Jun

17

Shaken, Not Stirred.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

June 17, 2008 |

In James Bond As Archetype (And Incredibly Cool Dude) Michael Dirda sums up the appeal of the super secret agent by stating the obvious: that every man wants to be a hero, and every man knows the sexual appeal of not just being a hero but being dangerous as well. That may be why he appeals to so many of us in spite of there being something cartoonish about the “omnicompetent 007″ who “can handle himself with utter confidence in a casino or on a golf course, at a shooting range or on a ski slope. He can drive a tank or fly an airplane or bet all his chips on the turn of a card and win.” Maybe that’s why, nearly five decades after Ian Fleming’s death, Bond continues to draw people to the theaters (even when he’s the blonde Daniel Craig) and why author Sebastian Faulks has added to the saga with the new Bond novel Devil May Care. Michael Dirda admits that, if he could be a literary figure, he’d be James Bond, and that he’s really not kidding about that. Well, Mr. Dirda, get in line.

And yet there’s something almost self-parodying and repetitive about James Bond. Rereading the novels, Dirda is surprised by “the casual racism and crude sexism, the hokey slang and overdone black speech, the succession of improbabilities, the simplistic action” in the novel Live And Let Die. And he criticizes Devil May Care for being “surprisingly unimaginative”, but apparently that may be the case with all James Bond novels. (I’m going to confess here that I’ve never read one myself.) Dirda adds that, “Fleming reportedly once said that he designed his books to be read by tired businessmen on long airplane flights.” And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s certainly not any worse than entertaining daydreams of being super hero and devilish bad boy all at the same time. We all have to grow up, but our imaginations don’t have to grow old.  


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