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James Bond - Extended Series
The James Bond Dossier
This book probes the secret of the secret agent's dazzling success dazzling success. Perusing all thirteen thrillers from casino Royale to The Man with the golden Gun, he sets out to prove that Bond is a hero cut to the measure of the twentieth century.
127 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
2 people are currently reading
313 people want to read
About the author
Kingsley Amis
213 books554 followersBest known novels of British writer Sir Kingsley William Amis include
Lucky Jim
(1954) and
The Old Devils
(1986).
This English poet, critic, and teacher composed more than twenty-three collections, short stories, radio and television scripts, and books of social and literary criticism. He fathered Martin Amis.
William Robert Amis, a clerk of a mustard manufacturer, fathered him. He began his education at the city of London school, and went up to college of Saint John, Oxford, in April 1941 to read English; he met Philip Larkin and formed the most important friendship of his life. After only a year, the Army called him for service in July 1942. After serving as a lieutenant in the royal corps of signals in the Second World War, Amis returned to Oxford in October 1945 to complete his degree. He worked hard and got a first in English in 1947, and then decided to devote much of his time.
Pen names: [authorRobert Markham|553548] and William Bill Tanner
This English poet, critic, and teacher composed more than twenty-three collections, short stories, radio and television scripts, and books of social and literary criticism. He fathered Martin Amis.
William Robert Amis, a clerk of a mustard manufacturer, fathered him. He began his education at the city of London school, and went up to college of Saint John, Oxford, in April 1941 to read English; he met Philip Larkin and formed the most important friendship of his life. After only a year, the Army called him for service in July 1942. After serving as a lieutenant in the royal corps of signals in the Second World War, Amis returned to Oxford in October 1945 to complete his degree. He worked hard and got a first in English in 1947, and then decided to devote much of his time.
Pen names: [authorRobert Markham|553548] and William Bill Tanner
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 29, 2021
I've always been a fan of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and pretty much hated (until Daniel Craig, anyway) the Bond films. Sean Connery turned Fleming's restless mid-level civil servant into a smirking, wisecracking superhero, the central character in a series of low-budget capers that I've never found the least bit thrilling or compelling. Well, Amis, writing in 1965—just after Fleming's death—focuses entirely on the thirteen Bond novels, and really helped me understand why the disconnect.
The James Bond Dossier is a droll, entertaining, comprehensive tour through the 007 case files, organized by theme and motif, in which Amis both explains and justifies the novels' enormous popularity, and spends quite a bit of space exploring Bond-as-enigmatic-everyman, a capable man whose very lack of distinctive personality (and absence of either superhero attributes or Connery-level charisma) allows the reader to insert himself into the story. And in highlighting what works in the Fleming novels (while readily noting structural flaws in character and story), Amis augments the reading experience. The next time I pick up, say, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, I will notice a lot more than I ever did—on guns, cocktails, women, brand names, spy-thriller conventions, and much more. And I won't bother revisiting the films.
The James Bond Dossier is a droll, entertaining, comprehensive tour through the 007 case files, organized by theme and motif, in which Amis both explains and justifies the novels' enormous popularity, and spends quite a bit of space exploring Bond-as-enigmatic-everyman, a capable man whose very lack of distinctive personality (and absence of either superhero attributes or Connery-level charisma) allows the reader to insert himself into the story. And in highlighting what works in the Fleming novels (while readily noting structural flaws in character and story), Amis augments the reading experience. The next time I pick up, say, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, I will notice a lot more than I ever did—on guns, cocktails, women, brand names, spy-thriller conventions, and much more. And I won't bother revisiting the films.
March 27, 2024
I was thrilled to find this for 99p in Oxfam, as I'd been after it for decades. A funny and intelligent piece of literary criticism from the perspective of a reader, writer and fan, defending Fleming's work from accusations of being lowbrow trash or dangerous sado-masochistic propaganda. Where he does find fault, it's from a position of knowledge and affection.
Side note: Amis spends one chapter demonstrating that Bond is in fact an old-fashioned Byronic hero, namechecking Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Guess who has played the male romantic lead in adaptations of both? TIMOTHY DALTON. I rest my case.
Side note: Amis spends one chapter demonstrating that Bond is in fact an old-fashioned Byronic hero, namechecking Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Guess who has played the male romantic lead in adaptations of both? TIMOTHY DALTON. I rest my case.
