104-429: The Spy Who Loved Me may refer to: The Spy Who Loved Me (novel) , the 1962 novel by Ian Fleming The Spy Who Loved Me (film) , the 1977 film named after the novel James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me , the novelization of the film by Christopher Wood The Spy Who Loved Me (video game) , the computer game based on the film The Spy Who Loved Me (soundtrack) ,
208-662: A Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in either 1953–as described by a Russian dossier about Bond in From Russia, with Love —or 1954, as described by Bond's obituary in You Only Live Twice . Bond lives in a flat off the King's Road in Chelsea . Continuation authors John Pearson and William Boyd both identify the location as Wellington Square. The former believed the address
312-513: A Rolls-Royce . Sir Fitzroy Maclean was another figure mentioned as a possibility, based on his wartime work behind enemy lines in the Balkans , as was the MI6 double agent Dušan Popov . In 2016, a BBC Radio 4 documentary explored the possibility that the character of Bond was inspired by author and mentor to Fleming, Phyllis Bottome in her 1946 novel, The Lifeline . Distinct similarities between
416-416: A "Mark II", a term which was never used. Bond replaces the engine with a Mark IV 4.9 L and commissions a body from Mulliners that was a "rather square convertible two-seater affair." He paints this car battleship grey and upholsters it in black. Later, against the advice of Bentley, he adds an Arnott supercharger. In 1957 Fleming had written to Rolls-Royce's Chairman, Whitney Straight , to get information about
520-481: A 3 in (76 mm) long, thin vertical scar on his right cheek; blue-grey eyes; a "cruel" mouth; short, black hair, a comma of which rests on his forehead. Physically he is described as 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) in height and 76 kg (168 lb) in weight. During Casino Royale , a SMERSH agent carves the Russian Cyrillic letter "Ш" (SH) (for Shpion : "Spy") into the back of Bond's right hand; by
624-508: A Bond novel, animated by his presence, is absent", according to Black. Black sees the closest equivalent in the Bond canon is " Quantum of Solace ", the 1960 short story about marital relations Fleming wrote in the style of W. Somerset Maugham , a writer he greatly admired. The absence of the spy element in The Spy Who Loved Me , and the concentration on Viv's early life, ensures the novel
728-446: A Russian nuclear expert who defected to the West. That night Sluggsy and Horror set fire to the motel and attempt to kill Bond and Viv. A gun battle ensues and, during their escape, Horror and Sluggsy's car crashes into a lake. Bond and Viv retire to bed, but Sluggsy is still alive and makes a further attempt to kill them, before Bond shoots and kills him. Viv wakes to find Bond gone, leaving
832-523: A birth date of 11 November 1920, while a study by Bond scholar John Griswold puts the date at 11 November 1921. According to Griswold, the Fleming novels take place between around May 1951, to February 1964, by which time Bond was aged 42. If the quality of these books, or their degree of veracity, had been any higher, the author would certainly have been prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act. It
936-476: A black oxidised Ronson lighter. The cigarettes were the same as Fleming's, who had been buying his at Morland since the 1930s; the three gold bands on the filter were added during the war to mirror his naval Commander's rank. On average, Bond smokes sixty cigarettes a day, although he cut back to around twenty-five a day after his visit to a health farm in Thunderball : Fleming himself smoked up to 80 cigarettes
1040-696: A boy, Fleming devoured the Bulldog Drummond tales of Lieutenant Colonel Herman Cyril McNeile (aka "Sapper") and the Richard Hannay stories of John Buchan . His genius was to repackage these antiquated adventures to fit the fashion of postwar Britain ... In Bond, he created a Bulldog Drummond for the jet age . William Cook in the New Statesman During the Second World War , Ian Fleming had mentioned to friends that he wanted to write
1144-434: A cautionary tale about Bond, to put the record straight in the minds particularly of younger readers. It was impossible to do this in my usual narrative style and I therefore invented the fiction of a heroine through whom I could examine Bond from the other end of the gun barrel, so to speak. This I did by telling the story in her own words of her upbringing and love life, which consisted of two incidents, both of which were of
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#17328475749811248-555: A day. Bond occasionally supplements his alcohol consumption with the use of other drugs, for both functional and recreational reasons: Moonraker sees Bond consume a quantity of the amphetamine benzedrine accompanied by champagne, before his bridge game with Sir Hugo Drax (also consuming a carafe of vintage Riga vodka and a vodka martini); he also uses the drug for stimulation on missions, such as swimming across Shark Bay in Live and Let Die , or remaining awake and alert when threatened in
1352-664: A disappointment." The reviewer John Fletcher thought that it was "as if Mickey Spillane had tried to gatecrash his way into the Romantic Novelists' Association ". Philip Stead, writing in The Times Literary Supplement considered the novel's plot to be "a morbid version of that of Beauty and the Beast ". The review noted that once Bond arrives on the scene to find Viv threatened by the two thugs, he "solves [the problem] in his usual way. A great quantity of ammunition
