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Ian Fleming's Fascination with the world of flowers?
Dragonpol
https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
What are our views on Ian Fleming's reported fascination with the world of flowers - he wrote a poetry book as a young man called The Black Daffodil.
Many of his books featured flowers on the Cape dustjackets - see FRWL, YOLT, GF, TSWLM, TMWTGG. Flowers and fauna of a deadly nature are a major plot component in YOLT with Blofeld's Castle of Death and his Garden of Death. He also wrote that James Bond didn't like flowers in a room in Casino Royale (1953) when Bond was recuperating after his torture at the hands of Le Chiffre.
I feel tghe symbolism of flowers as a harbinger of death is a thread continued by John Gardner in Never Send Flowers (Slay It With Flowers would have been a great alternative Flemingesque title) and Sebastian Faulks' Devil May Care (2008) (the opium poppy so central to its plot), with both continuation novels using flowers as symbols on their hardback and paperback editions! Both YOLT and NSF feature flowers and dragonflies on their respective covers and flowers, whether as a deadly anti-Eden or a blood-tipped chilling calling card of a serial killer, reflect death. Reference also Bond in TLD film - "You should have brought lillies."
Also, Ian Fleming wrote The Poppy is Also A Flower film outline and had intended to author a book on the flora and fauna of Jamaica - so what was the deal with flowers? Was it just another expression of his love for the natural world most often seen in his underwater writing?
Your thoughts are appreciated...
Many of his books featured flowers on the Cape dustjackets - see FRWL, YOLT, GF, TSWLM, TMWTGG. Flowers and fauna of a deadly nature are a major plot component in YOLT with Blofeld's Castle of Death and his Garden of Death. He also wrote that James Bond didn't like flowers in a room in Casino Royale (1953) when Bond was recuperating after his torture at the hands of Le Chiffre.
I feel tghe symbolism of flowers as a harbinger of death is a thread continued by John Gardner in Never Send Flowers (Slay It With Flowers would have been a great alternative Flemingesque title) and Sebastian Faulks' Devil May Care (2008) (the opium poppy so central to its plot), with both continuation novels using flowers as symbols on their hardback and paperback editions! Both YOLT and NSF feature flowers and dragonflies on their respective covers and flowers, whether as a deadly anti-Eden or a blood-tipped chilling calling card of a serial killer, reflect death. Reference also Bond in TLD film - "You should have brought lillies."
Also, Ian Fleming wrote The Poppy is Also A Flower film outline and had intended to author a book on the flora and fauna of Jamaica - so what was the deal with flowers? Was it just another expression of his love for the natural world most often seen in his underwater writing?
Your thoughts are appreciated...
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http://www.thebondologistblog.blogspot.co.uk
:-bd
Yes, I'm working on it at the moment - just wanted to check that I hadn't missed anything!
Thanks - any more input on this subject?
Chopping's main job was a wildlife and botanical illustrator. But I'm sure living in Jamaica surrounded by beautiful flora and fauna helped.
Very true - that's another point, of course. Fleming was at one point going to write a book on said subject of flora and fauna in Jamaica.
Very true.
Indeed. That's another connection that I didn't make. Well done.
Is 'The Black Daffodil' available anywhere?
Is 'The Poppy is Also A Flower' contained in 'Talk of the Devil' or just rumor?
All copies of that poetry book were destroyed by Fleming himself, though I have seen snippets from the poems online.
The Poppy is Also a Flower was never a short story - only a Fleming story idea. It was made into a film in 1966 - you can buy copies of the film, directed by Terence Young and also titled Danger Grows Wild. The film was backed by the UN.
Aside from the obvious Christological symbolism here, I find that this section is echoed rather clearly in the film CR where Bond and Vesper are sitting down in the shower and she is lamenting that she has blood on her hands and it's not coming off. Bond then puts her fingers in his mouth, saying, "There. That's better." As in the MR sequence, Bond is absolving the girl and taking her "sins" upon himself.
Excerpts from some of his poems were on a site called 007 Forever ran by Nick Kincaid. That site is now defunct but I still have print-offs from it. I'll have to see if I can find them and if I do I'll post some excerprts. I assume that he took these quotes from a book or books published on Fleming and Bond. The book does get a mention in Lycett's biography - that I do know. Sorry that I could not be of more help.
Thanks
OK, I'll try, but it might take me a while. I remember one quote about the outline of a dream.