June 14, 2017
Most important is that Kingley Amis is writing about the Ian Fleming James Bond books. He is aware of the movies but he is only speaking to the books. He is also writing while Fleming is still alive and before the parade of post Connery Bonds. If all you know are the movies and esp the recent ones, much of what Amis discusses will make little sense.
The audience for The James Bond Dossier are those who have or are in the midst of reading Ian Fleming's secret agent books. Parenthetically, one of the first things Amis explains is that Bond is not a spy, he is a secret agent. Being a secret agent is a more nebulous calling and is rarely about espionage and more often about , pretty much anything M assigns.
Amis came into the literary world as something of a cynic, broadly critical and majestically sardonic. A clear purpose of the Dossier is to give `it' back to those literary professionals who had over analyzed and otherwise over stated the cultural influence or importance of these books. The short answer should be that James Bond is escapist adventure stories for (mostly) adult males. Fleming's goal was to create not so much a believable hero, but one that we (I am a fan too) would be able to blur into our image of ourselves and thereby share his heroics and his women. Bond has to be lager than life, virile and able to live lavishly. Such is how Fleming designed him.
Here it might be fun to consider the adult male fantasy value of a James Bond and compare him to the pre-adult male fantasy value of Harry Potter. Perhaps under the title: My Name? Potter, Harry Potter. Done as a serious comparative analysis might be to make the same mistake of those Amis systematically out analyzes those critical of Bond as Literature (Capital' L').
This should have been a merrier book. As heavy as Amis can be in his humor, I was always looking for the wink, the nudge the acknowledgement that this is not intended as a serious read. Amis works very hard to document his points. He has a detailed table cross tabbing all the major points in every Bond book and short story. For example: here is the proof that the Bond Women arrive at an average of one per book. That is, Amis is better at documenting his conclusions that the other guys. This is a serious point.
Mostly I enjoyed this book. Because of the Dossier, I am likely to re-read some of the Fleming books. Ultimately it became work to read and not the emery entertainment I would have preferred.
The audience for The James Bond Dossier are those who have or are in the midst of reading Ian Fleming's secret agent books. Parenthetically, one of the first things Amis explains is that Bond is not a spy, he is a secret agent. Being a secret agent is a more nebulous calling and is rarely about espionage and more often about , pretty much anything M assigns.
Amis came into the literary world as something of a cynic, broadly critical and majestically sardonic. A clear purpose of the Dossier is to give `it' back to those literary professionals who had over analyzed and otherwise over stated the cultural influence or importance of these books. The short answer should be that James Bond is escapist adventure stories for (mostly) adult males. Fleming's goal was to create not so much a believable hero, but one that we (I am a fan too) would be able to blur into our image of ourselves and thereby share his heroics and his women. Bond has to be lager than life, virile and able to live lavishly. Such is how Fleming designed him.
Here it might be fun to consider the adult male fantasy value of a James Bond and compare him to the pre-adult male fantasy value of Harry Potter. Perhaps under the title: My Name? Potter, Harry Potter. Done as a serious comparative analysis might be to make the same mistake of those Amis systematically out analyzes those critical of Bond as Literature (Capital' L').
This should have been a merrier book. As heavy as Amis can be in his humor, I was always looking for the wink, the nudge the acknowledgement that this is not intended as a serious read. Amis works very hard to document his points. He has a detailed table cross tabbing all the major points in every Bond book and short story. For example: here is the proof that the Bond Women arrive at an average of one per book. That is, Amis is better at documenting his conclusions that the other guys. This is a serious point.
Mostly I enjoyed this book. Because of the Dossier, I am likely to re-read some of the Fleming books. Ultimately it became work to read and not the emery entertainment I would have preferred.
August 4, 2007
Kingsley Amis's study of the Bond novels is of the lifemanship genre, and Amis is able to one up Bond's knowledge of drink and guns.
The best discussion is an explanation of the recurring scene where Bond is captured and tortured by the super-villain while he explains his criminal scheme in detail. Amis argues convincingly that these scenes have all the features of being reprimanded by a stern father: the scenes usually take place in a library or lab or some other spot full of stuff Bond doesn't understand; the villain often talks to Bond like a child; there are a bunch of other disapproving gang/family members standing around.
