Amazon Kindle Store UKFor a series of books that have been described as being “anti-literary” Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels contain a surprising number of literary references whilst Bond himself, usually thought of as a man of action, is frequently depicted reading and books and libraries regularly feature as plot devices in the novels. Written by a contributor to Book & Magazine Collector magazine, The Books of Bond identifies these references which range from Eric Ambler to P. G. Wodehouse, taking in Ernest Hemingway, Mikhail Lermontov and the Marquis de Sade along the way, and examines their significance for the reader. As such this is a ”must read” for all Bond fans.
Contents: Introduction; What Bond reads; What Bond villains read; What Bond girls read; What other characters read; General literary references in the novels; The role of books and libraries in the novels
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While discussing 007's literary taste with a fellow fan I was trying to look up a few of the references I know Ian made and stumbled across this blog entry by the author. I have yet to read the book itself (delivered a moment ago to my kindle), it's not a big book, for me if it only had a list of references that alone would be useful to me. The author's rite up on his blog was fascinating to me, after Sebastian Faulks slammed Ian's 007 much the same as Terence Young did on 007's lack of reading as pass time, which I knew was incorrect, it's interesting to see what Bond did read and how he was stereotyped because of the movies.
For most, especially those familiar with him from his screen appearances, James Bond is a man of action – someone who acts rather than thinks. Indeed, Terence Young, who directed three of the first four Bond films once remarked “I have never seen Bond read or go to the theatre, or to a concert. I believe he is mentally weak.”. Similarly, Ian Fleming’s novels, which provided the original source material for the films, have been described by Nicholas Lezard in his introduction to The Blofeld Trilogy as “aggressively anti-literary”. I think this is overstating the case and a close reading of Fleming’s work reveals that Bond is depicted reading a surprising number of times, providing us with further insight into his character.