1456-581: A drophead. However, Mulliner's price was too high and Silva eventually had the body built by Henri Chapron, with the work completed in July 1958. In 2008 the coachwork on this car was modified to match the proposed Mulliner conversion more closely. According to academic Jeremy Black , Bond is written as a complex character, even though he was also often the voice of Fleming's prejudices. Throughout Fleming's books, Bond expresses racist , sexist and homophobic attitudes. The output of these prejudices, combined with
1560-473: A good name.' Casino Royale , Chapter 7: Rouge et Noir Bond's drinking habits run throughout the series of books. During the course of On Her Majesty's Secret Service alone, Bond consumes forty-six drinks: Pouilly-Fuissé , Riquewihr and Marsala wines, most of a bottle of Algerian wine, some 1953 Château Mouton Rothschild claret , along with Taittinger and Krug champagnes and Babycham ; for whiskies he consumes three bourbon and waters, half
1664-579: A journey through North America. She stopped in the Adirondack Mountains to work at the Dreamy Pines motel, in the employ of the managers Jed and Mildred Phancey. Them At the end of the vacation season, the Phanceys entrust Viv with looking after the motel for the night before the owner, Mr. Sanguinetti, can arrive to take inventory and close it up for the winter. Two mobsters , "Sluggsy" Morant and
1768-432: A keen birdwatcher himself, had a copy of Bond's guide and he later explained to the ornithologist's wife that "It struck me that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born". When I wrote the first one in 1953, I wanted Bond to be an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened; I wanted him to be a blunt instrument ... when I
1872-420: A letter from Oxford University , where he was studying, saying he was forcibly engaged to someone else by his parents. Viv's second love affair was with her German employer, Kurt Rainer, by whom she eventually became pregnant. She informed Rainer and he paid for her to go to Switzerland to have an abortion, telling her that their affair was over. After the procedure, Viv returned to her native Canada and started on
1976-592: A maid. After being sent down from Eton, Bond was sent to Fettes College in Scotland, his father's school. On his first visit to Paris at the age of 16, Bond lost his virginity , later reminiscing about the event in " From a View to a Kill ". Fleming referenced his own upbringing for his creation, with Bond alluding to briefly attending the University of Geneva (as did Fleming), before being taught to ski in Kitzbühel (as
2080-643: A member of the Special Operations Executive , claimed that the name could have been linked with him. Bond's code number—007—was assigned by Fleming in reference to one of British naval intelligence's key achievements of First World War : the breaking of the German diplomatic code. One of the German documents cracked and read by the British was the Zimmermann Telegram , which was coded 0075, and which
2184-647: A moment. Three measures of Gordon's , one of vodka , half a measure of Kina Lillet . Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel . Got it?' 'Certainly monsieur.' The barman seemed pleased with the idea. 'Gosh, that's certainly a drink,' said Leiter. Bond laughed. 'When I'm ... er ... concentrating,' he explained, 'I never have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that one to be large and very strong and very cold, and very well-made. I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad. This drink's my own invention. I'm going to patent it when I think of
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#17328475749812288-408: A neutral figure—an anonymous, blunt instrument wielded by a government department." After Fleming met the ornithologist and his wife, he described them as "a charming couple who are amused by the whole joke". In the first draft of Casino Royale he decided to use the name James Secretan as Bond's cover name while on missions. In 2018 the family of James Charles Bond, who had served under Fleming as
2392-462: A new car for Bond. Fleming wanted the car to be a cross between a Bentley Continental and a Ford Thunderbird . Straight pointed Fleming to chassis number BC63LC, which was probably the inspiration for the vehicle that ended up in the book. This car had been delivered in May 1954 to a Mr Silva as a Mulliner-bodied coupé. After he rolled the car and wrecked the body, Silva commissioned Mulliner to convert it to
2496-550: A note in which he promises to send her police assistance and which he concludes by telling her not to dwell too much on the ugly events through which she has just lived. As Viv finishes reading the note, a large police detachment arrives. After taking her statement, the officer in charge of the detail reiterates Bond's advice, but also warns Viv that all men involved in violent crime and espionage, regardless of which side they are on—including Bond himself—are dangerous and that Viv should avoid them. Viv reflects on this as she drives off at
2600-559: A pint of I.W. Harper bourbon, Jack Daniel's whiskey, two double bourbons on the rocks, two whisky and sodas, two neat scotches and one glass of neat whisky; vodka consumption totalled four vodka and tonics and three double vodka martinis; other spirits included two double brandies with ginger ale, a flask of Enzian schnaps and a double gin: he also washes this down with four steins of German beer. Bond's alcohol intake does not seem to affect his performance. Regarding non-alcoholic drinks, Bond eschews tea, calling it "mud" and blaming it for
2704-485: A spy novel. It was not until 1952, however, shortly before his wedding to his pregnant girlfriend, Ann Charteris , that Fleming began to write his first book, Casino Royale , to distract himself from his forthcoming nuptials. Fleming started writing the novel at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica on 17 February 1952, typing out 2,000 words in the morning, directly from his own experiences and imagination. He finished work on
