Had Ian Fleming lived beyond 1964...

...into the late 1960s and the 1970s, where would he have taken James Bond? Ian Fleming would hardly have approved of the direction the world took post-the 1964 General Election and the end of 'The Land of Lost Content'. The Beatles, The Rollng Stones, Harold Wlson's brand of new Socialism, 'White Heat', The Beat Movement, the Energy Crisis, Man on the Moon, the Hippy Revolution, Habitual drug use, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Ian Smith in Rhodesia, the Nuclear Deterrent etc. etc. etc.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on what Fleming might have written about in this broad subject area on the background of the late 1960s and 1970s.

I am not even sure that he would have continued his James Bond books, the movies insured him of a healthy income which is what he wanted to begin with.

Probably he would have wrote a better final Bond movie instead of TMWTGG.

Walecs wrote:

Probably he would have wrote a better final Bond movie instead of TMWTGG.

That said it is a pretty decent book to end the original run with the ending of the book Bond admitting to himself that there never would be one woman in his live because she would not be enough to keep him interested (to pall is the word used by Fleming) means he has recovered from Tracy and it is time to move on.
For me the Blofeld trilogy with its epilogue in TMWTTG is actually very satisfying.

Maybe Tracy would have been, who knows? :)

Fleming originally wanted to finish with You Only Live Twice. Would that have been better?

I do wish he lived long enough to refine TMWTGG, because conceptually it does make a solid ending of Fleming's run with Bond getting his groove back at the end, sort of allowing anyone else to pick up where Fleming left.

I think its for the best he died when he did. Other than the unrefined state of TMWTGG. But as S-Man points out, his era was ending. One fear I have is that he would have felt pressured to make book Bond more like movie Bond as time.went on -- more gadgets and OTT action. One thing I really like about Golden Gun is how down to earth it is. Its an epilogue, as has been said.

I think Fleming would have carried on writing Bond. He would have slowed down the pace, as all authors, musicians etc do as they reach the post-prime of their career. Fleming had already started to de-age Bond with YOLT, by playing with his OBIT, so he wasn't above the common literary device of not aging one's heroes.
As it were he cranked out a book a year for his whole Bond career. He was only 56, when he died. Not terribly old for an author. I think he would have kept going at whatever pace was comfortable for him. He wouldn't have had to do any other work what with Bond paying all the bills.

Quote :

I'd love to hear your thoughts on what Fleming might have written about
in this broad subject area on the background of the late 1960s and
1970s.

We do have some hint with Amis' Colonel Sun which he wrote in 1967 and with Pearson's JB Authorized Biography. Both were Fleming contemporaries and much of Fleming continues in both their efforts, especially Pearson's fine work circa 1972-73, which does have an authentic Fleming air about it. Neither author seems terribly distracted by the changing world around them. Fleming's Bond is quite recognizable in both their efforts.The Soviets as enemies of the west persisted through the 1970's and deep into the 1980's so Bond would have had plenty to do via his traditional enemy.
I think Fleming might also have enjoyed his continued pontificating on the state of the world around Bond, as he did via many of his iconic characters, that bent Bond's ear, and our dear-reader's ear, such as Mathis, Kerim, Tiger, Dikko etc. Fleming was also a journalist with an interest in foreign affairs and geo-poltical events, so Bond also served as an outlet for him in that respect.

Having recently gained access to an alternate universe, I discovered synopses for two later books by the Ian Fleming of Dimension Q, who died of a heart attack in 1978:

One Giant Leap for Death (1970)
Bond is sent to investigate the theft of British space-travel technology intended for use by NASA. Grumbling over Britain being a mere appendage to the Yanks, Bond travels to Florida and gets distracted by Robin Birdsong, an environmentalist protesting NASA's impact on local fauna. Together they uncovers a monstrous conspiracy by KGB saboteurs to derail the space program and humiliate the west...

The Enemy of My Enemy is My Enemy (1971)
Bond is assigned to investigate heroin smuggling in Macao and Hong Kong. While traveling through the latter he discovers a massive conspiracy by Chinese intelligence to funnel the drugs (and their profits) into Vietnam. After befriending the Triad boss Hun Zhang (and his mistress Lowslung Lee), Bond leads a pack of Kung Fu commandos on a raid against a vast island fortress in the South China Sea...

