‘It’s just that I’d rather die of drink than of thirst.’ – Thunderball, Ian Fleming, 1961We often forget that James Bond was the character from a series of novels before becoming a movie icon. And that there are some great, magnificent lines from Fleming's novels that did not make it to the big screen yet. This is one of those, if I am not mistaken. Dry British humour at its best. James Bond is not meant to be a very wise person, he is in fact rather self-destructive, but there is a rationale behind it. The novel Thunderball is a worthy read for many reasons, among them it introduced Bond's nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld (whom I blogged about here and here), the complete ethical opposite of Bond, it has also one of the most chillingly believable plots of the series, but also because of lines like the one above. As we are approaching Ian Fleming's death anniversary, I thought of giving a bit of commemoration by celebrating his writing.
4 comments:
When I was a tween, I read many of the James Bond novels. Yes, it was probably inappropriate stuff for a kid but what can I say? I was precocious, LOL!
It is the right age to start reading James Bond I think.
Have you ever read Alan Moore's "The Black Dossier"?
He included James Bond as one of the heavies. I thought it was an appropriate and well handled treatment of the character, all things considered.
I have heard about it, but did not read it.
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