2808-403: A strongly cautionary nature. Fleming found writing the Bond novels increasingly arduous and had thoughts of finishing the series by killing Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me , but changed his mind while writing. The novel is described by Fleming's biographer Andrew Lycett as Fleming's "most sleazy and violent story ever". This, writes Lycett, may have been a reflection of Fleming's state of mind at
2912-459: A victim of life in the past, she is wilful and tough too. Viv is not a fashionable stylish woman of the 1950s, but one who likes camping, fishing and other outdoor activities; Chancellor states that in this respect, she is, like Bond, an ideal from Fleming's imagination. The academic Christine Bold considers that Viv demonstrates a naïve view of life, and that the character reinforces Fleming's misogynistic view of women as they had been portrayed in
3016-485: A way. That black hair falling down over the right eyebrow. Much the same bones. But there was something a bit cruel in the mouth, and the eyes were cold." Others, such as journalist Ben Macintyre , identify aspects of Fleming's own looks in his description of Bond. General references in the novels describe Bond as having "dark, rather cruel good looks". In the novels (notably From Russia, with Love ), Bond's physical description has generally been consistent: slim build;
3120-547: Is a Secret Service officer, code number 007 (pronounced "double-O[ / oʊ / ]-seven"), residing in London but active internationally. Bond was a composite character who was based on a number of commandos whom Fleming knew during his service in the Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War , to whom Fleming added his own style and a number of his own tastes. Bond's name may have been appropriated from
3224-511: Is a character created by the British journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the protagonist of the James Bond series of novels , films , comics and video games . Fleming wrote twelve Bond novels and two short story collections. His final two books— The Man with the Golden Gun (1965) and Octopussy and The Living Daylights (1966)—were published posthumously. The character
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3328-450: Is a measure of the disdain in which these fictions are held at the Ministry, that action has not yet—I emphasize the qualification—been taken against the author and publisher of these high-flown and romanticized caricatures of episodes in the career of an outstanding public servant. You Only Live Twice , Chapter 21: Obit: Fleming wrote On Her Majesty's Secret Service while Dr. No
3432-454: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages The Spy Who Loved Me (novel) The Spy Who Loved Me is the ninth novel and tenth book in Ian Fleming 's James Bond series, first published by Jonathan Cape on 16 April 1962. It is the shortest and most sexually explicit of Fleming's novels, as well as the only Bond novel told in
3536-430: Is expended, the zip-fastener is kept busy and the customary sexual consummation is associated with the kill." Vernon Scannell , as critic for The Listener , considered The Spy Who Loved Me to be "as silly as it is unpleasant". What aggrieved him most, however, was that it was "so unremittingly, so grindingly boring". The critic for Time lamented the fact that "unaccountably lacking in The Spy Who Loved Me are
3640-420: Is killed on their wedding day by Bond's nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld . In the penultimate novel of the series, You Only Live Twice , Bond suffers from amnesia and has a relationship with an Ama diving girl, Kissy Suzuki . As a result of the relationship, Kissy becomes pregnant, although she does not reveal this to Bond before he leaves the island. Fleming biographer Andrew Lycett noted that, "within
3744-477: Is orphaned at age 11 after his parents are killed in a mountain climbing accident in the Aiguilles Rouges near Chamonix . After the death of his parents, Bond went to live with his aunt, Miss Charmian Bond, in the village of Pett Bottom , where he completed his early education. Later, he briefly attended Eton College at "12 or thereabouts", but was expelled after two halves because of girl trouble with
3848-531: Is scrambled eggs." Fleming was so keen on scrambled eggs that he used his short story, " 007 in New York ", to provide his favourite recipe for the dish: in the story, this came from the housekeeper of Fleming's friend Ivar Bryce, May, who gave her name to Bond's own housekeeper. Academic Edward Biddulph observed that Fleming fully described seventy meals within the book series and that while a number of these had items in common—such as scrambled eggs and steaks—each meal
3952-407: Is the closest Fleming gets to kitchen sink realism in the Bond canon, as well as being the most sexually explicit of all of Fleming's novels. Benson analyses Fleming's writing style and identifies what he describes as the "Fleming Sweep": a stylistic point that sweeps the reader from one chapter to another using narrative hooks at the end of chapters to heighten tension and pull the reader into
4056-607: The Daily Express newspaper. There have been twenty-seven Bond films; seven actors have played Bond in the films . The central figure in Ian Fleming's work is the fictional character of James Bond, an intelligence officer in the " Secret Service ". Bond is also known by his code number, 007, and was a Royal Naval Reserve Commander . James Bond is the culmination of an important but much-maligned tradition in English literature. As