The best discussion is an explanation of the recurring scene where Bond is captured and tortured by the super-villain while he explains his criminal scheme in detail. Amis argues convincingly that these scenes have all the features of being reprimanded by a stern father: the scenes usually take place in a library or lab or some other spot full of stuff Bond doesn't understand; the villain often talks to Bond like a child; there are a bunch of other disapproving gang/family members standing around.
August 7, 2021
Very enjoyable treatment of Fleming's Bond novels. I disagreed with Amis about as much as I agreed with him, but he writes up his arguments in an entertaining manner. He obviously admires and likes Fleming('s works) but also, at times, seems to want to one-up Fleming and/or Bond, but does so self-consciously. On another note I wish I could write articles doing things like refusing to discuss or elaborate on something simply because "I don't give a damn one way or the other about that" (p. 125).
September 9, 2025
A treatise about Fleming's civil servant hero James Bond, licensed to kill. This was published roughly a year after Fleming's death. After reading this, Ludlum's technical errors would seem trivial.
June 2, 2018
"When a few Easters have gone by without a new Bond adventure, regret at the passing of his creator may well help to bring about an assessment of his proper place in literature. This, as I see it, is with those demi-giants of an earlier day, Jules Verne, Rider Haggard, Conan Doyle. Ian Fleming has set his stamp on the story of action and intrigue, bringing to it a sense of our time, a power and a flair that will win him readers when all protests about his supposed deficiencies have been forgotten." - page 144
In The James Bond Dossier, Kingsley Amis provides a very thorough and (probably the first) in-depth critical analysis of the original Ian Fleming James Bond novels and short stories. The was written not long after Ian Fleming's passing and just as the James Bond phenomenon was getting into full swing with the Sean Connery James Bond films. Therefore, the book is very much of its time and heavily representative of how the literary James Bond was received in the 1960s - a reception that was very different to how the literary James Bond is received today - today the James Bond books are hailed as modern classics and Ian Fleming is cited as being a highly stylistic writer at the top of his game.
While Amis is providing a very critical look at Fleming's style, Amis makes no secret that he is a huge fan of the Bond books and of Ian Fleming himself and, certainly, it is clear to see that Amis's appraisal in The James Bond Dossier went some way in elevating the literary-reception standards of the original bond books! Another great strength of this Dossier is that it makes almost zero references to the James Bond films and focuses wholly on the books and Fleming himself; as a result, this provides a focused lens core attributes of the James Bond character and formula as they are presented in the books, an unsaturated focused analysis that is often missing from later critical assessments of the Bond books.
Overall, The James Bond Dossier is an appreciative and essential read for anyone who is a fan of the Bond books. The fact that the Dossier is very much of the time it is written is another great illuminating charm of the book and it is truly baffling and an incredible shame that there are no new editions of this book today! However, if you can get your hands on an old edition, then I would highly recommend doing so.
In The James Bond Dossier, Kingsley Amis provides a very thorough and (probably the first) in-depth critical analysis of the original Ian Fleming James Bond novels and short stories. The was written not long after Ian Fleming's passing and just as the James Bond phenomenon was getting into full swing with the Sean Connery James Bond films. Therefore, the book is very much of its time and heavily representative of how the literary James Bond was received in the 1960s - a reception that was very different to how the literary James Bond is received today - today the James Bond books are hailed as modern classics and Ian Fleming is cited as being a highly stylistic writer at the top of his game.
While Amis is providing a very critical look at Fleming's style, Amis makes no secret that he is a huge fan of the Bond books and of Ian Fleming himself and, certainly, it is clear to see that Amis's appraisal in The James Bond Dossier went some way in elevating the literary-reception standards of the original bond books! Another great strength of this Dossier is that it makes almost zero references to the James Bond films and focuses wholly on the books and Fleming himself; as a result, this provides a focused lens core attributes of the James Bond character and formula as they are presented in the books, an unsaturated focused analysis that is often missing from later critical assessments of the Bond books.
Overall, The James Bond Dossier is an appreciative and essential read for anyone who is a fan of the Bond books. The fact that the Dossier is very much of the time it is written is another great illuminating charm of the book and it is truly baffling and an incredible shame that there are no new editions of this book today! However, if you can get your hands on an old edition, then I would highly recommend doing so.
August 9, 2012
One of the pillars of 20th C. literature lends a hand to Sir Fleming, to protect and save him against baseless and ignorant attacks against the Bond works. He also provides several chapters of useful analysis, based on his decades of being a novelist, professor, and overall giant in British literature.
