In Bond, he created a Bulldog Drummond for the jet age." Umberto Eco considered Mickey Spillane to have been another major influence. In May 1963 Fleming wrote a piece for "Books and Bookmen" magazine in which he described his approach to writing Bond books: "I write for about three hours in the morning ... and I do another hour's work between six and seven in the evening. I never correct anything and I never go back to see what I have written ... By following my formula, you write 2,000 words a day." Benson identified what he described as the "Fleming Sweep", the use of "hooks" at the end of chapters to heighten tension and pull the reader into the next.
Style and technique
Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming | Style and technique
He used to write for about three hours in the morning and another hour between six and seven in the evening. He would never correct anything and I never go back to see what he had written. Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context. Benson identified what he described as the "Fleming Sweep", the use of "hooks" at the end of chapters to heighten tension and pull the reader into the next. Fleming said of his work, "while thrillers may not be Literature with a capital L, it is possible to write what I can best describe as 'thrillers designed to be read as literature.
who was the james bond character based on
user
A number of elements had a real-life background, taken from people whom the author knew or events he was aware of. Some aspects of the character and tastes replicate those of the author himself.
assistant
what is the inspiration behind the specific number used to refer to the character?
user
It was assigned by the author in reference to one of British naval intelligence's key achievements of World War I and helped in breaking the German diplomatic code.
assistant
which movies does this character appear in?
user
"Dr. No”, "You Only Live Twice”, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service” and "Diamonds Are Forever” are some of them.
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are these movies based on any novel?
user
"Dr. No” is based on the 1958 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming.
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who is this author?
user
Ian Fleming
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did he fight in any war?
user
Yes, the "Second World War".
assistant
when did he start writing the novels?
user
1952
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anything significant about the style in which he wrote?
user
In Bond, he created a Bulldog Drummond for the jet age." Umberto Eco considered Mickey Spillane to have been another major influence. In May 1963 Fleming wrote a piece for "Books and Bookmen" magazine in which he described his approach to writing Bond books: "I write for about three hours in the morning ... and I do another hour's work between six and seven in the evening. I never correct anything and I never go back to see what I have written ... By following my formula, you write 2,000 words a day." Benson identified what he described as the "Fleming Sweep", the use of "hooks" at the end of chapters to heighten tension and pull the reader into the next.
Ian Fleming | Style and technique
Fleming said of his work, "while thrillers may not be Literature with a capital L, it is possible to write what I can best describe as 'thrillers designed to be read as literature. He named Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Eric Ambler and Graham Greene as influences. William Cook in the "New Statesman" considered James Bond to be "the culmination of an important but much-maligned tradition in English literature. As a boy, Fleming devoured the Bulldog Drummond tales of Lieutenant Colonel H. C. McNeile (aka "Sapper") and the Richard Hannay stories of John Buchan. His genius was to repackage these antiquated adventures to fit the fashion of postwar Britain ...
Ian Fleming | Style and technique
The author Raymond Benson, who later wrote a series of Bond novels, noted that Fleming's books fall into two stylistic periods. Those books written between 1953 and 1960 tend to concentrate on "mood, character development, and plot advancement", while those released between 1961 and 1966 incorporate more detail and imagery. Benson argues that Fleming had become "a master storyteller" by the time he wrote "Thunderball" in 1961. Jeremy Black divides the series based on the villains Fleming created, a division supported by fellow academic Christoph Lindner. Thus the early books from "Casino Royale" to "For Your Eyes Only" are classed as "Cold War stories", with SMERSH as the antagonists.
Ian Fleming | Writing
The hooks combine with what the novelist Anthony Burgess calls "a heightened journalistic style" to produce "a speed of narrative, which hustles the reader past each danger point of mockery". The semiotician and essayist, Umberto Eco, in his 1979 examination of the Bond books, "The Narrative Structure of Ian Fleming", considered that Fleming "has a rhythm, a polish, a certain sensuous feeling for words. That is not to say that Fleming is an artist; yet he writes with art." When examining the passage relating to the death of Le Chiffre, Eco wrote that "there is a ... baroque feeling for the image, a total adaptation off the image without emotional comment, and a use of words that designate things with accuracy", and he went on to conclude that "Fleming is more literate than he gives one to understand."
Casino Royale (novel) | Style
Fleming had first mentioned to friends during the war that he wanted to write a spy novel, an ambition he achieved within two months with "Casino Royale". He started writing the book at Goldeneye on 17 February 1952, gaining inspiration from his own experiences and imagination. He claimed afterwards that he wrote the novel to distract himself from his forthcoming wedding to the pregnant Charteris, and called the work his "dreadful oafish opus". His manuscript was typed in London by Joan Howe (mother of travel writer Rory MacLean), and Fleming's red-haired secretary at "The Times" on whom the character Miss Moneypenny was partially based.
Ian Fleming | 1950s
The hooks combine with what Anthony Burgess calls "a heightened journalistic style" to produce "a speed of narrative, which hustles the reader past each danger point of mockery". Umberto Eco analysed Fleming's works from a Structuralist point of view, and identified a series of oppositions within the storylines that provide structure and narrative, including:
Ian Fleming | Style and technique
During World War II, Ian Fleming had mentioned to friends that he wanted to write a spy novel, but it was not until 17 February 1952 that he began to write his first novel, "Casino Royale". He started writing his book at his Jamaican home Goldeneye, typing out 2,000 words in the morning, directly from his own experiences and imagination; he finished work on the manuscript in just over two months, completing it on 18 March 1952. Publishers Jonathan Cape were initially reluctant to publish the book, but were persuaded by Fleming's brother Peter (1907–1971), who had previously published material through them.
List of James Bond novels and short stories | Ian Fleming
The central figure in Ian Fleming's work is the fictional character of James Bond, an intelligence officer in the "Secret Service". Bond is also known by the code number 007 and, like Fleming, was portrayed as a Commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and World War II veteran. During World War II, Ian Fleming had mentioned to friends that he wanted to write a spy novel. It was not until 1952, however, shortly before his wedding to his pregnant girlfriend, Ann Charteris, that Fleming began to write "Casino Royale", to distract himself from his forthcoming nuptials. Fleming started writing his first book, "Casino Royale", at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica on 17 February 1952, typing out 2,000 words in the morning, directly from his own experiences and imagination.
James Bond (literary character) | Fleming's concept of Bond
Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British author, journalist and naval intelligence officer who is best known for his James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing. While working for Britain's Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War, Fleming was involved in planning Operation Goldeneye and in the planning and oversight of two intelligence units, 30 Assault Unit and T-Force.
