The New York Times today published their review of The Life of Kingsley Amis by Zachary Leader. The book was originally published in the UK last November. It was finally published stateside on April 24 by Pantheon Books. The book hits paperback in the UK on October 4.

Amis, as most here (should) know, wrote two non-fiction James Bond books, The James Bond Dossier and The Book of Bond or, Every Man His Own 007, as well as the first continuation James Bond novel, Colonel Sun.
The New York Times Book Review

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• Amazon.co.uk

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I completely missed this last week, but on May 22 In Secret Service by Mitch Silver was released to bookstores nationwide. The synopsis gives me a Da Vinci Code and National Treasure vibe. In it, Fleming apparently found out that following King Edward VIII’s abdication, Edward formed a secret relationship with Adolf Hitler. Knowing this, Fleming wrote it down in a 1964 manuscript that was discovered 50 years later by Amy Greenberg in Dublin. Wow, fiction can be fun!

Anyway, here’s a more in depth plot synopsis from Simon & Schuster:
(Read more…)

One month after the publication of The Man with the Golden Gun in 1965, Kingsley Amis published the second book that critically analyzes Ian Fleming’s James Bond works, The James Bond Dossier. It followed O.F. Snelling’s book 007 James Bond: A Report, which was published the year before. Although Ian Fleming had died in 1964, he had actually approved of this book. Amis later went on to write a second non-fiction book in 1965 on the world of James Bond, The Book of Bond or, Every Man His Own 007 under the pseudonym Lt.-Col. William (“Bill”) Tanner and in 1968 the first continuation James Bond novel, Colonel Sun, under the pseudonym Robert Markham.

I decided, for whatever reason, to do a kind of in depth look at The James Bond Dossier. For quite awhile I had problems obtaining a good copy for myself. Good copies are rather hard to find, and whenever I do find it it’s always going for a hefty price, or at least for a price higher than I’m willing to pay given the huge amount of non-fiction books in the same vein that are also available. But this is Kingsley Amis and primary reading material for all literary James Bond fans so it was inevitable that I would someday get my hands on it.

So anyway, this is my semi-uncritical analysis of Kingsley Amis’ critical analysis of Ian Fleming. If only forty-two years in the future someone decided to publish a critical analysis of my semi-uncritical analysis of Kingsley Amis’ critical analysis of Ian Fleming. That guy would be an idiot.

The James Bond Dossier

I should note that I plucked this out without much review time. So if you see any mistakes, just let me know. Comments are open and my email is available by filling out the form on the contact page.

Today, May 28, 2007, marks the 99th birthday of a man who wrote the “spy story to end all spy stories”, a man whose legacy continues today in novels, films, and various other media. Coming from a strong Scottish descent he was given the name Ian, and the middle name Lancaster in memory of John of Gaunt, whom his mother claimed as one of her forebears. His father, Valentine, was a Member of Parliament and a hero of the Great War who was awarded the Distinguished Service Order posthumously after dying on May 20, 1917 a mere eight days before Ian’s ninth birthday; his obituary was written by Winston Churchhill for The Times.

As Ian Lancaster Fleming grew up he was overshadowed by the fame and success of his father and his older brother, Peter. He attended Eton College, Sandhurst military academy, and the University of Geneva before attempting to join the Foreign Service. He failed and was later hired as a journalist for Reuters where he had great success covering a spy trial in the Soviet Union. Following that, Ian like his brother Peter and his famous grandfather Robert Fleming, briefly went into the banking business in Belgravia. Later he was hired by The Times to report on a government trade mission once again in the Soviet Union. This time, the Soviets suspected Fleming of being a spy (he was indeed) for the Foreign Office and arranged for a girl to keep an eye on him. Unaware of this, Fleming seduced the girl.

On May 24, 1939, Fleming had lunch with two admirals, one being John Godfrey a recent appointee to the position of Director of Naval Intelligence. Several months later, Godfrey made sure Fleming became a Lieutenant and later Commander in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve as well as his personal assistant, a position he held through the events of World War II. (Read more…)