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Goldeneye by Matthew Parker
I enjoyed Pearson's 1966 biography of Fleming although I found it quite sycophantic. He was way too respectful to the family and largely ignored Fleming's dark side.
Lycett's more recent tomb was all encompassing and gave a warts and all review of his life but was quite light on the actual writing of the Bond novels. Bizarre really - particularly given that 007 is the whole reason we are interested in Fleming in the first place. What's more,
his book is long and dull and I had to summon all my enthusiasm as a Fleming completist to finish it.
After Lycett's book I had some hesitation starting Parker's book but I'm so pleased I did - it's fabulous and probably the definitive work on Fleming and Bond as it focuses on the writing of the books at Goldeneye. What sets it apart is that it serves as a great study of the most interesting part of Fleming's life whilst giving a parallel history of Jamaica over the years that he visited.
It makes for a fascinating read. Fleming clearly loved Jamaica and its people and was at his happiest when he was writing there and the picture Parker paints of the pre and post colonial world and its influence on Fleming and his character Bond is quite intoxicating.
As a frequent visitor to Jamaica, I know the country quite well and Parker captures it perfectly. This is a great book and an absolute must for any Bond fan.
Lycett's more recent tomb was all encompassing and gave a warts and all review of his life but was quite light on the actual writing of the Bond novels. Bizarre really - particularly given that 007 is the whole reason we are interested in Fleming in the first place. What's more,
his book is long and dull and I had to summon all my enthusiasm as a Fleming completist to finish it.
After Lycett's book I had some hesitation starting Parker's book but I'm so pleased I did - it's fabulous and probably the definitive work on Fleming and Bond as it focuses on the writing of the books at Goldeneye. What sets it apart is that it serves as a great study of the most interesting part of Fleming's life whilst giving a parallel history of Jamaica over the years that he visited.
It makes for a fascinating read. Fleming clearly loved Jamaica and its people and was at his happiest when he was writing there and the picture Parker paints of the pre and post colonial world and its influence on Fleming and his character Bond is quite intoxicating.
As a frequent visitor to Jamaica, I know the country quite well and Parker captures it perfectly. This is a great book and an absolute must for any Bond fan.
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Comments
He had no choice. In order to write the most comprehensive biography possible at the time, he needed the cooperation of the Fleming family to access letters and interview those closest to Fleming. Without the family's aid his book would have been no better than the two or three previous biographies, which relied on press-clippings. That he even managed to get the family's cooperation was a miracle, because Ann Fleming was hardly enthusiastic about the project. Take a look at what she writes in her letters, before and after the book's publication:
Upon reading Ann's reactions, Pearson had the following response:
It should therefore be obvious that Pearson's hands were tied and he did the very best he could within those restraints. Thanks to the Fleming family's cooperation he learned far more than previous biographers, but to write about everything he learned would have prevented the book's publication and brought forth the nuclear fury of a maddened widow. As it is, his book remains the best-written biographical work on Fleming.
I agree that Lycett provided too little information on the writing of the novels and too much on everything else, but the excess of information shows that he wrote a biography whose breadth will remain unsurpassed. Thanks to him, Fleming's life is an open book.
Parker's book is indeed excellent (my lengthy review is here) and required biographical reading. That said, one should note that he relies heavily on Pearson, Lycett, and Mark Amory's anthology of Ann's letters. And speaking of letters, we might have a new addition to the required reading shelf: The Man with the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming's James Bond Letters, edited by Fergus Fleming. (http://www.amazon.com/dp/1632864894/)