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Does reading Ian Fleming make you a better person or worse?
007InVT
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I've been reading a lot of Fleming.
We all know Ian's moral compass needle moved around a bit. Attitudes to women, women drivers, other countries etc etc. When you find yourself agreeing with him, or enjoying his jokes, does leave an impression later or do you file it under 'Pure Fleming' and move on?
I'm curious as to anyone gets into trouble by getting too into the novels in their wider life.
We all know Ian's moral compass needle moved around a bit. Attitudes to women, women drivers, other countries etc etc. When you find yourself agreeing with him, or enjoying his jokes, does leave an impression later or do you file it under 'Pure Fleming' and move on?
I'm curious as to anyone gets into trouble by getting too into the novels in their wider life.
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Comments
Okay, but seriously, we are who we are, reading Fleming might well make one more interesting, but not 'better' or 'worse'.
On the other hand, I might have bred some personal arrogance out of Fleming's writings. I tend to apply said arrogance too, sometimes quoting almost word-for-word from the novels, which I do find infinitely quotable for that matter. In my profession, arrogance isn't necessarily a good thing so I must watch that Flemingian mouth sometimes. ;-)
Would I of found these things without Fleming? Well yes I probably would, but Fleming helped to educate me by adding that luxurious gloss to these rather mundane basic instincts and therefore hopefully making me a slightly more interesting, if not exactly better person.
Well put. My penchant for good Scotch and cocktails has been amplified I think and I hope my driving isn't too bad.
Quoting Fleming can get you into trouble with significant others, especially in this day and age but I always think there was a touch of irony in the writing.
I am English by nationality although now live in Vermont (FYEO!) but I do have a great sense of my British heritage by being absorbed in the Bond world. There is a lot to be proud of. My Grandfathers were in WW2, one owned a Battleship grey Bentley even!
I appreciate the finer things in life without being pretentious but I like nice clothes, a good razor, cigar etc, so it's fun to just be a man once in a while.
I gamble too, play Poker and I suppose get a lot out of the Casino scenes, which Fleming goes into so much detail.
Perhaps Bond's fancy-free lifestyle is a bit intoxicating sometimes and will always beat out the hum-drum of everyday life. That's the cross to bear of not being a double-0 agent.
Fleming will always be my favourite writer! It's only his books and Conan Doyle's that I will continue to re-read until departing this mortal coil - on the fiction side at least. There are other worthy writers of course, but those are the two I have latched on to.
Done those too (apart from the killing) and not just Bulgarians.
Not sure reading Fleming makes you a better person or not but certainly trying to live the Bondian lifestyle makes life more fun. Eating caviar and drinking champagne with a beautfiful woman (even if it is the missus not a Russian spy with orders to kill you), driving recklessly fast on a mountain road and skiing down a mountain with the OHMSS theme on the Ipod are lifes great experiences.
You read NSF. Every man has his passion.
Funny, I was thinking about a thread comparing Sherlock Holmes and James Bond and the influence Doyle may have had on Fleming. I might do it tonight after work.
Well I look forward to readfing it, kind sir.
I must say, I love the erudite debate found in this Literary 007 category in contrast to the noise of some of the other categories.
Indeed, @SaintMark. Had certain groups been reading books instead of burn them, Europe might have been saved a great deal of trouble some 70 - 80 years ago...
It would be the case now too. Burning books is obscurantist, cowardly, vile and maybe the most violent action one can do against something that is non living.
Yes, you will find much educated debate here on MI6.
I can throw away a lot but I couldn't possibly throw away a book, let alone burn it. There's something about a book that I respect, cherish even, though it's hard to put into words. But I want the physical object, not so much a digital copy (they have their merits too though), nor an old fashioned Xerox copy. I want to feel and smell the paper, touch the back, feel the smooth surface, pinch the pages I've already read and also the pages I have yet to read. I want to turn it around and gently kiss the cover when I've read it. Lastly, I want to see the sidecover when I store the books on my shelve.
FYI, The Ninth Gate is a film I deeply, thoroughly enjoy. ;-)
You share my addiction to buying, reading and caring for books, then, DD.
Anyway, back to Fleming. I've always loved travelling, I've always been a decent drinker, a fan of lovely ladies and the finer things in life. But reading Fleming made me not feel alone in those, and made me think my actions over better. Fleming did learn me to control my gambling better. Thank you Ian. Your choice of Champagne could've been better though...
I haven't insulted Bulgarians, but I guess Hungarians count as well? ;-)
Double indeed to both of you. As far as Fleming, I would conjecture that reading Fleming might make one a more knowledgeable Bond fan, but nothing more. Fleming's smoking, drinking, and womanizing may have influenced me subconsciously, but I'd like to think being a rock musician had a lot more to do with it :D
Jeez, I started to smoke because this girl I fallen for did so. I drank alcohol because it got offered to me and some of it I enjoyed and some of it not. Ian Fleming had nothing to do with me drinking, smoking or womanising (the latter did just happen and I found it rather enjoyable).
No, not at all. It's all part of that complex yet inexact science called Bondology. I, for one, love it.
Stephen King's The Running Man uses the n-word and black dialect more often and his graphic sex and violence in The Stand is given a pass.
I
Obviously, someone reading it today could be offended, but Fleming had no idea.
The passage in The Spy Who Loved Me about a woman 'being taken' is a bit dicey to read too.
Otherwise, he was a product of his time for better or worse.
On niggerheads, like Golly Wog dolls, I think that was just what they were called back then - very dated, yes, racist, no, not really. That's where the n-word itself is used, of course. And yes, Golly Wog dolls are a racist slur, just before someone berates me on that point.