4160-796: The American ornithologist of the same name , although it is possible that Fleming took the name from a Welsh agent with whom he served, James C. Bond. Bond has a number of consistent character traits which run throughout the books, including an enjoyment of cars, a love of food, drink and sex, and an average intake of sixty custom-made cigarettes a day. Since Fleming's death in 1964, there have been other authorised writers of Bond material, including John Gardner , who wrote fourteen novels and two novelizations; Raymond Benson , who wrote six novels, three novelizations and three short stories; and Anthony Horowitz , who has written three novels. There have also been other authors who wrote one book each: Kingsley Amis (under
4264-479: The Canton de Vaud . The book was the first to be written after the release of Dr. No in cinemas and Connery's depiction of Bond affected Fleming's interpretation of the character, to give Bond a sense of humour that was not present in the previous stories. Bond spends much of his early life abroad, becoming multilingual in German and French because of his father's work as a Vickers armaments company representative. Bond
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4368-506: The Daphne du Maurier touch and prefer it this way but I doubt his real fans will." The previous Bond works were serialised in The Daily Express , but the newspaper turned down the opportunity to publish The Spy Who Loved Me as the story was too unlike the normal Bond books. The novel was adapted as a daily comic strip , written by Jim Lawrence and illustrated by Yaroslav Horak . It
4472-541: The Official Secrets Act I have much pleasure in sponsoring its publication. Me Vivienne "Viv" Michel, a young Canadian woman, narrates her own story, detailing her past love affairs. The first was with Derek Mallaby: the couple had sex in a field after being thrown out of a cinema in Windsor for indecent exposure . Their physical relationship ended that night, and Viv was subsequently rejected when Mallaby sent her
4576-512: The RCA Building at Rockefeller Center (then housing the headquarters of British Security Co-ordination – BSC) in New York City and a Norwegian double agent who had betrayed two British agents; it is suggested by Bond scholar John Griswold that these were part of Bond's wartime service with Special Operations Executive , a British Second World War covert military organisation. Bond is made
4680-440: The first person . Its narrator is a young Canadian woman, Viv Michel. Bond himself does not appear until two-thirds of the way through the book, arriving at precisely the right moment to save Viv from being raped and murdered by two criminals. Fleming wrote a prologue to the novel giving the character Viv credit as a co-author. The story uses a recurring motif of Saint George against the dragon , and contains themes of power, and
4784-450: The medieval legend: Apart from the excitement of his looks, his authority, his maleness, he had come from nowhere, like the prince in the fairy tales, and he had saved me from the dragon. But for him, I would now be dead, after suffering God knows what before. He could have changed the wheel on his car and gone off, or, when danger came, he could have saved his own skin. But he had fought for my life as if it had been his own. And then, when
4888-536: The "author has reached an unprecedented low". Not all reviews were negative. Esther Howard wrote in The Spectator , "Surprisingly Ian Fleming's new book is a romantic one and, except for some early sex in England (rather well done, this) only just as nasty as is needed to show how absolutely thrilling it is for ... the narrator to be rescued from both death and worse – than by a he-man like James Bond. Myself, I like
4992-615: The Adirondacks was based on one Fleming would drive past on the way to a friend's Black Hole Hollow Farm in Vermont; Viv is seduced by Derek, a public school boy, in the Royalty Kinema, Windsor, in the same way Fleming—while at the nearby public school Eton —seduced a woman and lost his virginity in the same establishment. Her time with Derek in the area around Cookham , Berkshire, is similar to Fleming's activities and experiences while he
5096-443: The Bond books. Few alterations were made to the story before publication. After the book was published he wrote to Michael Howard, his editor at Jonathan Cape , to explain why he had changed his approach: I had become increasingly surprised to find that my thrillers, which were designed for an adult audience, were being read in schools, and that young people were making a hero out of James Bond ... So it crossed my mind to write
5200-606: The Dreamy Pines Motor Court in The Spy Who Loved Me . Bond was a car enthusiast and took great interest in his vehicles. In Moonraker , Fleming writes that "Bond had once dabbled on the fringe of the racing world", implying Bond had raced in the past. Over the course of the 14 books, Bond owns three cars, all Bentleys. For the first three books of the series, Bond drives a supercharged 1930 Bentley 4½ Litre , painted battleship grey, that he bought in 1933. During
5304-615: The Golden Gun and Octopussy and The Living Daylights —were published posthumously. Fleming based his creation on a number of individuals which he came across during his time in the Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War, admitting that Bond "was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war". Among those types were his brother, Peter , whom Fleming worshipped and who had been involved in behind-the-lines operations in Norway and Greece during
