20 replies to this topic

[Mister Asterix]

From CBn’s main page:

The Simon Winder CBn Interview

_{A conversation with the author of 'The Man Who Saved Britain'}

[Loomis]

Excellent work, Bon-san. I've only skimmed the interview, and will certainly be giving it a more thorough going-over later on, but I've read enough to be able to say: good stuff.

Curious that Winder felt "Colonel Sun" "so bad that it didn't seem worthwhile to read anything further" of the continuation novels! And ironic, too, insofar as Amis was (I gather) viewed by Fleming's wife and others as an anti-British commie pinko who hated the Empire and wanted the Royal Family to be beheaded on live television by animal rights activists, or something like that.

I mean, to each his own and everything, but I'm fairly stunned that anyone could consider CS such a total dud. To the Bond fan in 2006, it has a ring of "OHMSS stands as the worst 007 film ever", or indeed "The Eon series essentially curled up and died at the end of DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER when Connery's Bond vanished for good". Mind you, reading Hank Reineke's excellent piece on CS in 007 Magazine (October 2005) recently, I was also surprised to learn that the book received some pretty damning reviews on publication.

Haven't read Winder's book yet, but am very much looking forward to getting it.

[Bon-san]

Curious that Winder felt "Colonel Sun" "so bad that it didn't seem worthwhile to read anything further" of the continuation novels! And ironic, too, insofar as Amis was (I gather) viewed by Fleming's wife and others as an anti-British commie pinko who hated the Empire and wanted the Royal Family to be beheaded on live television by animal rights activists, or something like that.

Good point, Loomis. I should have asked him about that. Perhaps Mr. Winder will join in the discussion here. What do you think, Simon?

By the way, Mr Asterix deserves all the credit for the visual display of the article. He is THE MAN.

[Blofeld's Cat]

Kudos to Bon-san for the interview and MR* for the graphics.

[Doctor Shatterhand]

An interesting interview. At times I felt you were interviewing two separate people. One who is a BIG James Bond fan and another who can only stomach Ian Fleming. How can one do a proper analysis without reading the post-Fleming novels?

I have not read his book yet, but I find books like this one to be over-the-top in analyzing the Bond myth. When one decides to find hidden meaning or try and see if there is a Da Vinci code wrapped up inside From Russia With Love (read IAN FLEMING'S INCREDIBLE CREATION), I quickly run to the bookstore exit.

Ian Fleming clearly stated in an August 1962 article for SHOW magazine that he writes, unashamedly, for pleasure and money. That his books are not

[zencat]

Really excellent quality interview, Bon-san. It's nice when an interviewer actually reads the author's work. This book has certainly caused a stir. I was also surprised to hear Mr. Winder's harsh words about Colonel Sun (but I do think that book is overrated), but very pleased by his praise of the Young Bond series. Of course, he hates Moonraker, so when we meet, we must duel.

Again, really interesting and I can't wait to read the book. But now I'm definitely waiting for the US edition. Love that US cover as much as I hate the UK cover. Is this the first we've seen of that cover? Nice little scoop there.

Oh, and awesome graphics as usual, Mr. Asterix.

[Loomis]

....very pleased by his praise of the Young Bond series.

I'm also surprised by this. In the 1930s, in "real life", surely they would all have been Empire-building racists of the first water, the young Bond included? In Higson's universe, however, everyone's suspiciously tolerant and modern. This was the "end of Empire", and yet to go by Higson (okay, I admit that I haven't read "BloodFever" yet) you'd be forgiven for thinking "Empire? What Empire?". It's basically Blair's Britain in period guise - I exaggerate slightly, of course, but only slightly.

Also, the Higsons hardly seem anything even remotely close to the sort of Young Bond adventures Fleming might have written. Judging by the character in "Casino Royale" (and most of the others), he'd have been a right little two-bob bit as a schoolboy - as I think David Schofield once memorably pointed out here on CBn, he'd have been the ringleader of the bullies.

Anyway, talking of Empire, "Zero Minus Ten" is an absolute must for anyone interested in linking the topics of Britain's faded imperial glory and James Bond.... and also a pretty darn good continuation novel.

I do, however, agree with Winder 100% on the following:

The (Fleming) books simply do not stand up as completely realized novels

[Lazenby880]

Fascinating interview Bon-san, and wonderful graphics once more Mister Asterix. I should point out that I hane not read Mr Winder's book, so anything I say is purely based on the fine interview conducted by Bon-san.

In a sense, I get the feeling that Mr Winder stated certain things as opinion for the sole purpose of eliciting a negative reaction, such as where he notes in one of his responses that he thought it might be "fun" to say "terrible things" to see how Bond fans, or specifically British Bond fans, would react. From his answers it would appear that he implicitly accepts that he deliberately overemphasises his arguments, especially those relating to Britain's relative decline and the supposed 'horrors' of empire, in order to stoke a degree of controversy. As someone who rejects much of the morally absolutist arguments that gain currency in the modern day relating to early post-war Britain and the British empire, it would appear that I may have a fundamental problem with the very premise of Mr Winder's book.

More than that, I thoroughly disagree with one of Mr Winder's points: "I think the serious point behind the book (or semi-serious) is that Britain has had much more ferocious an impact on the world than British people like to think. I wanted to use the book to emphasise, and indeed rub people

[Bon-san]

I love that passage as well, Loomis.

I am quite keen to hear from anyone who has read The Man Who Saved Britain. It would be particularly interesting to hear from some of the Brits.

