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Whatever Happened to the Literary James Bond in the 1970s?
Dragonpol
https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
This is a topic I have long wondered about. It formed the basis of an early James Bond article I penned way back in 2005 and then posted it on the CBn and AJB boards. The article later became a Main Page CBn Article when it was re-discovered on the boards by the moderator Qwerty there in March 2008. Sadly this CBn article no longer exists, but as luck would have it I did save a copy of this early article of mine on my The Bondologist Blog:
http://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-literary-james-bond-in-1970s.html
I am currently re-writing this article to change and update it with all of the developments in the literary Bond world since it was originally written in 2005 and indeed there have been many as we here all are aware. I wanted to expand the article and eventually replace it with a new 2014 version but as this appears to be the only real article written on the lack of appearances that the literary James Bond put in in the decade of the 1970s I thought that I would throw the floor open to any suggestions members here would have as to what became of the literary James Bond in the 1970s. We all know what became of the cinematic James Bond of the 1970s and how decadent that decade was for him withy hardly any focus on then major issues of the 1970s and a more fantasy-laden spectacle replacing the character construct of Ian Fleming's James Bond in those films but it seems to me at least that we know so little about the literary Bond in the 1970s.
Please read my article linked above as a starting point (I will remove it when I get the new reworked version finished and posted on the blog) to this discussion which I hope is something a bit different for us to discuss in the run-up to a new Young Bond novel and a new Bond film in 2015.
http://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-literary-james-bond-in-1970s.html
I am currently re-writing this article to change and update it with all of the developments in the literary Bond world since it was originally written in 2005 and indeed there have been many as we here all are aware. I wanted to expand the article and eventually replace it with a new 2014 version but as this appears to be the only real article written on the lack of appearances that the literary James Bond put in in the decade of the 1970s I thought that I would throw the floor open to any suggestions members here would have as to what became of the literary James Bond in the 1970s. We all know what became of the cinematic James Bond of the 1970s and how decadent that decade was for him withy hardly any focus on then major issues of the 1970s and a more fantasy-laden spectacle replacing the character construct of Ian Fleming's James Bond in those films but it seems to me at least that we know so little about the literary Bond in the 1970s.
Please read my article linked above as a starting point (I will remove it when I get the new reworked version finished and posted on the blog) to this discussion which I hope is something a bit different for us to discuss in the run-up to a new Young Bond novel and a new Bond film in 2015.
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Comments
Eventually we got the Gardner reboot.
Thank you very much for your insightful contribution, @timmer. Yes, I never thought of it in that way but it's all grist to the mill. And yes, you are right in that John Gardner did provide a rebooted literary Bonds with the publication of Licence Renewed in May 1981.
As always, I'd really love to hear other members' views on the fate of the literary James Bond in the 1970s.
ROGER MOORE
Nay, three words.
THE ROGER MOORE
Yes, but this thread is about the Literary James Bond, we already know well what the cinematic Bond got up to in the 1970s.
Even born 1924, he'd only be mid 80's when Westbrook found him. Just coming up on 90 this fall.
Long live Bond! May have another 10 years or so in him yet.
Well I just learned my family name is part of Moneypenny's family. A little excited.
Can you elaborate on what you mean by that, @JWESTBROOK?
My name IRL is Justin Westbrook, and my name traces back to England. If Moneypenny's neice is Kate Westbrook, we must be related. Therefore I have an actual connection to the World of James Bond.
Ah, I see. Thank you for elaborating, @JWESTBROOK. Very interesting!
I did buy both actually, so do not blame me. I have got that Dutch Octopussy book as well.
Not a full adaptation, but the outline of the story and a shedload of photo's, the reason I bought it.
That nap would have given Rip van Winkle a run for his money! :))
Can't help thinking that it had nothing to do with Pearson supposedly putting an end to it all but merely a project they weren't interested in undertaking at the time.
True, but he did give the novelizations of rather spectacular unFleming stories based upon titles only a rather Flemingesque taste.
So I would not have minded to see some novels that were not filmed but solely a literary output. He just might have surprised us.
Yes, well Glidrose of course had a plan to have a series of famous writers continue into the new decade of the 1970s with the method used by Kingsley Amis with Colonel Sun (1968) - namely under the pseudonym Robert Markham (after George Glidrose had been rejected as unmarketable). Of course as we all know now this never happened but IFP seem to revived this method of continuing the adventures of the literary James Bond with Faulks, Deaver, Boyd and now Horowitz, although I earnestly hope that they give the latest author a series of this own a la John Gardner and Raymond Benson. Of course, only time will tell how things pan out...although it's fair to say that it is very interesting times that we live in.
I don't want to seem harsh on comics, they certainly have their place (it's just that I've never really enjoyed reading them) but do you think that it's disappointing that a series of comics will be written, covering Bond's pre Casino Royale years? I do. Well, I will, if a series of novels will never be written based on these comics or completely different stories covering this exciting period of Bond's life. Comics alone will not do justice to this era.
Apologies, I've gone off topic a little here. :)