Any mentions of the French Revolution and the Great Terror in the James Bond Novels?

Dragonpol

I've been thinking lately about the connections between the French Revolution, the Great Terror and James Bond. Obviously there is the guillotine theme (Robespierre's Madame Guillotine) in John Gardner's Nobody Lives Forever (1986) and Colonel Rosa Klebb is linked to the tricoteuses twice in Ian Fleming's From Russia with Love (1957). Klebb also has links back to the Spanish Civil War. And of course there is the Scarlet Pimpernel connection, too. I was wondering if anyone here could recall any other references to the French Revolution or the Great Terror that followed it in the Bond novels as I feel there may be more on this. Even any references to the Spanish Inquisition would be greatly appreciated too.

Thanks for reading.

Dragonpol

Anyone got any ideas on this one? I'm all ears...

Ludovico

I would need to reread it. Bond and France have a history: CR is set in France, his mother is French Swiss, Bond's tastes in food and wine are often French, in many ways he is very Continental. That said, of the French revolution I can't think of anything right now.

Dragonpol

Ludovico wrote:

I would need to reread it. Bond and France have a history: CR is set in France, his mother is French Swiss, Bond's tastes in food and wine are often French, in many ways he is very Continental. That said, of the French revolution I can't think of anything right now.

Thanks for that - I wanted to write something on this as I think there are some interesting links perhaps. I'll have a look at Thrilling Cities too to see if that turns anything up. It's mentioned that the Black Dragon cult henchmen of Blofeld in the YOLT novel wear black maskos over their mouths but I'm not sure if that's a link back to the French Revolution or not. I did study it for my first degree in History.

Suivez_ce_parachute

Well I read all the books (in French), a long time ago (I discovered Bond with books, can the young here believe that...) and the only time I remember something about our history is a comment about Napoleon. And I'm not even sure I'm not mixing with something else. And no, this is not Napoleon Solo I'm talking about, it's rather possibly some comment made by Bond about short people being dangerous (even though he was actually of average height for his time)

Dragonpol

Suivez_ce_parachute wrote:

Well I read all the books (in French), a long time ago (I discovered Bond with books, can the young here believe that...) and the only time I remember something about our history is a comment about Napoleon. And I'm not even sure I'm not mixing with something else. And no, this is not Napoleon Solo I'm talking about, it's rather possibly some comment made by Bond about short people being dangerous (even though he was actually of average height for his time)

Yes, I think that may be mentioned in Thunderball when Fleming is describing Ernst Stavro Blofeld by saying that it is the short people that cause all of the trouble in the world or words to that effect.

Thunderfinger

Not a mention as such, but you have the name of Buonapart Ignace Gallia.

Ludovico

But of course! Now I remember one! Blofeld in the novels claims to be comte de Bleuville, an aristocratic family who lost their land and title during... the French Revolution. It is only after that Bleuville became Blofeld, during the family's time in Germany, before the Blofelds finally moved to Poland. It may be true or false, Blofeld might be lying, or he may be mistaken yet sincerely believing it, regardless, this is an explicit mention of the French Revolution. And interestingly enough, it makes Blofeld if not something of a monarchist, at least someone who believes in aristocratic blood as an indication of worth.

Dragonpol

Ludovico wrote:

But of course! Now I remember one! Blofeld in the novels claims to be comte de Bleuville, an aristocratic family who lost their land and title during... the French Revolution. It is only after that Bleuville became Blofeld, during the family's time in Germany, before the Blofelds finally moved to Poland. It may be true or false, Blofeld might be lying, or he may be mistaken yet sincerely believing it, regardless, this is an explicit mention of the French Revolution. And interestingly enough, it makes Blofeld if not something of a monarchist, at least someone who believes in aristocratic blood as an indication of worth.

Thanks, that's a great connection that I had missed, @Ludovico! I suppose had old Ernst been around in Robespierre's France he would have had his head on the block for Madame Guillotine then. It would have saved Bond the trouble of throttling him!

Ludovico

Dragonpol wrote:

Ludovico wrote:

But of course! Now I remember one! Blofeld in the novels claims to be comte de Bleuville, an aristocratic family who lost their land and title during... the French Revolution. It is only after that Bleuville became Blofeld, during the family's time in Germany, before the Blofelds finally moved to Poland. It may be true or false, Blofeld might be lying, or he may be mistaken yet sincerely believing it, regardless, this is an explicit mention of the French Revolution. And interestingly enough, it makes Blofeld if not something of a monarchist, at least someone who believes in aristocratic blood as an indication of worth.

