The definitive history of the flamboyant life of Ian Fleming and his most famous creation, James Bond.
This new biography of Ian Fleming presents a fresh and illuminating portrayal of the iconic creator of James Bond. Oliver Buckton provides the first in-depth exploration of the entire process of Ian Fleming’s writing—from initial conception, through composition, to his involvement in the innovative publication methods of his books. He also investigates the vital impact of Fleming’s work in naval intelligence during World War Two on his later writings, especially the wartime operations he planned and executed and how they drove the plots of the James Bond novels. Buckton considers the vital role of wartime deception, disinformation, and propaganda in shaping Fleming’s later techniques and imaginative creations. Offering a radically new view of Fleming’s relationships with women, Buckton traces the role of strong, independent, and intelligent women such as Maud Russell, Phyllis Bottome, and his wife, Ann, on Fleming’s portrayal of female characters. The book concludes with a thorough analysis of the James Bond films from Eon productions, and their influence in promoting, while also distorting, the public’s recognition of Fleming’s writing.
Oliver Buckton is professor of English at Florida Atlantic University. He is the editor of The Many Facets of Diamonds Are Forever: James Bond on Page and Screen and author of Espionage in British Fiction and Film since 1900: The Changing Enemy. He lives in Delray Beach, Florida.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
List of Photos
Author’s Note
Foreword
Prologue: A Fateful Meeting
1 Spyway: The Early Life of Ian Fleming
2 Escape in the Alps: Ian Fleming and James Bond in Kitzbühel
3 From Moscow to Ebury Street: Fleming in the 1930s
4 My Man Godfrey: Ian Fleming in Naval Intelligence
5 After the War Was Over: Goldeneye and Kemsley House
6 The Spy Story to End All Spy Stories: Casino Royale
7 The Edge of Danger: Thrilling Environments of Ian Fleming
8 “Such Stubborn Retreats”: The Bondian Worlds of Jamaica and Kent
9 Fleming’s Women, Bond’s “Girls”
10 Promoting Bond: Fleming, Mass Culture, and the Movies
11 From Fleming, with Love: Travel Writings and Nonfiction