Ian Fleming | Introduction
By January 1956, Ian Fleming had published three novels—"Casino Royale" in 1953, "Live and Let Die" in 1954 and "Moonraker" in 1955. A fourth, "Diamonds Are Forever", was being edited and prepared for production. That month Fleming travelled to his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica to write "From Russia, with Love". He followed his usual practice, which he later outlined in "Books and Bookmen" magazine: "I write for about three hours in the morning ... and I do another hour's work between six and seven in the evening. I never correct anything and I never go back to see what I have written ...
From Russia, with Love (novel) | Background and writing history
Plomer liked it and submitted it to the publishers, Jonathan Cape, who did not like it as much. Cape finally published it in 1953 on the recommendation of Fleming's older brother Peter, an established travel writer. Between 1953 and 1966, two years after his death, twelve novels and two short-story collections were published, with the last two books – "The Man with the Golden Gun" and "Octopussy and The Living Daylights" – published posthumously. All the books were published in the UK through Jonathan Cape.
James Bond | Ian Fleming novels
In thriller writing, Ian Fleming created the character James Bond 007 in January 1952, while on holiday at his Jamaican estate, Goldeneye. Fleming chronicled Bond's adventures in twelve novels, including "Casino Royale" (1953), "Live and Let Die" (1954), "Dr. No" (1958), "Goldfinger" (1959), "Thunderball" (1961), "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1962), and nine short story works. In contrast to the larger-than-life spy capers of Bond, John le Carré was an author of spy novels who depicted a shadowy world of espionage and counter-espionage, and his best known novel "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" (1963), is often regarded as one of the greatest in the genre.
Genre fiction | Later 20th-century
Ian Fleming (1908–1964) was a British author, creator of James Bond. Ian Fleming may also refer to:
Ian Fleming (disambiguation) | Introduction
In the summer of 1958, CBS television commissioned Fleming to write episodes of a television show based on the James Bond character. This deal came about after the success of the 1954 television adaptation of "Casino Royale" as an episode of the CBS television series "Climax!". Fleming agreed to the deal, and began to write outlines for the series; however, CBS later dropped the idea. In January and February 1959 Fleming adapted four of these television plots into short stories at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica and added a fifth story he had written in the summer of 1958. Fleming biographer Andrew Lycett noted that at the time Fleming was writing both the television scripts, and the short story collection, "Ian's mood of weariness and self-doubt was beginning to affect his writing" and this can be seen in Bond's internal monologue of thoughts.
For Your Eyes Only (short story collection) | Background
Whilst serving in the Naval Intelligence Division, Fleming had planned to become an author and had told a friend, "I am going to write the spy story to end all spy stories." On 17 February 1952, he began writing his first James Bond novel, "Casino Royale", at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica, where he wrote all his Bond novels during the months of January and February each year. He started the story shortly before his wedding to his pregnant girlfriend, Ann Charteris, in order to distract himself from his forthcoming nuptials. After completing the manuscript for "Casino Royale", Fleming showed it to his friend (and later editor) William Plomer to read.
James Bond | Ian Fleming novels
Ian Fleming wrote "The Man with the Golden Gun" at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica in January and February 1964, completing it by the beginning of March. His health affected him badly during the writing process and he dropped from his usual rate of two thousand words a morning to a little over an hour's worth of work a day. As with his previous novels, Fleming used events from his past as elements in his novel. Whilst at Kitzbühel in the 1930s, Fleming's car, a Standard Tourer, had been struck by a train at a level crossing and he had been dragged fifty yards down the track.
The Man with the Golden Gun (novel) | Background
In the late 1950s the author Geoffrey Jenkins had suggested to Fleming that he write a Bond novel set in South Africa, and sent him his own idea for a plot outline which, according to Jenkins, Fleming felt had great potential. After Fleming's death, Jenkins was commissioned by Bond publishers Glidrose Productions to write a continuation Bond novel, "Per Fine Ounce", but it was never published. Starting with Kingsley Amis's "Colonel Sun", under the pseudonym "Robert Markham" in 1968, several authors have been commissioned to write Bond novels, including Sebastian Faulks, who was asked by Ian Fleming Publications to write a new Bond novel in observance of what would have been Fleming's 100th birthday in 2008.
Ian Fleming | Legacy
Once Fleming and his wife arrived at Goldeneye, he started work on the second Bond novel. In May 1963 he wrote an article for "Books and Bookmen" magazine describing his approach to writing, in which he said: "I write for about three hours in the morning ... and I do another hour's work between six and seven in the evening. I never correct anything and I never go back to see what I have written ... By following my formula, you write 2,000 words a day." As he had done with "Casino Royale", Fleming showed the manuscript to his friend, the writer William Plomer, who reacted favourably to the story, telling Fleming that "the new book held this reader like a limpet mine & the denouement was shattering".
Live and Let Die (novel) | Background
In a 1962 interview in "The New Yorker", he further explained: "When I wrote the first one in 1953, I wanted Bond to be an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened; I wanted him to be a blunt instrument ... when I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God, [James Bond] is the dullest name I ever heard." Fleming based his creation on individuals he met during his time in the Naval Intelligence Division, and admitted that Bond "was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war".
Ian Fleming | 1950s
On the morning of 17 February 1952, Ian Fleming started writing what would become his first book, "Casino Royale", at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. He typed out 2,000 words in the morning, directly from his own experiences and imagination and finished work on the manuscript in just over a month, completing it on 18 March 1952. Fleming took the name for his character from that of the American ornithologist James Bond, a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide "Birds of the West Indies"; Fleming, a keen birdwatcher himself, had a copy of Bond's guide and he later explained to the ornithologist's wife that "It struck me that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born".
Inspirations for James Bond | Origins of the name
Fleming also wrote the children's story "Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang" and two works of non-fiction. In 2008, "The Times" ranked Fleming 14th on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Ian Fleming | Introduction
In 1979, Glidrose Publications (now Ian Fleming Publications) approached Gardner and asked him to revive Ian Fleming's James Bond series of novels. Between 1981 and 1996, Gardner wrote fourteen James Bond novels, and the novelizations of two Bond films. Gardner stated that he wanted "to bring Mr Bond into the 1980s", although he retained the ages of the characters as they were when Fleming had left them. Even though Gardner kept the ages the same, he made Bond grey at the temples as a nod to the passing of the years. With the influence of the American publishers, Putnam's, the Gardner novels showed an increase in the number of Americanisms used in the book, such as a waiter wearing "pants", rather than trousers, in "The Man from Barbarossa".
