James Rogers (jetan@ionet.net)
Wed, 24 Nov 1999 10:09:47 -0600
At 03:31 PM 11/24/99 +0000, you wrote:
> Fleming is a terrible writer,
>though...
>
>
Aw, I dunno. I actually thought that
the first book, before Bond became a parody of himself, was
pretty good. The card game was quite suspenseful(in general,
I felt the games in the books were the best parts) and the
reader had the sense that Bond was essentially just a
hitman.
Obviously, as the series spun on the
books got sillier and sillier. Finally anti-Bond novels by
LeCarre and others started being produced. But even at their
worst I thought that the Fleming things were as good or
better than, say, Mickey Spillane. In fact, I would suggest
that in certain ways, both good and bad, Fleming's writing
bears a resemblance to Spillane's.
I expect that this genre has been
declared prematurely dead. As our national paranoia level
against China rachets up, I think spy books will make a
comeback. True, it won't be the same without Checkpoint
Charlie and all the other cold war apparatus, but I reckon
there's a dance in the old dame yet.
James
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