I personally found the book a pleasure to read. It manages a nice sense of flow, despite the discussion relentlessly zig-zagging between an analysis of the Bond books/films, a look at the makeup of Ian Fleming, and a passionate examinition of recent British history. The overall effect might be a bit wearing to, say, an ultra-conservative non-Bond fan with no sense of humour. But for everyone else, I would imagine it's a fun read.

[Qwerty]

Excellent interview, Bon-san. Liking an aspect of the Bond legacy or not, Mr. Winder makes it an interesting topic in his book.

[Bon-san]

I was surprised at his negative views on COLONEL SUN, I understand many think it overrated but I have never seen it dismissed in such a manner. Nonetheless, in one of Pettis' questions it suggests that both Amis and Gardner are given rough treatment in his book, yet Winder says he could not read anymore continuation novels after COLONEL SUN. So, for those who have read his book, how is Gardner treated, and on what is that treatment based?

Laz, from memory (don't have the book in front of me just now), there was a quite short commentary on the Gardner books. I don't believe it was a diss per se of Gardner, but Mr. Winder is quite clear that his love for Fleming doesn't really extend to the continuation novels.

I disagree with him re Lazenby as well. Such is life in Bond fandom. Vive la difference.

I would recommend the book, despite your apparent contrary political views. Simon seems to enjoy taking the piss, a bit, but it's all in good fun, and anyway, that's fairly de rigueur amongst the Bond cogniscenti.

[Turn]

Quite a fine interview, Bond-san. It's interesting to read Winder's views on the film series as he kind of represents that stereotype that most of us hardcore fans kind of wince when we hear their views -- The first four are great; OHMSS is dragged down due to Lazenby; MR is unwatchable; the recent films are only worth watching once.

I kind of agree on the first four films being watchable over and over again, with many new things to discover, but I wouldn't limit it to that, also including YOLT and OHMSS in there as far as that goes. What were his evaluations of the Dalton era?

But only watching some of the later films only once, well, that's just a little too Pauline Kael for me. I'm not a huge DAD fan, but I found myself more than once catching it when it was on cable a year or two ago.

[Lazenby880]

Laz, from memory (don't have the book in front of me just now), there was a quite short commentary on the Gardner books. I don't believe it was a diss per se of Gardner, but Mr. Winder is quite clear that his love for Fleming doesn't really extend to the continuation novels.

Fair enough. Having implied that he did not read the post-Amis continuation works I thought he might have drawn his conclusion on Gardner from the Boysie Oakes or Herbie Kruger novels if Gardner was specifically mentioned in the text.

I disagree with him re Lazenby as well. Such is life in Bond fandom. Vive la difference.

True, and such differences make the discussions here thoroughly interesting. The 'follow-the-sheep' mentality, to which I hope Mr Winder's book does not succumb, regarding the films is dreadful.

I would recommend the book, despite your apparent contrary political views. Simon seems to enjoy taking the piss, a bit, but it's all in good fun, and anyway, that's fairly de rigueur amongst the Bond cogniscenti.

From what I have read about it I do assume it is rather witty, and I will probably appreciate the humour in the book. Regardless of the political premise, if it well written I should enjoy it, and Mr Winder can rest assured that he has elicited one more buyer in me.

Edited by Lazenby880, 08 July 2006 - 01:08 AM.

[spynovelfan]

Just got round to this now. Great interview, Bon-san, and Mr*'s graphics are, as usual, stellar. Would perhaps have liked to know a little more about Mr Winder - he was an editor at Penguin for a while, I believe.

[Bon-san]

Just got round to this now. Great interview, Bon-san, and Mr*'s graphics are, as usual, stellar. Would perhaps have liked to know a little more about Mr Winder - he was an editor at Penguin for a while, I believe.

Yes, I definitely missed a trick, there. Perhaps I'll see if I can get a bit more of this info and post it in this thread.

[spynovelfan]

No biggie - I'm just interested, that's all!

[Bon-san]

No biggie - I'm just interested, that's all!

I've just emailed Simon and requested all the details of his sordid past, for publication here.

[Bon-san]

Upon my request of Mr. Winder for a little bit of autobiographical information, he sent this:

'Simon Winder has worked in publishing for twenty years, both in London and
in New York. After early misadventures trying to sell books around the
world (as detailed in THE MAN WHO SAVED BRITAIN) he has edited everything
from cultural studies to history to politics to economics. He has been at
Penguin in London for ten years and ran the Penguin Modern Classics series
there for six, during which time he was involved in buying the rights for
Ian Fleming's novels and decided to put them into the series, thereby
enshrining Fleming as one of the key postwar British writers. He created
the anthology (published by Penguin) MY NAMES'S BOND... JAMES BOND made up
of quotes from Fleming's work (now tragically out of print) and it was while
working on this and defending himself against attacks for putting Bond in
Modern Classics that the idea for THE MAN WHO SAVED BRITAIN came to him.'

[spynovelfan]

Great stuff - thanks!

[LadySylvia]

[quote]George Lazenby comes in for some rough treatment in The Man Who Saved Britain. Any words for those who feel he

Edited by LadySylvia, 31 March 2007 - 05:34 AM.

[ACE]

I'm certainly not going to waste my time in buying his book.

That would be a real shame because it is simply the most entertaining text on Bond ever written, IMHO.

Yes, I disagree with his POV but he is just trying to provoke a reaction. The book is not for people who want a serious overview of the books or films. It is a simply essential text for any Bond fan who appreciates the wider implications of Bond on popular culture. Especially British Bond fans.

I urge everyone to read this book. It is simply marvellous.

Oh, fantastic interview, Bon-san. One of the best of a Bond author I have ever read. Terrific stuff.