John Gardner (British writer) | Writing career
In January 1954 Fleming and his wife, Ann, travelled to their Goldeneye estate in Jamaica for their annual two-month holiday. He had already written two Bond novels, "Casino Royale", which had been published in April 1953, and "Live and Let Die", whose publication was imminent. He began writing "Moonraker" on his arrival in the Caribbean. He later wrote an article for "Books and Bookmen" magazine describing his approach to writing, in which he said: "I write for about three hours in the morning ... and I do another hour's work between six and seven in the evening. I never correct anything and I never go back to see what I have written ...
Moonraker (novel) | Background and writing history
By January 1958 the author Ian Fleming had published five novels in the preceding five years: "Casino Royale" in 1953, "Live and Let Die" (1954), "Moonraker" (1955), "Diamonds Are Forever" (1956) and "From Russia, with Love" in 1957. A fifth, "Dr. No", was being edited and prepared for production. That month Fleming travelled to his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica to write "Goldfinger". He followed his usual practice, which he later outlined in "Books and Bookmen" magazine: "I write for about three hours in the morning ... and I do another hour's work between six and seven in the evening. I never correct anything and I never go back to see what I have written ...
Goldfinger (novel) | Background and writing history
Benson analysed Fleming's writing style and identified what he described as the "Fleming Sweep": a stylistic technique that sweeps the reader from one chapter to another using 'hooks' at the end of each chapter to heighten tension and pull the reader into the next: Benson feels that the sweep in "Moonraker" was not as pronounced as Fleming's previous works, largely due to the lack of action sequences in the novel. According to the literary analyst LeRoy L. Panek, in his examination of 20th-century British spy novels, in "Moonraker" Fleming uses a technique closer to the detective story than to the thriller genre.
Moonraker (novel) | Style
The publishers had passed the manuscript to Kingsley Amis to read on holiday, but did not use his suggestions. Fleming's biographer Henry Chandler observes that the novel "received polite and rather sad reviews, recognising that the book had effectively been left half-finished, and as such did not represent Fleming at the top of his game". The final Bond book, containing two short stories, "Octopussy and The Living Daylights", was published in Britain on 23 June 1966. In October 1975 Fleming's son Caspar, aged 23, committed suicide by drug overdose and was buried with his father. Fleming's widow, Ann, died in 1981 and was buried with her husband and their son.
Ian Fleming | Death
His wartime service and his career as a journalist provided much of the background, detail and depth of the James Bond novels. Fleming wrote his first Bond novel, "Casino Royale", in 1952. It was a success, with three print runs being commissioned to cope with the demand. Eleven Bond novels and two collections of short stories followed between 1953 and 1966. The novels revolve around James Bond, an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond is also known by his code number, 007, and was a commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. The Bond stories rank among the best-selling series of fictional books of all time, having sold over 100 million copies worldwide.
Ian Fleming | Introduction
Benson analysed Fleming's writing style and identified what he described as the "Fleming Sweep": a stylistic point that sweeps the reader from one chapter to another using 'hooks' at the end of chapters to heighten tension and pull the reader into the next: Benson felt that the "Fleming Sweep never achieves a more engaging rhythm and flow" than in "Live and Let Die". The writer and academic Kingsley Amis—who also later wrote a Bond novel—disagrees, and thinks that the story has "less narrative sweep than most". Fleming's biographer, Matthew Parker, considers the novel possibly Fleming's best, as it has a tight plot and is well paced throughout; he thinks the book "establishes the winning formula" for the stories that follow.
Live and Let Die (novel) | Style
Among those types were his brother Peter, whom he worshipped, and who had been involved in behind-the-lines operations in Norway and Greece during the war. Fleming envisaged that Bond would resemble the composer, singer and actor Hoagy Carmichael; others, such as author and historian Ben Macintyre, identify aspects of Fleming's own looks in his description of Bond. General references in the novels describe Bond as having "dark, rather cruel good looks".
Ian Fleming | 1950s
Working at Goldeneye between January and March 1960, Fleming wrote the novel "Thunderball", based on the screenplay written by himself, Whittingham and McClory. In March 1961 McClory read an advance copy, and he and Whittingham immediately petitioned the High Court in London for an injunction to stop publication. After two court actions, the second in November 1961, Fleming offered McClory a deal, settling out of court. McClory gained the literary and film rights for the screenplay, while Fleming was given the rights to the novel, provided it was acknowledged as "based on a screen treatment by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham and the Author".
Ian Fleming | 1960s
Among important writers of genre fiction in the second half of the twentieth-century are thriller writer Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond 007. Fleming chronicled Bond's adventures in twelve novels, including "Casino Royale" (1953). In contrast to the larger-than-life spy capers of Bond, John le Carré was an author of spy novels who depicted a shadowy world of espionage and counter-espionage, and his best known novel "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" (1963), is often regarded as one of the greatest in the genre. Frederick Forsyth writes thriller novels and Ken Follett writes spy thrillers as well as historical novels, notably "The Pillars of the Earth" (1989).
British literature | Later twentieth-century
Confidential" by more than one hundred pages. Rather than removing any subplots, Ellroy abbreviated the novel by cutting every unnecessary word from every sentence, creating a unique style of prose. While each sentence on its own is simple, the cumulative effect is a dense, baroque style.
James Ellroy | Writing style
After Ian Fleming's death, Glidrose Productions commissioned Jenkins to write a James Bond novel in 1966. Jenkins claimed that he and Fleming together developed a diamond-smuggling storyline in 1957. After a long period of negotiation, during which Ann Fleming (Ian's widow) raised several objections to the idea of a continuation novel, Jenkins finished the manuscript for Glidrose entitled "Per Fine Ounce", but it was rejected. The novel is believed lost, except for 18 pages now in the hands of Jenkins' son David. Two pages have been released to the public and were exclusively published by the James Bond website MI6-HQ.com.
Geoffrey Jenkins | James Bond
After the publication of "Casino Royale", Fleming used his annual holiday at his house in Jamaica to write another "Bond" story; in total, between 1953 and 1966, two years after his death, twelve "Bond" novels and two short-story collections were published, with the last two books—"The Man with the Golden Gun" and "Octopussy and The Living Daylights"—published posthumously.
List of James Bond novels and short stories | Ian Fleming
In June 1956 the author Ian Fleming began a collaboration with the producer Henry Morgenthau III on a planned television series, "Commander Jamaica", which was to feature the Caribbean-based character James Gunn. When the project foundered, and Fleming could not fashion a new plot for his next Bond novel, he used the idea as the basis for "Dr. No". By January 1957 he had published four Bond novels in successive years from 1953—"Casino Royale", "Live and Let Die", "Moonraker" and "Diamonds Are Forever". A fifth, "From Russia, with Love", was being edited and prepared for production. That month Fleming travelled to his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica to write "Dr.
