13 replies to this topic

[Qwerty]

Back on the CBn main page from SILHOUETTE MAN...

The Literary James Bond In The 1970s

An examination by 'SILHOUETTE MAN'

[Scaramanga'74]

An awfully tempting proposition from the

[Trident]

Great piece of work, as always!

The 70's is really a decade that holds more than just a few interesting themes for Bond to tackle with, as was already mentioned. To name but a few:

-Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades) founded in 1970 in Milan; bombings, bankrobbery, attempted and successful killings and abductions in the years to follow, the most famous one the still mysterious and never entirely solved case of Aldo Moro

-Black September attack on the Israeli athletes of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich; several airplane hijackings, letter bomb attacks, assaults on civilians and officials

-Yom Kippur war of 1973 and the ensuing first oil crisis of '73

-Amin's and Bokassa's respective regim

Edited by Trident, 25 March 2008 - 04:01 PM.

[TheSaint]

Maybe that's where Faulks' book should've been set, in the '70s.

[Trident]

I think you are correct that the politically and culturally turbulent decade of the 1970s would make for an interesting setting for a future Bond scribe to work in. It is the only decade since his creation where the literary Bond did not truly feature, and where the cinematic Bond was in many ways at his most decadent, and as such it remains an untapped resource. It might also be a way of grounding the literary Bond in reality again and not having him go on ad infinitum. This is what Sebastian Faulks has elected to do with Devil May Care, by setting it in, or about the year 1967.

This would in effect acknowledge that Bond really does age, however literary that ageing might be. Just think of Phillip Marlow who ages a mere 9 years in an actual time of 15 years. And there would have to be changes in Bond's world that go beyond the Gardner ones.

Edited by Trident, 10 April 2008 - 02:56 PM.

[superado]

Literary Bond did briefly check in during the 70's, through Christopher Wood's novelizations of TSWLM and MR. These works were worlds apart from their movie counterparts, IMO, and despite the far-flung subject matter they had enough "grit" to keep my interest in place. The 007 character was Fleming's Bond in greater measure than Gardner and Benson, albeit with some adaptation to a 70's setting to produce an interesting approximation of Fleming's voice, which was exactly what Wood set out to do. In my mind's eye, I pictured the slightly older Hoagy Carmichael-like Bond with black hair slightly longer in the back and sides, dressed in gabardine, slightly flaired slacks and a black knitted tie perhaps slightly wider in keeping with the times. Compared to the works of Len Deighton, John LeCarre, Robert Ludlum, Frederick Forsythe (and sheepishly, Sidney Sheldon!) from that decade, TSWLM and MR likewise reflected the feel of the decade, though I don't remember if they made references to current political events of the time as suggested in an earlier post.

[AMC Hornet]

The 1970s was when I was reading my way through Fleming for the first time. It helped pass the time between movies.

Only John Pearson's Biography of JB and the two Wood novelizations were added to the literary canon in that time, so although they were certainly welcome, I didn't feel I was missing anything, as I was still catching up with the 50s & 60s.

But yes, having some stories to fill in the gap between Colonel Sun and Licence Renewed would certainly be welcome. I wouldn't be bothered by Bond not aging in the meantime - I've always been able to accept Bond as perpetually contemporary (when a man is battling a giant squid in a lagoon in Jamaica, does it matter whether he's 35 or 40?).

If William Boyd's first 007 novel is successful, I'd like to see him move from 1969 into the 70s, but that doesn't mean he has to reference too many historic events of the time, or try to reflect the similarity between those events and current events, as Faulks did in DMC.

[Dustin]

I'm all for it, a whole decade barely touched by Bond's literary adventures. Though I'm in two minds as to how successful such a concept would be in the long run. The 70s are simply not as popular as a period background and a large part of today's readership has no idea about the time and its events.

