James Bond - a celebration

Description

James Bond started out a cultural hero of the Sixties, but has proved himself a man of the Seventies and Eighties too. And, as the New York Times remarked, he is probably a man of the next century as well. It is now estimated that James Bond has provided escape and enjoyment for 100 million readers and one-and-a-half billion cinemagoers. He has become a worldwide cult figure crossing all race and . language barriers and can now be numbered among the six most famous characters in literature, a truly remarkable achievement for a character created initially as a money spinner and a means of escape from routine for his author. Just what is it that has created this phenomenon? Many critics and authors have attempted explanations for it: Len Deighton; Raymond Chandler; Kingsley Amis; John LeCarré. Films and Filming, the prestigious cinema magazine, stated: ‘James Bond is not Just a screen hero, he is an institution, and as such has influenced world affairs, art, music, motion pictures and fashion’ Fleming himself generally felt that Bond should not be analysed too closely and said ‘They're reading too much into the man-he’s not all that important’ This may be so, but there is unquestionably something in the Bond formula which still leaves people the world over asking for more. A precise explanation for this remains elusive, but author Peter Haining offers some clues from the experiences and recollections of those involved in the making of the 007 legend, both in print and on screen. He charts the evolution of Bond in both literature and films, and presents some of his own provocative speculations as to the literary origins of 007 and the arch-villains in Fleming's novels.