Thanks, that's a great connection that I had missed, @Ludovico! I suppose had old Ernst been around in Robespierre's France he would have had his head on the block for Madame Guillotine then. It would have saved Bond the trouble of throttling him!

If the comtes de Bleuville were indeed Blofeld's ancestors, they'd maybe have played both sides against the middle. But this parentage is all Blofeld's claim.

And a little bit of speculation/prediction for the next movies: if a character shows up with in his name the word blue (bleu in French), either as a blatant codename, as a pseudonym (Mr. White, Mister Greene... Mister Blue?) or as part of a full name (Bleuchamp, Bleuville, Bleufort, Signor Azzurro or Signor Indigo, Mister Sapphire, whatever you can invent), then this man is in fact Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

Dragonpol

Ludovico wrote:

Dragonpol wrote:

Ludovico wrote:

But of course! Now I remember one! Blofeld in the novels claims to be comte de Bleuville, an aristocratic family who lost their land and title during... the French Revolution. It is only after that Bleuville became Blofeld, during the family's time in Germany, before the Blofelds finally moved to Poland. It may be true or false, Blofeld might be lying, or he may be mistaken yet sincerely believing it, regardless, this is an explicit mention of the French Revolution. And interestingly enough, it makes Blofeld if not something of a monarchist, at least someone who believes in aristocratic blood as an indication of worth.

Thanks, that's a great connection that I had missed, @Ludovico! I suppose had old Ernst been around in Robespierre's France he would have had his head on the block for Madame Guillotine then. It would have saved Bond the trouble of throttling him!

If the comtes de Bleuville were indeed Blofeld's ancestors, they'd maybe have played both sides against the middle. But this parentage is all Blofeld's claim.

And a little bit of speculation/prediction for the next movies: if a character shows up with in his name the word blue (bleu in French), either as a blatant codename, as a pseudonym (Mr. White, Mister Greene... Mister Blue?) or as part of a full name (Bleuchamp, Bleuville, Bleufort, Signor Azzurro or Signor Indigo, Mister Sapphire, whatever you can invent), then this man is in fact Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

Yes, good one there, @Ludovico, as always. And I suppose that Mr Slate from QoS could be regarded as a colour too (slate grey?). It's all a bit like Reservoir Dogs...Mr Pink etc. isn't it?

Ludovico

Well, Greene is a bit too high profile I think to have a pseudonym (not like Carver or other villainous businessmen, but still), beside if it was a colour it would be misspelled. But Mr White could be a nom de guerre: the family name is very common, for one, giving him a certain anonymity. And there are other in the Quantum organization without, as far as we know, any colour as name. Yet, there is more than one, and Blofeld did use pseudonyms in the past that were sometimes transformation of his name and there is the word blue in his name.

It is a very long shot. Still...

Dragonpol

Any more thoughts on this subject? :)

Ludovico

Well, let's see... If the De Bleuville left France during the French Revolution, they must have been monarchists, or at least their allegiances to the Revolution were not believed. If Blofeld is indeed a descendant, the family may have been a nasty one, manipulative and ambitious. But I am reading a bit much into it.

Interestingly enough, Blofeld, like James Bond, is somewhat of a francophile. While there is no indication that he loves French cuisine, in fact I think he is probably too much of a puritan to be a gourmand, he has the headquarters of his cover organization in Paris in TB. This may be for practical reasons, Paris being in a good location to hold meetings and take contracts when you are a mainly European based organization, it may also be because of a certain penchant for France.

Dragonpol

Ludovico wrote: »

Well, let's see... If the De Bleuville left France during the French Revolution, they must have been monarchists, or at least their allegiances to the Revolution were not believed. If Blofeld is indeed a descendant, the family may have been a nasty one, manipulative and ambitious. But I am reading a bit much into it.

Interestingly enough, Blofeld, like James Bond, is somewhat of a francophile. While there is no indication that he loves French cuisine, in fact I think he is probably too much of a puritan to be a gourmand, he has the headquarters of his cover organization in Paris in TB. This may be for practical reasons, Paris being in a good location to hold meetings and take contracts when you are a mainly European based organization, it may also be because of a certain penchant for France.

Thank you immensely for that, @Ludovico - very interesting reading. I like reading into things too! :)