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#17328475749815408-723: The High-Stake Gambling Scene, the Meal-Ordering Scene, the Torture Scene, the battleship-grey Bentley and Blades Club". The critic also bemoaned the fact that "among the shocks and disappointments 1962 still has in store ... is the discovery that the cruel, handsome, scarred face of James Bond does not turn up until more than halfway through Ian Fleming's latest book". Anthony Boucher —a critic described by Fleming's biographer, John Pearson , as "throughout an avid anti-Bond and an anti-Fleming man" —meanwhile wrote that
5512-681: The UK, and Bond was "the ideal antidote to Britain's postwar austerity, rationing and the looming premonition of lost power". This extravagance was more noteworthy with his contemporary readers for Bond eating exotic, local foods when abroad, at a time when most of his readership did not travel abroad. On 1 April 1958 Fleming wrote to The Manchester Guardian in defence of his work, referring to that paper's review of Dr. No . While referring to Bond's food and wine consumption as "gimmickery", Fleming bemoaned that "it has become an unfortunate trade-mark. I myself abhor Wine-and-Foodmanship. My own favourite food
5616-467: The War he kept the car in storage. He wrecks this car in May 1954 during the events of Moonraker . Bond subsequently purchases a Bentley Mark VI drophead coupé, using the money he won from Hugo Drax at Blades . This car is also painted battleship grey and has dark blue upholstery. Fleming refers to this car as a 1953 model, even though the last year for the mark was 1952. It is possible the 1953 year refers to
5720-501: The artist Richard Chopping undertook the cover art . He raised his fee from the 200 guineas (£210) he had charged for Thunderball to 250 guineas (£262.50). The artwork included a Fairbairn–Sykes commando knife ; Fleming borrowed one owned by his editor, Michael Howard at Jonathan Cape, as a model for Chopping. The Spy Who Loved Me was published in the US by Viking Books in April 1962; it
5824-410: The book has been issued in numerous hardback and paperback editions, translated into several languages and, as at 2024, has never been out of print. In 2023 Ian Fleming Publications—the company that administers Fleming's literary works—had the Bond series edited as part of a sensitivity review to remove or reword some racial or ethnic descriptors. The phrase "sweet tang of rape" from The Spy Who Loved Me
5928-477: The book. In the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me , the tenth in the Eon Productions series, only the title and the character of one of the villains, Jaws , is taken from in the book. The film was the third to star Roger Moore as Bond. A heavily adapted version of The Spy Who Loved Me appeared in The Daily Express newspaper in daily comic strip format between 1967 and 1968; a British paperback edition of
6032-528: The books Mr Fleming once wrote!" while The Glasgow Herald thought Fleming's writing career was over: "His ability to invent a plot has deserted him almost entirely and he has had to substitute for a fast-moving story the sorry misadventures of an upper-class tramp, told in dreary detail." Writing in The Observer , Maurice Richardson described the tale as "a new and regrettable if not altogether unreadable variation", going on to hope that "this doesn't spell
6136-606: The clubs near London. Moonraker , Chapter 1: Secret paper-work Only once in the series does Fleming have a partner for Bond in his flat, with the arrival of Tiffany Case , following Bond's mission to the US in Diamonds Are Forever . By the start of the following book, From Russia, With Love , Case has left to marry an American. Bond is married only once, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service , to Teresa "Tracy" di Vicenzo , but their marriage ends tragically when she
6240-439: The coachwork, which in this case would probably make it a Graber -bodied car. In Thunderball , Bond buys the wreck of a Bentley R-Type Continental with a sports saloon body and 4.5 L engine. Produced between 1952 and 1955, Bentley built 208 of these cars, 193 of which had H. J. Mulliner bodies. Bond's car would have been built before July 1954, as the engines fitted after this time were 4.9 L. Fleming curiously calls this car
6344-463: The door buzzer interrupts them. Him The British secret service agent James Bond appears at the door asking for a room, having had a flat tyre while passing. Bond soon realises that Horror and Sluggsy are mobsters and that Viv is in danger. Bond pressures the gangsters into providing him a room. Bond tells Viv that he is in America in the wake of Operation Thunderball and had been detailed to protect
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#17328475749816448-480: The downfall of the British Empire . He instead prefers to drink strong coffee. When in England and not on a mission, Bond dines as simply as Fleming did on dishes such as grilled sole, oeufs en cocotte and cold roast beef with potato salad . When on a mission, however, Bond eats more extravagantly. This was partly because in 1953, when Casino Royale was published, many items of food were still rationed in
6552-439: The dragon was dead, he had taken me as his reward. The question of good and evil is raised in the novel, with the police captain warning Viv that there is no practical difference between good and bad in the murky world in which both Bond and organised crime operate. Benson notes that when Viv first saw Bond, she thought he was another of the gangsters. Black agrees, and also sees the misuse of power by those with dark motives in
6656-454: The earlier Bond stories. Bold sees that Viv "underwrites Bond's sexual dominance over women" by sleeping with him after he saves her. It is at this point in the novel that Fleming (as Viv) writes "All women love semi-rape. They love to be taken." The claim was one for which Fleming was criticised. The opinion of the journalist Ben Macintyre is that "Fleming was not seriously defending rape, or even semi-rape, but trying to shock by reinforcing
