Now, here is something,
finally, that I’ve really wanted to do already since last August. You may ask now what kept me from doing so? Well, actually, reviewing one of Jim’s works is in itself a daunting prospect. Daunting, because there really, really is so much symbolism, so many allusions, such a trail of innuendo to be found in his pieces that you may read them five times and still can have the distinctive feeling to have missed a vital part of his intellectual cat-and-mouse play, finding yourself all of a sudden in the role of the mouse. Daunting, because his pieces are so excellently written that I feel…, no, not just feel, rather
am. Am incompetent to review them. Jim offers such a high level of literacy, such a playful easiness in his infinitely complex language, that there really is no question for me. I feel compelled to quit writing fanfic (ha, ha, big deal with barely three sentences under my belt!). Quit writing at all, even shopping lists. Quit for good and kill my time with a Playstation. I mean, what reason is there to keep on? Really, what reason? With Jim somewhere out there, casually punching out these, sometimes short, sometimes novel-length, gems? Bring me my Dual Shock Controller!
But first…
Look in my face; my name is might have been.(Dante Gabriel Rossetti)
What might have been? Indeed, what if…?
What if Fleming had lived on? Had managed to write some more Bond. Go beyond TMWTGG, or at least go beyond TMWTGG‘s chapter three, as some might have a case claiming the remaining thirteen chapters would have looked entirely different, had Fleming not been fatally ill. What would we have gotten? An older Bond? World-wearier? More cynical? We don’t know. All we can do is speculate.
Really? Well, for me speculating time is over. There is a Bond after TMWTGG, and even if his life isn’t chronicled by Fleming any more, it’s still very much Bond. And I think, once you’ve read ‘Skeletons of Yesterday’, you’ll agree with me. It’s Jim’s very own version, yet it also is Bond, beyond a doubt.
Now, in particular, what do I get in ‘Skeletons of Yesterday’?
You get:
A meditation on the subject of change in one of the best Bond-ponders-his-surroundings-in-general-and-life-in-particular scenes I’ve ever read (surpasses ‘Goldfinger’s IMHO)
An invitation to the canteen on the eighth floor of that tall grey building overlooking Regents Park (‘factory of deception and death‘, wonder what passers-by would make of that if the UNIVERSAL EXPORTS plate was replaced with
this description? ); a place normally not accessible to us ordinary mortals, where you can observe your tax money having its lunch break and cigarettes.
Another glimpse on the nature of Bond’s paperwork. A
disturbing glimpse, keeping the reader (and Bond) alternately intrigued, appalled and fascinated in equal measures; two back stories that itself are sufficient material for a novel.
A truly brilliant character study, based on appearance, bearing and language that is by and far one of the best supporting characters I’ve read about. A particularly nice touch is Bond’s immediate disgust on what he realizes could easily become himself in a matter of years. And his forgiving mildness towards the same character once he catches a glimpse of his past.
An ingenious little criminal plot that is all the more fascinating as the very same plot is played today in every supermarket between here and Hammersmith on
all of us!
The most unlikely confession scene in any Bond story, with M being the one confessing, Bond the confessor and an only too true WWII story the sin that needs more than just remission. Also a small indication of M’s WW
I experience in the Jutland battle.
A nasty little secret, kept so long in the cupboard that it easily might have become a skeleton over the years. And must become one now very fast.
A Bond covering his
. Not to aspire higher echelons of the service, but to stay in his current calling, fearing replacement. And ending up saving M’s in the bargain.
A Bond fearing a crisis in faith. Not his own, but M’s faith in his talents.
A Bond scrutinizing his own doubts, satisfied when he decides that these stem only from the details his mission forces upon him. Particularly fitting is the justification ‘He was only obeying orders.’. Most likely, that’s exactly what Stendahl might have said too.
A trip with the tube. Mind the gap!
A revelation. Almost an apparition. In a pair of sliced tyres.
And an end with a beginning.
You
also get:
A service that has finally arrived in the trite political reality, M busily covering his very own. An atmosphere of unwelcome change has invaded Bond’s world. And he feels challenged to secure his own place in this world by making himself useful. Useful in the only manner he knows for sure will buy him more time. There is a feeling of depression and deficiency hanging around in Bond’s thoughts. He realizes he may be in need of repair. But in this modern world, repair is no longer an option.
The mission he finally gets is not sufficient to console his current state of mind. Instead, he’s troubled that the chore he’s given his only a minor delivery. There is more to it than meets the eye though. And Bond really has to deal with
unexpected things. He does so routinely, even if you can feel a pounding in the temples that suggests anything but cold blood.
In the end Bond finds an excuse. No solace, no salvation. But an excuse. That’s all Bond really needed in the first place.
‘Skeletons of Yesterday’ is a great read. It’s filled to the brim with ingenious little hints most of which I probably missed (see Stendahl/scarlet-black ribbon; thx for the tip!) or misunderstood (the Flagrante in Edgware Road, is it a Chapman/Agent Zigzag reference?), with a rich educated voice that compliments Fleming’s own without condescension or travesty. I’m not exactly able to nail it down with a citation for it‘s certainly not the language, but at times I feel also reminded of Graham Greene. Is it the emphasis on internal life, the sense for omnipresent sin, human deficiency, the religous metaphors? Can’t really put a finger on it. Perhaps all of the above, or nothing.
Anyway, I
enormously enjoyed ’Skeletons of Yesterday’. It opens doors, answers questions, shows previously unseen, unsuspected sides of Bond and his world. But actually, it asks more questions than it answers. In showing new sides it also hints at shades in the shadows, in the darkness. It really keeps you wondering. About the tube, about the fate of Stendahl. Most of all, about
The Beginning