Us Bondphiles must really find a way to cross over and read those books. Thanks for the tip.
The Fringe TV-show tech might get us there.

I think it would have gone one of two ways. The first being that he would continue the novels in a similar fashion to the films, interpreting box-office figures for what the public want. The alternative being - and what I think he may have done - that he would have stripped the producers of their rights/bought them back to discontinue what verges parody once the franchise entered the 70s.

FieldsMan wrote:

I think it would have gone one of two ways. The first being that he would continue the novels in a similar fashion to the films, interpreting box-office figures for what the public want. The alternative being - and what I think he may have done - that he would have stripped the producers of their rights/bought them back to discontinue what verges parody once the franchise entered the 70s.

No, he started writing as a way to make money. With the succes he would have laughed al the way to the bank. I fear he would have done a Leslie Charteris namely let ghostwriters do the work with his name on the label and all the proceeds to his bankaccount. He could live his live in total comfort with all the luxury he wanted.

saint mark wrote:

FieldsMan wrote:

I think it would have gone one of two ways. The first being that he would continue the novels in a similar fashion to the films, interpreting box-office figures for what the public want. The alternative being - and what I think he may have done - that he would have stripped the producers of their rights/bought them back to discontinue what verges parody once the franchise entered the 70s.

No, he started writing as a way to make money. With the succes he would have laughed al the way to the bank. I fear he would have done a Leslie Charteris namely let ghostwriters do the work with his name on the label and all the proceeds to his bankaccount. He could live his live in total comfort with all the luxury he wanted.

I think Fleming took more pride in his work than to do that.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

saint mark wrote:

FieldsMan wrote:

I think it would have gone one of two ways. The first being that he would continue the novels in a similar fashion to the films, interpreting box-office figures for what the public want. The alternative being - and what I think he may have done - that he would have stripped the producers of their rights/bought them back to discontinue what verges parody once the franchise entered the 70s.

No, he started writing as a way to make money. With the succes he would have laughed al the way to the bank. I fear he would have done a Leslie Charteris namely let ghostwriters do the work with his name on the label and all the proceeds to his bankaccount. He could live his live in total comfort with all the luxury he wanted.

I think Fleming took more pride in his work than to do that.

I think at the end he was kind of fed up with his creation James Bond as he tried to kill him of several times, but like with Conan Doyle his creation paid a lot of bills so he was kind of stuck with him.

Yes Fleming did briefly kill off Bond at the end of FRWL, but he brought him back from the dead for DN. Whew!

tiffanywint wrote:

Yes Fleming did briefly kill off Bond at the end of FRWL, but he brought him back from the dead for DN. Whew!

And in YOLT

I gotta agree with St Mark on this one, which is why I said that I think its for the best he croaked when he did.

saint mark wrote:

tiffanywint wrote:

Yes Fleming did briefly kill off Bond at the end of FRWL, but he brought him back from the dead for DN. Whew!

And in YOLT

He didn't die in YOLT. He just disappeared with Kissy, after she kidnapped him and made him her boy-toy after she pulled his memory-loss self, out of the drink.
But he was left for dead at the end of FRWL.

Yeah, reminds me of how Conan Doyle had Holmes fall seemingly to his death into the Reichenbach Falls with Moriarty at the end of The Final Problem because he'd tired of writing the stories. But such was the outcry amongst Sherlock fans ... back he came.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Yeah, reminds me of how Conan Doyle had Holmes fall seemingly to his death into the Reichenbach Falls with Moriarty at the end of The Final Problem because he'd tired of writing the stories. But such was the outcry amongst Sherlock fans ... back he came.

I suspect these cliffhanger endings are always intentionally left inconclusive, just to leave the author the option to bring back the character if he so chooses.

tiffanywint wrote:

saint mark wrote:

tiffanywint wrote:

Yes Fleming did briefly kill off Bond at the end of FRWL, but he brought him back from the dead for DN. Whew!

And in YOLT

He didn't die in YOLT. He just disappeared with Kissy, after she kidnapped him and made him her boy-toy after she pulled his memory-loss self, out of the drink.
But he was left for dead at the end of FRWL.

Actually, the distinction I'm making is valid in that we the reader know that Bond is very much alive at the end of YOLT as opposed to FRWL where it did seem that he was a goner.
But yes I get you, of course Bond was killed in YOLT too. The world was very convinced that he was dead. Only Kissy and her pet cormorant knew better.