6760-710: The end of the book, continuing her tour of America; despite the officer's warning, she still devotes her thoughts to Bond. By January 1961 the author Ian Fleming had published eight books in the preceding eight years: seven novels and a collection of short stories. A ninth book, Thunderball , was being edited and prepared for production; it was released at the end of March 1961. Fleming travelled to his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica in January to write The Spy Who Loved Me . He followed his usual practice, which he later outlined in Books and Bookmen magazine: "I write for about three hours in
6864-439: The first few pages [of Casino Royale ] Ian had introduced most of Bond's idiosyncrasies and trademarks", which included his looks, his Bentley and his smoking and drinking habits. The full details of Bond's martini were kept until chapter seven of the book and Bond eventually named it " The Vesper ", after his love interest Vesper Lynd . 'A dry martini,' he said. 'One. In a deep champagne goblet .' 'Oui, monsieur.' 'Just
6968-470: The idea of Bond's essential cruelty. If so, he shocked far more than he intended, and he still does". Despite her rescue from near-rape and death, the author Nick Stone thinks that: ... at the end there is very little resolution for Vivienne, and next to no catharsis. The reader is left with the sense that she will only add the scars of her 'night of screaming terror' at the hands of the villains to those inflicted from her past. The other characters in
7072-456: The manuscript in just over a month, completing it on 18 March 1952. Describing the work as his "dreadful oafish opus", Fleming showed it to an ex-girlfriend, Clare Blanchard, who advised him not to publish it at all, but that if he did so, it should be under another name. Despite that advice, Fleming went on to write a total of twelve Bond novels and two short story collections before his death on 12 August 1964. The last two books— The Man with
7176-415: The moral ambiguity between those acting with good and evil intent. As the narrator who tells her own backstory and expresses her emotions and motives, Viv has been described as the best realised and most rounded female character in the Bond canon. The reviewers were largely negative, with some expressing a desire for a return to the structure and form of the previous Bond novels. In a letter to his editor after
7280-448: The morning ... and I do another hour's work between six and seven in the evening. I never correct anything and I never go back to see what I have written ... By following my formula, you write 2,000 words a day." He found writing The Spy Who Loved Me easier than any of his other books. Fleming returned to London in March that year with a 113-page typescript, the shortest of any of
7384-502: The name The Spy Who Loved Me was used for the tenth film in the Eon Productions series. It was the third to star Roger Moore as Bond. Although Fleming had insisted that no film should contain anything of the plot of the novel—and the rights for the use of the name were granted on the basis that only the title was used—the steel-toothed character of Horror was included, renamed for the film as Jaws . James Bond (literary character) Commander James Bond CMG RNVR
7488-604: The next: Benson considers that the Sweep in The Spy Who Loved Me was still present, although the manuscript is ostensibly written by Viv. The literary analyst LeRoy L. Panek observes that The Spy Who Loved Me is a love story; in this, the novel "simply codifies a number of tendencies present in all ... [Fleming's] fiction". Panek argues that there are strong elements of romance in Casino Royale , Diamonds are Forever , Goldfinger , Thunderball and Dr. No . When analysed from
7592-627: The novel Thunderball . Although Fleming did not date the events within his novels, John Griswold and Henry Chancellor —both of whom wrote books for Ian Fleming Publications —identified different timelines based on events and situations within the novel series as a whole. Chancellor put the events of The Spy Who Loved Me in 1960; Griswold considers the story to have taken place in October 1961. For The Spy Who Loved Me , Fleming borrowed from his surroundings and experiences, as he had done with all his writing up to that point. The Dreamy Pines Motel in
7696-401: The novel are given less attention by Fleming. The historian Jeremy Black describes how Viv's second lover, Kurt, is a caricature of a German—a cruel racist with little capacity for love or affection—who forces her to have an abortion before ending their affair. According to Black, the two thugs, Sluggsy and Horror, are "comic-book villains with comic-book names". Their characters are not given
7800-499: The novel was published after Fleming's death. Fleming structured the novel in three sections—"Me", "Them" and "Him"—to describe the phases of the story. In the prologue he described the origin of the manuscript: I found what follows lying on my desk one morning. As you will see, it appears to be the first-person story of a young woman, evidently beautiful and not unskilled in the arts of love. According to her story, she appears to have been involved, both perilously and romantically, with
7904-440: The novel was so bad that Fleming requested there should be no reprints or paperback version of the book. For the British market no paperback version appeared until Pan Books published a copy in May 1967, after Fleming's death in 1964. This sold 517,000 copies before the end of the year, the best first-year sales of any of Fleming's works, with the exception of Thunderball , which sold 808,000 copies. Since its initial publication