This is much needed because the criticisms of the Bond series are just plain silly and chimerical. Many critics just hate the genre; that is an expression of its own disconnected from Bond. Some contemporary critics pilloried Fleming for a whole host of problems. Fleming is known for underdeveloped and tedious villains. I am in agreement with that and Amis points in that direction, as well. The Bond girls receive their fair and unfair share of criticism, but as is the case usually, some are deep characters who add a real dimension to the stories and Bond and others are pathetic attempts. Those pathetic attempts should not be viewed as archetypes or indication that Fleming is a misogynist. That is also a failure of presentist critics.
Most of Amis's defense and criticism is spot on. He does, however, bend over backwards occasionally to defend Fleming, as if he were his best man or something. It gets awkward and you almost see Amis compromising artistic and intellectual integrity in doing so. It seems self-adulatory at times, too, that he is making such an enormous fuss about a statesman of literature swooping down to protect a regular story teller.
This is much needed because the criticisms of the Bond series are just plain silly and chimerical. Many critics just hate the genre; that is an expression of its own disconnected from Bond. Some contemporary critics pilloried Fleming for a whole host of problems. Fleming is known for underdeveloped and tedious villains. I am in agreement with that and Amis points in that direction, as well. The Bond girls receive their fair and unfair share of criticism, but as is the case usually, some are deep characters who add a real dimension to the stories and Bond and others are pathetic attempts. Those pathetic attempts should not be viewed as archetypes or indication that Fleming is a misogynist. That is also a failure of presentist critics.
Most of Amis's defense and criticism is spot on. He does, however, bend over backwards occasionally to defend Fleming, as if he were his best man or something. It gets awkward and you almost see Amis compromising artistic and intellectual integrity in doing so. It seems self-adulatory at times, too, that he is making such an enormous fuss about a statesman of literature swooping down to protect a regular story teller.
May 1, 2019
I'm a James Bond fan. I admit it. I found this book via Amazon while researching a bit about the infamous secret-agent. The book was published in 1965 and the author, Kingsley Amis, does a roundabout analysis of both Ian Fleming and James Bond. I enjoyed it, getting some interesting insights. I was hoping for more but maybe I'll get it in the other publication that I found. Here's what I specifically took away from this 'dossier':
If Bond’s sexual qualifications were to become standardized as basic female demand, more than one kind of male would start finding himself very much in undemand.
The secret-agent fantasy is marked by being totally portable.
Any fantasy in which the subject is saying, in effect, I AM NOT AS OTHER MEN ARE, is obviously very powerful.
Clothes probably don’t make the man, but they can tell us a lot about him.
James Bond’s professionalism is one of the best things about him.
The reader is more likely to admire James Bond as one who not only inhabits such a world by choice, but survives the worst it can do to him and comes out on top.
We don’t want to have James Bond to dinner or go golfing with Bond or talk to Bond. We want ‘TO BE’ Bond.
“I hoped I would one day kiss a man like that,” Solitaire says, “and when I first saw you, I knew it would be you.”
And then there was this pest of a girl. He sighed. Women were for recreation. On a job, they got in the way and fogged things up with sex and hurt feelings and all the emotional baggage they carried around. One had to look out for them and take care of them.
“Bitch,” said Bond.
“I do not possess these vices. I am, as you correctly say, a maniac—a maniac, Mr. Bond, with a mania for power. That is the meaning of my life. That is why I am here. That is why you are here. That is why here exists.” --Dr. No, the villain
“Ah, the quiet Englishman! He fears nothing save the emotions.”
You and I know that what counts is what James Bond does, not what he says…
It’s clear in general that he’s one of those progressives who are quite prepared to accept the present and even allow the future to happen.
You might want to own a Rolls-Royce, or go on holiday in the Bahamas…because these things in themselves make you feel big and important…they confer status.
Elegant is one of Mr. Fleming’s favorite terms.
More than one sort of hero mustn’t go to the police whatever happens, because that would make him less heroic.
The best way of hiding something is to keep it out of sight.
People take you at your own valuation. If you tell them you’re a genius, or a mere entertainer, they’ll tell one another you’re a genius, or a mere entertainer.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of using literature as an escape from life, there’s a lot to be said for using one kind of literature as an escape from others.
There are obvious traditional links between secret-agent fiction and science fiction.
All literature is escapist.
We can remain at some distance from every character in a work of literature and still identify with the work itself, inhabit it as a part of reality.