Dr. No (novel) | Background and writing history
Being a writer for over 50 years, Bond experimented with different genres; early works include fiction, short stories, novella with some being autobiographical. Later, he tried out non-fiction, romance and books for children. He said his favourite genres are essays and short stories. He considers himself a "visual writer" because for short stories, he first imagines it like a film and then notes it down. For an essay or travelogue, such planning is not needed for him. He feels the unexpected there makes it more exciting. Bond likes "Just William" by Richmal Crompton, "Billy Bunter" by Charles Hamilton and classics such as "Alice in Wonderland" and works by Charles Dickens and Mark Twain.
Ruskin Bond | Literary style
Fleming later said of his work, "while thrillers may not be Literature with a capital L, it is possible to write what I can best describe as 'thrillers designed to be read as literature. He used well-known brand names and everyday details to produce a sense of realism, which the author Kingsley Amis called "the Fleming effect". Amis describes it as "the imaginative use of information, whereby the pervading fantastic nature of Bond's world ... [is] bolted down to some sort of reality, or at least counter-balanced." Within the text the novelist Raymond Benson—who later wrote a series of Bond novels—identifies what he described as the "Fleming Sweep", the use of "hooks" at the end of chapters to heighten tension and pull the reader into the next.
Casino Royale (novel) | Style
In his apprentice years, culminating with the masterwork "The Portrait of a Lady", his style was simple and direct (by the standards of Victorian magazine writing) and he experimented widely with forms and methods, generally narrating from a conventionally omniscient point of view. Plots generally concern romance, except for the three big novels of social commentary that conclude this period. In the second period, as noted above, he abandoned the serialized novel and from 1890 to about 1897, he wrote short stories and plays. Finally, in his third and last period he returned to the long, serialised novel. Beginning in the second period, but most noticeably in the third, he increasingly abandoned direct statement in favour of frequent double negatives, and complex descriptive imagery.
Henry James | Style and themes
No". He followed his usual practice, which he later outlined in "Books and Bookmen" magazine: "I write for about three hours in the morning ... and I do another hour's work between six and seven in the evening. I never correct anything and I never go back to see what I have written ... By following my formula, you write 2,000 words a day." By the time he returned to London in late February, he had completed a 206-page first draft, which he initially titled "The Wound Man". Although Fleming did not date the event within his novels, John Griswold and Henry Chancellor—both of whom wrote books for Ian Fleming Publications—have identified different timelines based on events and situations within the novel series as a whole.
Dr. No (novel) | Background and writing history
Philip Larkin wrote in "The Spectator", "I am not surprised that Fleming preferred to write novels. James Bond, unlike Sherlock Holmes, does not fit snugly into the short-story length: there is something grandiose and intercontinental about his adventures that require elbow room and such examples of the form as we have tend to be eccentric or muted. These are no exception." The critic for "The Times Literary Supplement" wrote that the book was "slight and predictable, and usual sex and violence yield to a plausible use of ballistics and marine biology". Writing in "The Listener", Anthony Burgess thought that "in their fascinated poring on "things"...remind us that the stuff of the anti-novel needn't necessarily spring from a thought-out aesthetic", going on to note that "it is the mastery of the world that gives Fleming his peculiar literary niche".
Octopussy and The Living Daylights | Reviews
Fleming used known brand names and everyday details to produce a sense of realism, which Amis calls "the Fleming effect". Amis describes "the imaginative use of information, whereby the pervading fantastic nature of Bond's world ... [is] bolted down to some sort of reality, or at least counter-balanced."
From Russia, with Love (novel) | Style
Other sources include the formative influence of writer Alfred Bester, and a love for the Flash Gordon RKO Radio serials, and his early exposure to the cinematic medium in general which he feels lent a narrative quality to his work, as well as, of course, the every day world itself:
Ian Miller (illustrator) | Style and technique
Maugham used his spying experiences as the basis for "", a collection of short stories about a gentlemanly, sophisticated, aloof spy. This character is considered to have influenced Ian Fleming's later series of "James Bond" novels. In 1922, Maugham dedicated his book "On A Chinese Screen" to Syrie. This was a collection of 58 ultra-short story sketches, which he had written during his 1920 travels through China and Hong Kong, intending to expand the sketches later as a book.
Somerset Maugham | Intelligence work
It was a success and three print runs were needed to cope with the demand. The novel centres on the exploits of James Bond, an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond is also known by his code number, 007, and was a commander in the Royal Naval Reserve. Fleming took the name for his character from that of the American ornithologist James Bond, an expert on Caribbean birds and author of the definitive field guide "Birds of the West Indies". Fleming, himself a keen birdwatcher, had a copy of Bond's guide, and later told the ornithologist's wife, "that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born".
Ian Fleming | 1950s
According to Higson, Fleming spent the first four novels changing the style of his books, and his approach to his characters, but in "From Russia, with Love" the author "finally hits on the classic Bond formula, and he happily moved into his most creative phase". The literary analyst LeRoy L. Panek observes that the previous novels were, in essence, episodic detective stories, while "From Russia, with Love" is structured differently, with an "extended opening picture" that describes Grant, the Russians and Romanova before moving onto the main story and then bringing back some of the elements when least expected. The extensive prose that describes the Soviet opponents and the background to the mission takes up the first ten chapters of the book; Bond comes into the story in chapter eleven.
From Russia, with Love (novel) | Style
In "From Russia, with Love" Fleming experimented with an unusual narrative structure that saw Bond's entry into the story delayed until chapter eleven. For "Dr. No" he returned to the conventional form with which he felt comfortable—that of the thriller writers of the early 20th century. As a result, the story's villain is closer to the intellectual "gentleman crook" of the golden age of detective fiction, and the novel's focus is on action at the expense of character development and depth of plot. Benson describes the "Fleming Sweep" as taking the reader from one chapter to another using "hooks" at the end of chapters to heighten tension and pull the reader onto the next.
Dr. No (novel) | Style
Living in Asolo near Venice, Honour and Fleming began a highly productive writing and publishing partnership, in which Fleming managed the business side of their enterprise and Honour wrote the books. They were commissioned by publisher Allen Lane to edit the "Style and Civilisation" series (begun 1967), which was published by Penguin Books. Under Honour's editorial guidance, the "Style and Civilisation" series published in quick succession a group of texts that have attained the status of classics, including John Shearman's "Mannerism", George Henderson's "Gothic", and Linda Nochlin's "Realism". Honour's contribution, the highly regarded "Neo-Classicism" (1968), single-handedly resuscitated the scholarly reputation of the period, which been despised or ignored during the modernist ascendancy.