[glidrose]

Literary Bond did briefly check in during the 70's, through Christopher Wood's novelizations of TSWLM and MR. These works were worlds apart from their movie counterparts, IMO, and despite the far-flung subject matter they had enough "grit" to keep my interest in place. The 007 character was Fleming's Bond in greater measure than Gardner and Benson, albeit with some adaptation to a 70's setting to produce an interesting approximation of Fleming's voice, which was exactly what Wood set out to do. In my mind's eye, I pictured the slightly older Hoagy Carmichael-like Bond with black hair slightly longer in the back and sides, dressed in gabardine, slightly flaired slacks and a black knitted tie perhaps slightly wider in keeping with the times. Compared to the works of Len Deighton, John LeCarre, Robert Ludlum, Frederick Forsythe (and sheepishly, Sidney Sheldon!) from that decade, TSWLM and MR likewise reflected the feel of the decade, though I don't remember if they made references to current political events of the time as suggested in an earlier post.

Agree entirely with you. Both Wood books splendidly reek of the 70's. I too wish there were more 70's Bond books. I strongly believe that is the last decade the literary Bond is viable. By the 80's the cracks are beginning to show and Bond is an anachronism... or more likely John Gardner was the wrong man.

Wood references current events. This passage from JBAMR:

'I expect they're doing this kind of thing in their sleep these days.' The tone was pious and complacent. It intimated that the Moro kidnapping could never have taken place in Britain. If pressed for an opinion, Bond would have been less optimistic.

I'm all for it, a whole decade barely touched by Bond's literary adventures. Though I'm in two minds as to how successful such a concept would be in the long run. The 70s are simply not as popular as a period background and a large part of today's readership has no idea about the time and its events.

Sadly, you are right.

[glidrose]

It's interesting indeed that William Boyd is writing a James Bond novel set in 1969 - I hadn't kept up with the news on this as I've been busy exploring other areas of the James Bond phenomenon - perhaps the next step will be the 1970s - the era of detente, international terrorism, the Bader-Meinhof gang etc. - see TSWLM Anthony Burgerss et al scripts for a contemporary late-70s-set Bond adventure ideas. See also Christopher Wood's two 70s-set novelisations - many fans consider these two to be nearer to Fleming than either Gardner or Benson!

Our much-missed David Schofield thought Wood nearer to Fleming than even Amis!

[AMC Hornet]

I thinks that's excessive praise. Yes, I enjoyed and appreciated JBTSWLM, but I found the chapters as short as they were liberally sprinkled with similes.

On the plus side, I like how Wood made changes that made his book read like the novel that the film was based on, rather than vice-versa (which was actually the case).

JBAM was less successful, as he still had that bonkers script to adhere to. I also can't help but notice that both John Gardner's and Raymond Benson's first novelizations are vastly superior to their follow-ups, as they eventually realized that IFP didsn't seem to care about their quality - only wth meeting the deadline.

[glidrose]

I thinks that's excessive praise. Yes, I enjoyed and appreciated JBTSWLM, but I found the chapters as short as they were liberally sprinkled with similes.

Yep, he milks similes for all they're worth... which ain't much.

On the plus side, I like how Wood made changes that made his book read like the novel that the film was based on, rather than vice-versa (which was actually the case).

Exactly. You'd never know it was a novelisation.

JBAM was less successful, as he still had that bonkers script to adhere to.

...overplotted script to adhere to. No room for character development that made JBTSWLM so special.

I also can't help but notice that both John Gardner's and Raymond Benson's first novelizations are vastly superior to their follow-ups, as they eventually realized that IFP didsn't seem to care about their quality - only wth meeting the deadline.

EON, not IFP. Disagree with you about the Benson novelizations. Can't speak for Gardner who was getting on in years when he wrote GE, but Benson has made it clear that of the three films he novelized, he only liked TND.

[AMC Hornet]

Thanks for the correction, Glid - I wasn't sure who was responsible for the tie-in.

Benson's enthusiasm for TND was apparent, especially in his additional chapter chronicling Wei Lin's investigation.

TWINE seemed very bare bones, but I was hoping that DAD would be an event worth making an effort over. Unfortunately, Mr. Benson did not share my enthusiasm (perhaps he had already read the writing on the wall?).

[Dustin]

I'm afraid the tie-in business never was particularly suspect of producing literary highlights. The few examples I fondly remember already date back several decades. The sub-genre crawled into a dark corner around the time of GOLDENEYE, where it quietly died then, alone and mostly forgotten, at the turn of the century. The mourners remembered the deceased at a funeral party with a DVD marathon.