Arts: looking at pictures, listening to music…were right to use “to interpret life to us, to console us, to sustain us”.
If Bond’s sexual qualifications were to become standardized as basic female demand, more than one kind of male would start finding himself very much in undemand.
The secret-agent fantasy is marked by being totally portable.
Any fantasy in which the subject is saying, in effect, I AM NOT AS OTHER MEN ARE, is obviously very powerful.
Clothes probably don’t make the man, but they can tell us a lot about him.
James Bond’s professionalism is one of the best things about him.
The reader is more likely to admire James Bond as one who not only inhabits such a world by choice, but survives the worst it can do to him and comes out on top.
We don’t want to have James Bond to dinner or go golfing with Bond or talk to Bond. We want ‘TO BE’ Bond.
“I hoped I would one day kiss a man like that,” Solitaire says, “and when I first saw you, I knew it would be you.”
And then there was this pest of a girl. He sighed. Women were for recreation. On a job, they got in the way and fogged things up with sex and hurt feelings and all the emotional baggage they carried around. One had to look out for them and take care of them.
“Bitch,” said Bond.
“I do not possess these vices. I am, as you correctly say, a maniac—a maniac, Mr. Bond, with a mania for power. That is the meaning of my life. That is why I am here. That is why you are here. That is why here exists.” --Dr. No, the villain
“Ah, the quiet Englishman! He fears nothing save the emotions.”
You and I know that what counts is what James Bond does, not what he says…
It’s clear in general that he’s one of those progressives who are quite prepared to accept the present and even allow the future to happen.
You might want to own a Rolls-Royce, or go on holiday in the Bahamas…because these things in themselves make you feel big and important…they confer status.
Elegant is one of Mr. Fleming’s favorite terms.
More than one sort of hero mustn’t go to the police whatever happens, because that would make him less heroic.
The best way of hiding something is to keep it out of sight.
People take you at your own valuation. If you tell them you’re a genius, or a mere entertainer, they’ll tell one another you’re a genius, or a mere entertainer.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of using literature as an escape from life, there’s a lot to be said for using one kind of literature as an escape from others.
There are obvious traditional links between secret-agent fiction and science fiction.
All literature is escapist.
We can remain at some distance from every character in a work of literature and still identify with the work itself, inhabit it as a part of reality.
Arts: looking at pictures, listening to music…were right to use “to interpret life to us, to console us, to sustain us”.
October 7, 2022
Kingsley Amis je veoma priznati britanski književnik koji je verovatno najveće ime među piscima koji su nasledili Iana Fleminga u pisanju romana iz serijala o agentu 007. Pred preuzimanje dužnosti, Kingsley Amis je napisao esej, objavljen u formi knjige u kom je kritički sagledao Flemingovog Bonda, pokušavajući da dokuči zbog čega ga čitaoci vole, zbog čega ga kritičari osporavaju i da iznese svoj stav koji je uglavnom opet pa pokušaj da se iz vizure osobe koja nije ni ideološki a ni estetički bliska liku i delu kojim se bavi to sve nekako odbrani.
Ne smatram da je - ako imamo u vidu samu Amisovu poziciju Flemingovog "naslednika" - ovaj rukopis "naručen" ili da je njegova "odbrana" treša koji on nadalje kao "pisac visoke književnosti" treba da produkuje. Ipak, kroz njega provejava doza elitističkog "razumevanja za eskapizam" kao i zdrava mera podbadanja drugih kolega iz "visoke književnosti" u kojih je eto i Fleming u ponečemu bolji.
Na kraju, za ovu knjigu se ne može reći da se više bavi Amisom nego Flemingom, ipak je fokus na delu, ali njen sadržaj i zaključci su ipak prilično banalni. S druge strane, o Bondu i Flemingu ima dosta knjiga, mahom biografskih, publicističkih i nažalost retko iznad nivoa pukog fanovskog doživljaja teme. Teško da se Bondom ikada ovako detaljno bavio ko je tako ugledan kao Amis, niti je njegova proza tako obimno kritički sagledavana (a Amis se isključivo bavi knjigama) jer je na kraju obrni-okreni fokus ipak bio na filmovima.
Šteta što sam THE JAMES BOND DOSSIER nije onoliko dobar koliko Amis tvrdi da Fleming jeste.