8008-415: The novel, and the vulnerable being challenged and trapped by manipulative and powerful forces. Before the police officer's conversation with Viv, Bond also discusses with her the question of good and evil and says there was little value in his job and his way of life, concluding: It's nothing but a complicated game, really. But then so's international politics, diplomacy—all the trappings of nationalism and
8112-426: The power complex that goes on between countries. Nobody will stop playing the game. It's like the hunting instinct. The Spy Who Loved Me was released in the UK on 16 April 1962 as a hardcover edition by the publishers Jonathan Cape ; it was 221 pages long. To continue the conceit that Viv had given the script to Fleming, she was listed as a co-author of the work. As he had with all of the previous first editions,
8216-613: The protagonist in The Lifeline , Mark Chalmers, and Bond have been highlighted by spy writer Nigel West . Fleming took the name for his character from that of the American ornithologist Dr James Bond , an expert on Caribbean birds based at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and author of the definitive field guide Birds of the West Indies , first published in 1936. Fleming,
8320-422: The pseudonym Robert Markham), Sebastian Faulks , Jeffery Deaver and William Boyd . Additionally, a series of novels based on Bond's youth— Young Bond —was written by Charlie Higson and later Stephen Cole . As a spin-off from the original literary work, Casino Royale , a television adaptation was made, " Casino Royale ", in which Bond was depicted as an American agent. A comic strip series also ran in
8424-458: The reviews had been published, Fleming reflected that "the experiment has obviously gone very much awry". Following the negative reactions of critics, Fleming attempted to suppress elements of the novel: he blocked a paperback edition in the United Kingdom and, when he sold the film rights to Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli , they were permitted to use the title but none of the plot of
8528-474: The romantic viewpoint, the threat of Viv's rape from the two gangsters is held in counterpoint to the consensual sex between her and Bond. Bold sees Bond as a deus ex machina when he appears in the novel. As with several other Bond stories, the concept of Bond as Saint George against the dragon underlies the storyline to The Spy Who Loved Me , with Bond rescuing the maiden from imminent danger; Viv refers to Bond's appearance directly connecting Bond to
8632-401: The same James Bond whose secret service exploits I myself have written from time to time. With the manuscript was a note signed "Vivienne Michel" assuring me that what she had written was "purest truth and from the depths of her heart". I was interested in this view of James Bond, through the wrong end of the telescope so to speak, and after obtaining clearance for certain minor infringements of
8736-415: The same status as other villains in Bond stories, but are second-rate professional killers which, the writer Matthew Parker thinks, makes them more believable in the story. Chancellor considers the novel's absence of a supervillain makes this one of Fleming's weaker works. The Spy Who Loved Me is distinct from the other Bond novels in not being a spy story, and without that aspect "the full panoply of
8840-576: The soundtrack to the film composed by Marvin Hamlisch Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title The Spy Who Loved Me . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Spy_Who_Loved_Me&oldid=1077264194 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
8944-462: The start of Live and Let Die , Bond has had a skin graft to hide the scars. In Fleming's stories, Bond is in his mid-to-late thirties, but does not age. In Moonraker , he admits to being eight years shy of mandatory retirement age from the 00 section—45—which would mean he was 37 at the time. Fleming did not provide Bond's date of birth, but John Pearson 's fictional biography of Bond, James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007 , gives him
9048-521: The steel-toothed Sol "Horror" Horowitz, both of whom work for Sanguinetti, arrive and say they are there to look over the motel for insurance purposes. The two have been hired by Sanguinetti to burn down the motel so that he can make a fraudulent insurance claim. The blame for the fire would fall on Viv, who was to perish in the incident. The men immediately start harassing Viv, making crude passes and aggressively asking her to dance; when she says she does not want to, they attack her, intending to rape her, when
9152-460: The tales of Bond's actions, led journalist Yuri Zhukov to write an article in 1965 for the Soviet daily newspaper Pravda , describing Bond's values: James Bond lives in a nightmarish world where laws are written at the point of a gun, where coercion and rape are considered valour and murder is a funny trick ... Bond's job is to guard the interests of the property class, and he is no better than
9256-588: The time, particularly his ongoing marital difficulties: he was having an affair with his neighbour on Jamaica, Blanche Blackwell , and his wife, Ann was in a relationship with Hugh Gaitskell , the Leader of the British Labour Party . Fleming also had a strained professional relationship with the writer and director, Kevin McClory , with whom he was working on a film treatment which eventually Fleming published as
9360-487: The total eclipse of Bond in a blaze of cornography". Richardson ended his piece by berating Fleming, asking "why can't this cunning author write up a bit instead of down?" The critic for The Times was not dismissive of Bond, describing him as "less a person than a cult" who is "ruthlessly, fashionably efficient in both love and war". Rather, the critic dismisses the experiment, writing that "the novel lacks Mr. Fleming's usual careful construction and must be written off as