Hugh Honour | Life in Italy
He feels that the "Fleming Sweep briskly propels the plot" of "Dr. No" through chapters that are longer than in previous Bond novels; the cultural historian Jeremy Black also likes "Dr. No"s pacing, despite considering it inconsistent in places. Winder believes that the novel's plotting is chaotic, although he still feels the book "can be read over and over again with immense pleasure". Fleming used known brand names and everyday details to produce a sense of realism, which the writer Kingsley Amis calls "the Fleming effect". Amis describes "the imaginative use of information, whereby the pervading fantastic nature of Bond's world ...
Dr. No (novel) | Style
In 1960 Fleming was commissioned by the Kuwait Oil Company to write a book on the country and its oil industry. The Kuwaiti Government disapproved of the typescript, "State of Excitement: Impressions of Kuwait", and it was never published. According to Fleming: "The Oil Company expressed approval of the book but felt it their duty to submit the typescript to members of the Kuwait Government for their approval. The Sheikhs concerned found unpalatable certain mild comments and criticisms and particularly the passages referring to the adventurous past of the country which now wishes to be 'civilised' in every respect and forget its romantic origins." Fleming followed the disappointment of "For Your Eyes Only" with "Thunderball", the novelization of a film script on which he had worked with others.
Ian Fleming | 1960s
In early 1971, after finishing "Tales of Mystery and Imagination", Vera began transcribing a full-length novel by Maugham. This too, Peter Fleming read. Fleming remarked that "the highly regarded author's style has changed sharply since his death in 1965." Having written several thousand words, Vera ceased transcribing the work when her husband - who had been ailing for some time - died in February 1971. Journalist Ron Speer believes the death of Vera's husband is "perhaps fortunate from a literary standpoint". Thereafter she exclusively devoted her automatic writing to corresponding with her deceased husband.
Take Over (James Bond) | W. Somerset Maugham ghost novel
These were followed by Blofeld and SPECTRE as Bond's opponents in the three novels "Thunderball", "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and "You Only Live Twice", after the thawing of East–West relations. Black and Lindner classify the remaining books—"The Man with the Golden Gun", "Octopussy and The Living Daylights" and "The Spy Who Loved Me"—as "the later Fleming stories".
Ian Fleming | Writing
The Mysterious Affair at Styles is a detective novel by British writer Agatha Christie. It was written in the middle of the First World War, in 1916, and first published by John Lane in the United States in October 1920 and in the United Kingdom by The Bodley Head (John Lane's UK company) on 21 January 1921. "Styles" was Christie's first published novel. It introduced Hercule Poirot, Inspector (later, Chief Inspector) Japp, and Arthur Hastings. Poirot, a Belgian refugee of the Great War, is settling in England near the home of Emily Inglethorp, who helped him to his new life.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles | Introduction
It had no hand, no wrist, no wrist watch." Eco considers that this is "not just an example of macabre sarcasm; it is an emphasis on the essential by the inessential, typical of the ""." Benson considers that Fleming's experiences as a journalist, and his eye for detail, add to the verisimilitude displayed in the novel.
Live and Let Die (novel) | Style
In the early 1960s MacLean published two novels under the pseudonym "Ian Stuart" in order to prove that the popularity of his books was due to their content rather than his name on the cover. These were "The Dark Crusader" (1961) and "The Satan Bug" (1962). He also said it was because "I usually write adventure stories. But this is a sort of Secret Service or private eye book. I didn't want to confuse my readers." The Ian Start books sold well, and MacLean made no attempt to change his writing style. He also continued to publish novels under his own name such as "The Golden Rendezvous" (1962) and "Ice Station Zebra" (1963).
Alistair MacLean | Ian Stuart
For the most part, the novel is written in Ellis' trademark writing style; Lawson refers to this as "sexual and narcotic depravities in an emotionless tone." With regard to this style, Ellis cites precursors to himself, particular the work of filmmakers. Ellis feels that the technique itself gives the reader a unique kind of insight into the characters, and comments that "numbness is a feeling too. Emotionality isn't the only feeling there is." In terms of style, Ellis told "Vice" that he enjoyed his return to minimalism, because of the challenge of "[t]rying to achieve that kind of tension with so few words was enjoyable to do." While some reviewers of popular fiction derided Ellis's style as "flat", others found it unexpectedly moving.
Imperial Bedrooms | Writing style
On 11 April 2012 it was announced that William Boyd would write the next James Bond novel, entitled "Solo", set at the end of the 1960s. The novel was released in the United Kingdom on 26 September 2013, and in the United States and Canada on 8 October 2013.
Ian Fleming Publications | by William Boyd
John Fleming (12 June 1919 – 29 May 2001) was a British art historian, known for his writing partnership with Hugh Honour. Their "A World History of Art" (aka, "The Visual Arts: A History"), first published in 1982, is now in its seventh edition. Fleming's "Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh and Rome" (1961) won the Bannister Fletcher Prize and the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medal.
John Fleming (art historian) | Introduction
The novel centred on the exploits of James Bond, an intelligence officer in the 00 section of the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond was also known by his code number, 007, and was a Royal Naval Reserve Commander. Fleming took the name for his character from that of the eponymous American ornithologist, a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide "Birds of the West Indies". Fleming based his creation on a number of individuals he came across during his time in the Naval Intelligence Division during World War II, admitting that Bond "was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war".
List of James Bond novels and short stories | Ian Fleming
Fleming was an elegant left handed batsman and played shots such as the flick off the pads, straight drive, cover drive and cut shots. He was also a clever captain and his field placings for many batsmen like Damien Martyn at point and aggressive captaincy made the opposition struggle for their runs. He was also a prolific slip catcher and fielded well in close-in positions.
Stephen Fleming | Playing style
Stephenson chose not to adapt period language for the entire text; instead he allowed such language to enter his writing when it was appropriate, often turning to modern English and modern labels for ideas familiar to modern readers. Stephenson said "I never tried to entertain the illusion that I was going to write something that had no trace of the 20th or the 21st century in it."
Quicksilver (novel) | Style
I don't know how you get along so fast with the traffic on the roads these days." Fleming was buried in the churchyard of Sevenhampton, near Swindon. His will was proved on 4 November, with his estate valued at £302,147 (equivalent to £ in ). Fleming's last two books, "The Man with the Golden Gun" and "Octopussy and The Living Daylights", were published posthumously. "The Man with the Golden Gun" was published eight months after Fleming's death and had not been through the full editing process by Fleming. As a result, the novel was thought by publishing company Jonathan Cape to be thin and "feeble".