Ne smatram da je - ako imamo u vidu samu Amisovu poziciju Flemingovog "naslednika" - ovaj rukopis "naručen" ili da je njegova "odbrana" treša koji on nadalje kao "pisac visoke književnosti" treba da produkuje. Ipak, kroz njega provejava doza elitističkog "razumevanja za eskapizam" kao i zdrava mera podbadanja drugih kolega iz "visoke književnosti" u kojih je eto i Fleming u ponečemu bolji.
Na kraju, za ovu knjigu se ne može reći da se više bavi Amisom nego Flemingom, ipak je fokus na delu, ali njen sadržaj i zaključci su ipak prilično banalni. S druge strane, o Bondu i Flemingu ima dosta knjiga, mahom biografskih, publicističkih i nažalost retko iznad nivoa pukog fanovskog doživljaja teme. Teško da se Bondom ikada ovako detaljno bavio ko je tako ugledan kao Amis, niti je njegova proza tako obimno kritički sagledavana (a Amis se isključivo bavi knjigama) jer je na kraju obrni-okreni fokus ipak bio na filmovima.
Šteta što sam THE JAMES BOND DOSSIER nije onoliko dobar koliko Amis tvrdi da Fleming jeste.
April 19, 2018
This is odd, curious little book that I didn't even know existed until I stumbled on it at a book fair. I love old paperbacks and have good collection of Fleming's Bond novels. First time I've seen this one (1966 paperback edition), and it was priced as if it's somewhat rare. Kingsley Amis was a notable British author, Fleming fan, and author of Colonel Sun, a 1968 Bond book written under the pen name Robert Markham. This book is critical analysis of Fleming's Bond novels, and argues for the literary status of the Bond novels within the secret agent/detective genre, but also within the broader scope of popular literature. It's often tongue-in-cheek, but also insightful, and offers a nice summary of Fleming's technique and Bond's character with numerous examples. At times it felt like a thesis paper, making comparisons to the father-like nature of M, and well as some of the villains for example, but that's part of the fun. Should be read by all Bond aficionados, and kept on their shelf for future reference. Casual fans might find this a bit over the top.
April 15, 2018
I've read books by Kingsley Amis and his son, Martin Amis, but I think that Amis pere enjoys reading a bit more. This slim volume is not really a guide to the books but more of an assessment of them being any good or not (spoiler: Mr Amis loves 'em) and whether or not Bond is a valid literary hero or not, as well as a survey of themes, tropes and cliches that crop up over the course of the series. He also expresses some controversial views: that Connery was a wrong choice (interestingly, for a book written in 1965, he expresses the view that Connery wouldn't be able to pull off the heraldry expert deception that Bond does in OHMSS - we'll never know, of course); that Bond isn't a sexist monster; that the books are cleverer than you might think; and that The Waste Land might have benefited from a few more product placements. It's a great read, especially the section on where Fleming got his research wrong.
June 26, 2022
Brief, wry, and veddy British analysis of Ian Fleming's James Bond books written not long after Fleming's death in 1965. It was actually hard to tell whether the whole thing was meant to be tongue-in-cheek; I don't think so but the author treated his subject with a charming detached lightness. Kingsley Amis chooses ten or twelve aspects/themes from the novels (M's role, women, gadgets, etc.) and does a little comparison of how each theme is treated throughout the series. I especially appreciated the handy reference chart listing the settings, villains, Bond girls, allies, major plot points, etc. for each book. Fun fact: Amis also wrote the first post-Fleming Bond novel, Colonel Sun, which was very good.
February 6, 2022
Fun romp through the Bond novels. Amis defends Fleming from some of his critics, while also poking gentle fun at the ridiculousness of it all. I love the Bond novels, as Amis does, too, and I can appreciate his tongue-in-cheek approach to “analyzing” them. Amis seems to be at his most serious when he’s joking.
November 8, 2021
A charming nonfiction essay that takes apart the entire James Bond series. Amis seems to take his dissection of Bond lore seriously, but it is in fact quite entertaining. Fans of the Ian Fleming novels and the Bond movies will thoroughly enjoy this book.
August 26, 2017
An amiable and contemporaneous essay on Fleming's Bond catalogue which substantiates its points to establish Bond as literature while occasionally allowing for the author's flippancy.
March 20, 2019
Every bit as enthusiastic for the topic as Colonel Sun. Every bit as enthusiastic and the essay on John Dickson Carr.
January 2, 2026
we need lots more of these. i especially like the advice to ts eliot.
