The James Bond Dossier
The James Bond Dossier (
1965,
Jonathan Cape) by
Kingsley Amis is a critical analysis of
Ian Fleming's
James Bond novels. Amis would become the first Bond continuation novelist, writing
Colonel Sun in
1968 under the pseudonym
Robert Markham.
Written at the height of Bond-mania, it is a thorough analysis of Fleming's strengths and weaknesses as a thriller-writer. Amis had considerable respect for the Bond novels, and thought that they deserved to be taken seriously as popular literature. This itself was a fairly controversial stance, the novels having been subject to strong criticism for their violence and sexual content almost since the appearance of
Casino Royale in
1953. The idea of taking them seriously
as books was (so to speak) novel.
Accordingly, although
The James Bond Dossier is written in Amis's usual accessible, apparently light-hearted style, it is neither patronising or ironic in tone. He gives Fleming the full
literary criticism treatment.
Each chapter deals with one aspect of the novels:- 'No woman has ever held this man' concerns the character of James Bond himself (of whom Amis observes "Bond could be more boring than he is and still be acceptable"), 'Damnably clear grey eyes' is about M, 'A glint of red' is about the various villains, and so forth.
Along the way, Amis enjoys himself rebutting contemporary moral criticisms of Ian Fleming. He cites one critic as writing that "Mr Fleming obviously hates women dreadfully." After quoting from the closing chapter of
Dr. No (in which Bond visits the heroine's house for the first time), Amis comments "I suppose it is possible that a man who can write like that 'hates women dreadfully'. But I cannot believe that he
obviously does so."
The book was written prior to the publication of the final collection of Fleming short stories,
Octopussy and The Living Daylights and therefore does not include discussion of these stories.
Amis wrote more about the Bond phenomenon in 1969, that essay being included in his 1970 collection of literary criticism entitled 'What Became of Jane Austen and Other Questions'.