Ian Fleming | Death
partly guys academic procedures and pretensions by applying them to low-cultural objects' and, as such, is deliberately provocative. In that context, the "Dossier" can ' ... look like a cheeky two-fingered salute to the academic world, a farewell raspberry blown at all things pedantically donnish, in a manner Lucky Jim would surely have approved. For to Ian Fleming's "œuvre" Amis brought the anatomising and categorising zeal he never had devoted and never would devote to more elevated works of literature'.
The James Bond Dossier | History
He also relied upon illustrations and political events from that time period which were difficult to discern.
William Lyon Mackenzie | Writing style
When the Flemings returned to Toronto in May 1955, Allan set up as a freelance designer with illustrator Lewis Parker and taught part-time at the Ontario College of Art. He became head of typography at the college, a post he held until 1961. He also set up an independent graphic design studio in his home in November 1955, hiring his then student, Ken Rodmell, as his assistant a year later. It was in this period that Fleming designed his first book. In September 1957 Fleming joined Cooper & Beatty Typesetters as typographic director and designer. The range and flair of the work he effected for C&B garnered attention internationally, and brought in a host of awards from the New York Art Directors Club, the Type Directors Club of New York, and the AIGA among others.
Allan Fleming | Getting Established
In my house in London, I followed this routine exactly, apart from the cocktails, the lunch and the snorkelling." The novel carried the unusual credit of "Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming" and Faulks described how—using Fleming's article—he had employed the same style as Fleming did in his novels: "it's standard journalistic: no semicolons, few adverbs, few adjectives, short sentences, a lot of verbs, a lot of concrete nouns. These are the tools, and that's literally the style." Faulks also commented that "some people find it perplexing but I think the way that the book has been presented ... is a clever way of showing that it is not my book, although, of course, it is my book." A large part of "Devil May Care" is set in Persia (now Iran); it was an area Fleming had not previously dealt with in his Bond novels, describing it as "full of thieves and crooks".
Devil May Care (Faulks novel) | Background
On 13 April 1953 "Casino Royale" was released in the UK in hardcover, priced at 10s, 6d, with a cover that had been devised by Fleming himself. The first edition of 4,728 copies of "Casino Royale" sold out in less than a month; a second print run the same month also sold out, as did a third run of more than 8,000 books published in May 1954. At the time, Fleming was the Foreign Manager for Kemsley Newspapers, an organisation which owned "The Sunday Times". Upon accepting the job, Fleming requested that he be allowed three months' holiday per year, which allowed him the freedom to write.
List of James Bond novels and short stories | Ian Fleming
Fleming was born in Berwick-upon-Tweed, the son of a local Solicitor. He was educated at Rugby School and read English at Trinity College, Cambridge where he met Hugh Honour, who would become Fleming's life partner. He travelled to Italy and during World War II was briefly a conscientious objector before entering the British Army Intelligence Corps in Cairo. There he began to write about art with the encouragement of Nikolaus Pevsner. Living in Asolo near Venice, Honour and Fleming began a productive writing partnership. They were commissioned by publisher Allen Lane to edit the "Style and Civilisation" series (begun 1967); the "Architect and Society" series (begun 1966); and the "Art in Context" series (begun 1972).
John Fleming (art historian) | Biography
The James Bond literary franchise is a series of novels and short stories, first published in 1953 by Ian Fleming, a British author, journalist, and former naval intelligence officer. James Bond, often referred to by his code name, 007, is a British Secret Service agent; the character was created by journalist and author Ian Fleming, and first appeared in his 1953 novel "Casino Royale"; the books are set in a contemporary period, between May 1951 and February 1964. Fleming went on to write a total of twelve novels and two collections of short stories, all written at his Jamaican home Goldeneye and published annually.
List of James Bond novels and short stories | Introduction
He finished work on the manuscript in just over a month, completing it on 18 March 1952. Describing the work as his "dreadful oafish opus", Fleming showed it to an ex-girlfriend, Clare Blanchard, who advised him not to publish it at all, but that if he did so, it should be under another name. Despite that advice, Fleming went on to write a total of twelve Bond novels and two short story collections; he died on the morning of 12 August 1964. The last two books—"The Man with the Golden Gun" and "Octopussy and The Living Daylights"—were published posthumously.
James Bond (literary character) | Fleming's concept of Bond
During the Second World War Fleming was the personal assistant to the director of the Naval Intelligence Division, Admiral John Godfrey. He reached the rank of commander—a rank he subsequently gave to his fictional creation—and was the planner for special operations unit 30th Assault Unit. Many of Bond's tastes and traits were Fleming's own, including sharing the same golf handicap, the taste for scrambled eggs and using the same brand of toiletries. Bond's tastes are also often taken from Fleming's, as was his behaviour, with Bond's love of golf and gambling mirroring his creator's. Fleming used the experiences of his espionage career and other aspects of his life as inspiration when writing, including using names of school friends, acquaintances, relatives and lovers throughout his books.
Inspirations for James Bond | Character inspirations
Between January and March 1952, the journalist Ian Fleming wrote "Casino Royale", his first novel, at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. Fleming conducted research for "Live and Let Die", and completed the novel before "Casino Royale" was published in January 1953, four months before his second book was published. Fleming and his wife Ann flew to New York before taking the Silver Meteor train to St. Petersburg in Florida and then flying on to Jamaica. In doing so, they followed the same train route Fleming had taken with his friend Ivar Bryce in July 1943, when Fleming had first visited the island.
Live and Let Die (novel) | Background
Subsequently, if material was graded 00 it meant it was highly classified. Fleming later told a journalist: "When I was at the Admiralty ... all the top-secret signals had the double-0 prefix ... and I decided to borrow it for Bond." Although James Bond is in his mid-to-late thirties, he does not age in Fleming's stories. Fleming biographer Andrew Lycett noted that, "within the first few pages [of "Casino Royale"] Ian had introduced most of Bond's idiosyncrasies and trademarks", which included his looks, his Bentley and his smoking and drinking habits: Bond's penchant for alcohol runs throughout the series of books and he smokes up to 70 cigarettes a day.
Portrayal of James Bond in film | Fleming's literary characterisation
In April 2012 Ian Fleming's estate announced that Boyd would write the next James Bond novel. The book, "Solo", is set in 1969; it was published in the UK by Jonathan Cape in September 2013. Boyd used Bond creator Ian Fleming as a character in his novel "Any Human Heart". Fleming recruits the book's protagonist, Logan Mountstuart, to British Naval Intelligence during World War Two.
