said,the James Bond books were his variations on the St.George legend-updated,with 007 taking the place of St.George and with bizarre criminal masterminds standing in for the dragon.And in these tales all of the colorful (and often colorfully) named femmes fatale subsituting for the fair princess the valiant knight rescues.It's a good plot -it's simple and direct, and Fleming's florishes add to each piece's enjoyment.
That said,it can't be easy for Scaramanga 1 to read each of these novels with an eye towards offering a critique of the book's contents.That he continually succeeds at this is admirable.Let's not try to hurry him along.After all,you can't rush quality...;)
Thankyou also WG! It is nice to know the series is appreciated. Like with the fanfiction -feedback is necessary. To know that perhaps the two most well read members of the site appreciate my labours make me feel very happy indeed.
I've printed them all out. Not for a web site, but for my own personal and private enjoyment. Combined with the online novels you do a lot! (although a task I'm sure you enjoy!)
So, I just sit back, sip a cup of coffee, and enjoy reading a blast from the past. :007)
Well Alex -it seems my articles are popular with the other moderators at least!
I'd like to hear from other members who have read the latest installment, and see if they have anything new to offer -including anything they may think I've missed.
Having not read The Spy Who Loved Me, I cannot comment on whether you have missed anything or not, however once again I very much enjoyed your latest article.
As I said previously these are informative, interesting with clearly a significant amount of work and research having been carried out. The depth with which you explore the novels in this article series, sc1, ensures that they can be used as a reference guide for those who are not so well-acquainted with the novels as you (such as myself). Not only that, they are a pleasure to read.
Please continue with Licence To Read, indeed I hope you cover the Gardners too.
I will be covering all of the Bond novels -although the format of the articles will no doubt change due to information that is available, and perhaps lack of variety in covers etc.
OHMSS is due next I belive.
Please feel free to comment on the article or indeed the novel itself.
:007)
Anyway please read the new article
http://www.ajb007.co.uk/articles/a-licence-to-read-ohmss/
and feel free to comment here.
Cheers,
Jason.
OHMSS was the first Fleming book I ever read cover-to-cover. I had graduated from lesser action/adventure fare such as Nick Carter and Don Pendleton's The Executioner, and I was at once gripped by Fleming's prose style, which I realized from Chapter One was a cut above what I'd been reading:
"It was one of those Septembers when it seemed that the summer would never end."
The book opens with an unusually reflective James Bond sitting on the beach, recalling bits of his childhood and considering where his adult life had taken him. He even rehearses, in his own mind, what he will say to the girl named Tracy...
Perhaps, following his first heart attack in 1961, Ian Fleming's dawning awareness of his mortality was spurring him on to new heights of prose---this one, and YOLT to follow, are the two grandest and most haunting of his novels, in my opinion, regardless of their flaws---but whatever the cause, here is James Bond's creator at the absolute zenith of his form.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
I very much enjoyed the novel when I first read it, and I don't recognise some of the less favourable reviews identified in the article. I think it is tense, pulp-y and with a discrenible streak of melancholy, although I do prefer the subsequent You Only Live Twice, a haunting and rich Bond novel.
Thanks for the read.