May 16, 2016
A short and enjoyable exercise, with Kingsley Amis displaying his knowledge of the James Bond series of novels and also some of his friendship with Ian Fleming.
I enjoyed his synopsis of the usual course of events. Bond is captured and then his arch enemy feels the need to wine and dine him, lecture him on the aesthetics of power and then torture him in some way.
Some enjoyable observations about the Bond novels and deflection of some of the criticism levelled against Fleming. Also plenty of tongue in cheek commentary.
Late in this short book there are some observations about some of the mistakes made in the books and the merits or disadvantages of certain guns or holsters. Amazing that people would take the time to write to Fleming to point all these out. I particularly liked that someone went through the short story "For Your Eyes Only" and pointed out the state of the weather in Northern Vermont would be too cold at that time of year for crawling along the ground and that there are no sycamore trees growing there. It's all about attention to detail.
There is a very useful table at the end of the book which lists each story with the name of the arch rival, the girl, the people helping Bond and the locations.
I enjoyed his synopsis of the usual course of events. Bond is captured and then his arch enemy feels the need to wine and dine him, lecture him on the aesthetics of power and then torture him in some way.
Some enjoyable observations about the Bond novels and deflection of some of the criticism levelled against Fleming. Also plenty of tongue in cheek commentary.
Late in this short book there are some observations about some of the mistakes made in the books and the merits or disadvantages of certain guns or holsters. Amazing that people would take the time to write to Fleming to point all these out. I particularly liked that someone went through the short story "For Your Eyes Only" and pointed out the state of the weather in Northern Vermont would be too cold at that time of year for crawling along the ground and that there are no sycamore trees growing there. It's all about attention to detail.
There is a very useful table at the end of the book which lists each story with the name of the arch rival, the girl, the people helping Bond and the locations.
April 30, 2014
A terrific work of raffish literary criticism; wit, humor and light badinage; apologia; tweek to the literary snobs (too bad he couldn't win over the Widow Fleming*); and how to manual for how to write in the secret agent genre -- which may also mean that this book was an audition for "Colonel Sun". The masterful way that Amis balances these many discourses makes for easy reading. It's funny that he doesn't like deep readings of Bond yet comes up with some great ones, the M as father being one, and a discussion of Sadism and of Misogyny that are worth study.
Also, the balance of realism and product placement and the possibly fetishistic description of objects of luxury and spycraft are given their fair due. There are certainly attempts at balance so that the whole affair doesn't come off as a pure hagiography. I haven't read a bond book since I left high school and the last film I saw was "Octopussy", but might give Moonraker a chance as that seems to be an Amis favorite... and Colonel Sun, too, if I live that long.
*Fleming's wife, Ann, did not endorse any further Bond works and disliked Amis, saying that he would create "a petit bourgeois red brick Bond". Rilly.
Also, the balance of realism and product placement and the possibly fetishistic description of objects of luxury and spycraft are given their fair due. There are certainly attempts at balance so that the whole affair doesn't come off as a pure hagiography. I haven't read a bond book since I left high school and the last film I saw was "Octopussy", but might give Moonraker a chance as that seems to be an Amis favorite... and Colonel Sun, too, if I live that long.
*Fleming's wife, Ann, did not endorse any further Bond works and disliked Amis, saying that he would create "a petit bourgeois red brick Bond". Rilly.
March 24, 2014
I don't have many opportunities to call things "jaunty," so I'll call this book a jaunty defense of Ian Fleming's work, the kind you'd hear passionately laid out from one fanboy to another after several beers' worth of debate in an alternate universe where all fanboys are Kingsley Amis, Stephen Fry, Mark Gatiss, and anyone else who's played Mycroft Holmes. Like any good fanboy defense, and there aren't any, Kingsley's repeatedly turns into a mitigation, admitting to and excusing some of the worst qualities of Fleming's work. This becomes a tad unbearable when Amis tries to mount a defense for, say, casual racism. But the rest of the time his lengthy essay is astute and harmless and a good time for anyone who's read all of the original Bond books and wants some light critique of them, i.e. no one. (Barring me and some pasty men who died when Roger Moore still had human skin.)
January 25, 2011
For fans of the original Fleming novels, by the author who first continued the literary Bond legacy after his death. A look at the impact that the novels have had (circa 1965) on society and literature.
February 6, 2013
Worth perusing.
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