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Past James Bond Author References In John Gardner's 'The Liquidator'

Ian Fleming and Kingsley Amis

Put me down in Amis' camp. I thought the Gardner books were simply awful.

The problem for both Gardner and Amis (and Benson and Higgson and Faulks, etc.) is that Fleming wrote the Bond novels from the perspective of the way he saw the world. It is one thing to understand the character of Bond or know the ingredients to a Bond novel. It is quite another to channel the author's voice. Alas, Amis and Gardner feuding over who wrote the worst Bond continuation novel (not that this is an accurate description of their interaction) is akin to two kids in fifth form art class arguing about whose crayon redering of the Mona Lisa looks worse. Neither is going to be deemed a natural heir to Da Vinci. Both Gardner and Amis are fine writers when they are writing their own material. They both gave Bond a good shot. But there is only one Fleming.

Keep dancing...
Bonita

Nice to see this again.

There are several other references to Bond and Fleming in Gardner's work, and I think you, SILHOUETTE MAN, have mentioned a few elsewhere. I think there's a Boysie Oakes short story that features a film called YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE, for instance. I think in Gardner's CONFESSOR there's a character who has a library with lots of espionage non-fiction and fiction - 'but none of that Bond stuff' or words to that effect. There are others, I'm sure.

It's not so surprising that Gardner did this and then went on to write the Bond novels - loads of spy thrillers from the Sixties on reference Bond. It's almost expected.

And, of course, Fleming referenced Bond himself by suggesting the existence of the Bond novels in M's obit in YOLT...

Good point, but I'm not sure I agree...my problem with the Gardner books was that he didn't seem to know who Bond is. I mean, a SAAB, for God's sake? And that little collapsible rod to thump people with? Can you really imagine Fleming's Bond walking around with one of those? I think Gardner's approach was to try to "update" Bond, but he was updating a cariacture, not a literary creation.

I also don't believe it's that tough to copy an author's voice--there are several Bond parodies that did exactly that, and I think Colonel Sun was very close.

The problem as I see it was that Gardner wanted to do a "Gardner Bond book" instead of a "Fleming Bond book by Gardner."

If it was up to me, I'd solicit writers to write a chapter of a Bond book, and pick the one I thought was closest to Fleming's voice--and then collaborate from there on plotting, details, story arc, etc.

It's kind of like the selection process for Bond actors: You can have a great actor, but if he doesn't also fit the Bond image, it won't work. I think Johnny Depp and Sean Penn are great actors, but I don't want either of them as Bond...

More details here (courtesy of my wife ).

To me, Fleming books are the only true "Bond" books. I consider continuation books just like fan fictions : they can be very pleasant readings, but they do not define the character.



LOL... One has to admit that you've got a point there. I saw some "real life" SAAB 900 in Norther Europe this summer... Wow ! :-)
Anyway, I'm not sure his purpose was to update Bond there: I read Gardner disagreed with some of Bond's features, like an over-lurious environment, and it seems he wanted to make "his" Bond closer to the standard of living of a real-life civil servant. But here, I blame him for choosing the car of a show-off !

Indeed. I missed this article the first time SILHOUETTE MAN posted it on the forums. Thought it would be nice to give this one a second look.

Very interesting stuff, SILHOUETTE MAN. Thanks.