William Boyd (writer) | "Solo", the James Bond novel
Commander James Bond is a fictional Intelligence Agent created by the British journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the protagonist of the "James Bond" series of novels, films, comics and video games. Fleming wrote twelve Bond novels and two short story collections. His final two books—"The Man with the Golden Gun" (1965) and "Octopussy and The Living Daylights" (1966)—were published posthumously. The character is a Secret Intelligence Service agent, code number 007, residing in London but active internationally. Bond was a composite character who was based on a number of commandos whom Fleming knew during his service in the Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War, to whom Fleming added his own style and a number of his own tastes.
James Bond (literary character) | Introduction
Fleming was acutely aware of the loss of British prestige in the 1950s and early 60s, particularly during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, when he had Tanaka accuse Britain of throwing away the empire "with both hands". Black points to the defections of four members of MI6 to the Soviet Union as having a major impact on how Britain was viewed in US intelligence circles. The last of the defections was that of Kim Philby in January 1963, while Fleming was still writing the first draft of "You Only Live Twice". The briefing between Bond and M is the first time in the twelve books that Fleming acknowledges the defections.
Ian Fleming | Britain's position in the world
On 20 July 1960 Fleming wrote to Chopping to ask if he could undertake the art for the next book, agreeing on a fee of 200 guineas, saying that "I will ask [Jonathan Cape] to produce an elegant skeleton hand and an elegant Queen of Hearts. As to the dagger, I really have no strong views. I had thought of the ordinary flick knife as used by teenagers on people like you and me, but if you have a nice dagger in mind please let us use it. The title of the book will be Thunderball. It is immensely long, immensely dull and only your jacket can save it!"
Thunderball (novel) | Release and reception
During May 2006 Sebastian Faulks was approached by Ian Fleming Publications and asked to write a Bond book for Ian Fleming's centenary. Although he initially refused, he was persuaded after he re-read Fleming's novels and the company gave him an article by Fleming in 1962—"How to Write a Thriller"—which revealed that he wrote each Bond book in only six weeks. Faulks copied elements of Fleming's routine, joking that "In his house in Jamaica, Ian Fleming used to write 1000 words in the morning, then go snorkelling, have a cocktail, lunch on the terrace, more diving, another 1000 words in the late afternoon, then more martinis and glamorous women.
Devil May Care (Faulks novel) | Background
After Fleming's death in 1964, the estate either commissioned or permitted new Bond works to be published. In 1968, Kingsley Amis published "Colonel Sun", under the pseudonym "Robert Markham". The company changed its name from Glidrose Productions to Glidrose Publications. Soon thereafter, in 1973, Glidrose sanctioned "" by John Pearson. In 1977 and again in 1979, Eon Productions authorized Christopher Wood to write novelisations of his scripts for the Bond films "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Moonraker". In 1981 the James Bond book series was revived, with new novels written by John Gardner. After writing 14 Bond books, John Gardner retired in 1996, and Raymond Benson, controversially at first, the first American to write a James Bond novel, replaced him.
Ian Fleming Publications | Publication history
"I'm not a novelist", he once said. "That's too pretentious a claim. I'm a storyteller, that's all. I'm a professional and a craftsman. I will make that claim for myself." MacLean also claimed he wrote very fast (35 days for a novel) because he disliked writing and the "sooner he finished the better." He never re-read a book after it was finished. His novels were notable for their lack of sex. "I like girls", he said. "I just don't write them well. Everyone knows that men and women make love, laddie – there is no need to show it."
Alistair MacLean | Ian Stuart
By following my formula, you write 2,000 words a day." He returned to London in March that year with a 228-page first-draft manuscript that he subsequently altered more heavily than any of his other works. One of the significant re-writes changed Bond's fate; Fleming had become disenchanted with his books and wrote to his friend, the American author Raymond Chandler: "My muse is in a very bad way ... I am getting fed up with Bond and it has been very difficult to make him go through his tawdry tricks." Fleming re-wrote the end of the novel in April 1956 to make Klebb poison Bond, which allowed him to finish the series with the death of the character if he wanted.
From Russia, with Love (novel) | Background and writing history
By following my formula, you write 2,000 words a day." By 24 February he had written over 30,000 words, although he wrote to a friend that he felt like he was already parodying the two earlier Bond novels. Fleming's own copy bears the following inscription, "This was written in January and February 1954 and published a year later. It is based on a film script I have had in my mind for many years." He later said that the idea for the film had been too short for a full novel, and that he "had to more or less graft the first half of the book onto my film idea in order to bring it up to the necessary length".
Moonraker (novel) | Background and writing history
During his lifetime Fleming sold thirty million books; double that number were sold in the two years following his death. In 2008 "The Times" ranked Fleming fourteenth on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". In 2002 Ian Fleming Publications announced the launch of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award, presented by the Crime Writers' Association to the best thriller, adventure or spy novel originally published in the UK. The Eon Productions series of Bond films, which started in 1962 with "Dr. No", continued after Fleming's death. Along with two non-Eon produced films, there have been twenty four Eon films, with the most recent, "Spectre", released in October 2015.
Ian Fleming | Legacy
Other recent noteworthy writers in this genre are Ruth Rendell, P. D. James and Scot Ian Rankin. Erskine Childers' "The Riddle of the Sands" (1903), is an early example of spy fiction. A noted writer in the spy novel genre was John le Carré, while in thriller writing, Ian Fleming created the character James Bond 007 in January 1952, while on holiday at his Jamaican estate, Goldeneye. Fleming chronicled Bond's adventures in twelve novels, including "Casino Royale" (1953), "Live and Let Die" (1954), "Dr. No" (1958), "Goldfinger" (1959), "Thunderball" (1961), and nine short story works. Hungarian-born Emma Orczy's (1865–1947) original play, "The Scarlet Pimpernel", opened in October 1903 at Nottingham's Theatre Royal but was not a success.
Twentieth-century English literature | 20th-century genre literature
Ian Fleming took these aspects for his "M" from the James Bond novels. In 1914, he was involved in a serious road accident in France in which his son was killed. Legend has it that to escape the car wreck he was forced to amputate his own leg using a pen knife. Hospital records have shown, however, that while both his legs were broken, his left foot was amputated only the day after the accident. Later he often told all sorts of fantastic stories as to how he lost his leg and would shock people by interrupting meetings in his office by suddenly stabbing his artificial leg with a knife, letter opener or fountain pen.
Mansfield Smith-Cumming | Pre-1914
Over the tea table they prepared strategies against the conservative forces - Menzies, MacDonald, Meldrum. The stylistic enemy was tonal realism. Bell taught 'form', 'distortion', 'expression', and he stressed that art had to arise from imagination. ( Eagle and Minchin, 1981)
Victor O'Connor | Education and career
with a cretinous love-affair". Raven also dismissed Bond as an "infantile" creation, but did allow that "Fleming tells a good story with strength and distinction ... his creation of a scene, both visually and emotionally, is of a very high order indeed." John Betjeman, writing in "The Daily Telegraph", considered that "Ian Fleming has discovered the secret of the narrative art ... which is to work up to a climax unrevealed at the end of each chapter. Thus the reader has to go on reading". Publishers Jonathan Cape included many of the reviews on their advertisements for the book, which appeared in a number of national newspapers; the reviews included those from "The Sunday Times", which concluded that Fleming was "the best new English thriller-writer since [Eric] Ambler" and "The Observer", which advised their readers: "don't miss this".
Casino Royale (novel) | Critical reception
By January 1957 Fleming had decided he would write another story, and began work on "Dr. No" in which Bond recovers from his poisoning and is sent to Jamaica.
From Russia, with Love (novel) | Background and writing history
Ian Fleming, the creator of Bond, tinkered with details of Bond's early life and changed dates to ensure Bond was always the appropriate age for his stories, a practice called retconning.
Ageless | Pulp literature
Writers wanting to conceal a thought or a purpose obscure their meaning with verbiage. William Strunk Jr. advocated concision in "The Elements of Style" (1918): Yet, one has only to look at Baroque, Mannerist, and Victorian sources for different opinions.
Pleonasm | Stylistic preference
In the 1950s and 1960s, Ian Fleming, creator of the fictional secret agent, James Bond, wrote a number of short stories featuring his creation that appeared in the collections "For Your Eyes Only" and "Octopussy and The Living Daylights". Since 1997, several more short stories featuring Bond or set within the official James Bond universe have been published by authors who continued chronicling the world of Fleming's creation. The majority of these stories have, as of 2008, never been collected in book form, unlike the Fleming works. There are five exceptions: "Blast from the Past", "Midsummer Night's Doom" & "Live at Five" by Raymond Benson, "Your Deal, Mr.
James Bond uncollected and other miscellaneous short stories | Introduction
The original creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming, died in the early morning of 12 August 1964, eight months before the publication of "The Man with the Golden Gun". After his death, Glidrose Productions (now Ian Fleming Publications) held the rights to Fleming's works. The company decided to publish two short stories, "Octopussy" and "The Living Daylights", on 23 June 1966. As the Bond character could not be copyrighted, and to retain rights in the Bond product, Glidrose decided to commission a sequel. Initially the company approached author James Leasor to write a continuation novel, but he declined. Glidrose then commissioned Amis, who wrote "Colonel Sun".
Colonel Sun | Background
Following Fleming's death in 1964, Glidrose Productions, publishers of the "James Bond" novels and since renamed Ian Fleming Publications, approached author James Leasor to write a continuation novel, but he declined. Glidrose then commissioned Kingsley Amis, who, under the pseudonym of "Robert Markham", wrote "Colonel Sun", which was published on 28 March 1968. In 1973, Glidrose permitted publication of John Pearson's fictional biography of Bond entitled "". This book, written in the first person, posits that Bond was a real person about whom Ian Fleming wrote a series of adventures. This is the only Bond work where the author shares copyright with Glidrose.
List of James Bond novels and short stories | 1968–79
He painted in the trompe l'oeil style, creating a realistic and almost three-dimensional appearance. Among his illustrations are nine covers from 1957 to 1966 for James Bond books by Ian Fleming and the cover of John Gardner's first Bond continuation novel, "Licence Renewed" (1981).
Richard Chopping | Illustrator
The final shot of the miniseries "" is of a copy of "Birds of the West Indies" next to Ian Fleming's typewriter.
Birds of the West Indies | Inspiration for Ian Fleming
The Bond books were written in post-war Britain, when the country was still an imperial power. As the series progressed, the British Empire was in decline; journalist William Cook observed that "Bond pandered to Britain's inflated and increasingly insecure self-image, flattering us with the fantasy that Britannia could still punch above her weight." This decline of British power was referred to in several of the novels; in "From Russia, with Love", it manifested itself in Bond's conversations with Darko Kerim, when Bond admits that in England, "we don't show teeth any more—only gums." The theme is strongest in one of the later books of the series, the 1964 novel "You Only Live Twice", in conversations between Bond and the head of Japan's secret intelligence service, Tiger Tanaka.
Ian Fleming | Britain's position in the world
"The Observer"s critic, Maurice Richardson, thought that "From Russia, with Love" was a "stupendous plot to trap ... Bond, our deluxe cad-clubman agent" and wondered "Is this the end of Bond?" The reviewer for the "Oxford Mail" declared that "Ian Fleming is in a class by himself", while the critic for "The Sunday Times" argued that "If a psychiatrist and a thoroughly efficient copywriter got together to produce a fictional character who would be the mid-twentieth century subconscious male ambition, the result would inevitably be James Bond." Writing in "The New York Times", Anthony Boucher—described by a Fleming biographer, John Pearson, as "throughout an avid anti-Bond and an anti-Fleming man"—was damning in his review, saying that "From Russia, with Love" was Fleming's "longest and poorest book".
From Russia, with Love (novel) | Reception
The Life of Ian Fleming is a biography of Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond and author of the children’s book "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". The biography was written by John Pearson, Fleming’s assistant at the London "Sunday Times," in 1966. Pearson later wrote the official, fictional-biography "" in 1973. "The Life of Ian Fleming" was one of the first biographies of Ian Fleming and is considered a collectible book by many James Bond fans, since Pearson would become the third, official James Bond author. Future editions of "The Life of Ian Fleming" were altered after film producer Kevin McClory alleged that parts of the biography were untrue regarding the novel and film rights to "Thunderball".
The Life of Ian Fleming | Introduction
His works are distinct for their juxtaposition of text and image against a flattened foreground. Abdulla's handpainted annotations briefly describe the scene depicted and are placed dead centre at the top of his paintings.
Ian Abdulla | Style
Written by Kingsley Amis under the pseudonym Robert Markham.
Ian Fleming Publications | by Kingsley Amis
Some aspects of Bond's character and tastes replicate those of Fleming himself.
Inspirations for James Bond | Introduction