9464-466: The war. Aside from Fleming's brother, a number of others also provided some aspects of Bond's make up, including Conrad O'Brien-ffrench , a skiing spy whom Fleming had met in Kitzbühel in the 1930s, Patrick Dalzel-Job , who served with distinction in 30 AU during the war, and Bill "Biffy" Dunderdale , station head of MI6 in Paris, who wore cuff-links and handmade suits and was chauffeured around Paris in
9568-524: Was 211 pages long. In the US the story was also later published in Stag magazine, with the title changed to Motel Nymph . Fleming later said of The Spy Who Loved Me that "the experiment has obviously gone very much awry". Because of the sexual content in the novel, it was banned in a number of countries, including in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland , South Africa and Australia. The reception to
9672-591: Was Fleming) by Hannes Oberhauser, who is later killed in " Octopussy ". Bond joined the Secret Service in 1938–as described by a Russian dossier about him in From Russia, with Love . He spent two months in 1939 at the Monte Carlo Casino watching a Romanian group cheating before he and the Deuxième Bureau closed them down. Bond's obituary in You Only Live Twice states that he joined "a branch of what
9776-507: Was No. 30, and the latter No. 25. His flat is looked after by an elderly Scottish housekeeper named May . May's name was taken from May Maxwell, the housekeeper of Fleming's close friend, the American Ivar Bryce. In 1955 Bond earned around £2,000 a year net (equivalent to £66,000 in 2023); although when on assignment, he worked on an unlimited expense account. Much of Fleming's own daily routine while working at The Sunday Times
9880-412: Was Vivienne Stuart, whose first name Fleming used for the novel's central character. The novelist Raymond Benson —who later wrote a series of Bond novels—sees Vivienne Michel as the best-realised female characterisation undertaken by Fleming, partly because the story is told in the first-person narrative with the first third of the novel dedicated to her biography. Benson notes that while Viv has been
9984-469: Was at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst . As he had done in his previous novels, Fleming borrowed names from his friends and associates to use in his book: Robert Harling , a colleague at The Sunday Times , gave his name to a printer in the story while another minor character, Frank Donaldson, was named after Jack Donaldson, a friend of Ann Fleming. One of Fleming's neighbours in Jamaica
10088-411: Was being filmed in Jamaica and was influenced by the casting of Scottish actor Sean Connery to give Bond Scottish ancestry. It was not until the penultimate novel, You Only Live Twice , that Fleming gave Bond a more complete sense of family background, using a fictional obituary, purportedly from The Times . The novel reveals Bond’s parents were Andrew Bond, of Glencoe , and Monique Delacroix, of
10192-421: Was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God, [James Bond] is the dullest name I ever heard. — Ian Fleming, The New Yorker , 21 April 1962 On another occasion Fleming said: "I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, 'James Bond' was much better than something more interesting, like 'Peregrine Carruthers'. Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be
10296-403: Was different from the others. Bond is a heavy smoker, at one point smoking 70 cigarettes a day. Bond has his cigarettes custom-made by Morland of Grosvenor Street, mixing Balkan and Turkish tobacco and having a higher nicotine content than normal; the cigarettes have three gold bands on the filter. Bond carried his cigarettes in a wide gunmetal cigarette case which carried fifty; he also used
10400-471: Was one of the factors that led to the US entering the war. Facially, Bond resembles the composer, singer and actor Hoagy Carmichael . In Casino Royale , Vesper Lynd remarks, "Bond reminds me rather of Hoagy Carmichael, but there is something cold and ruthless." Likewise, in Moonraker , Special Branch Officer Gala Brand thinks that Bond is "certainly good-looking ... Rather like Hoagy Carmichael in
10504-495: Was published in The Daily Express from 18 December 1967 to 3 October 1968 and syndicated around the world. The Spy Who Loved Me was the last of Fleming's works to be adapted as a comic strip for the newspaper. The comic strip was reprinted in 2011 by Titan Books in the second volume of The James Bond Omnibus ; the anthology also includes The Man with the Golden Gun , You Only Live Twice and Octopussy . In 1977
10608-407: Was retained in the new release. The release of the bowdlerised series was on the 70th anniversary of Casino Royale , the first Bond novel. Critics did not welcome Fleming's experiment with the Bond formula and the historian Black notes that The Spy Who Loved Me had the worst reception of all the Bond books. The Sunday Telegraph , for example, wrote "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! And to think of
10712-538: Was subsequently to become the Ministry of Defence " in 1941, where he rose to the rank of principal officer. The same year he became a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , ending the war as a commander. At the start of Fleming's first book, Casino Royale , Bond is already a 00 agent, having been given the position after killing two enemy agents, a Japanese spy on the thirty-sixth floor of
10816-405: Was woven into the Bond stories, and he summarised it at the beginning of Moonraker : ... elastic office hours from around ten to six; lunch, generally in the canteen; evenings spent playing cards in the company of a few close friends, or at Crockford's ; or making love, with rather cold passion, to one of three similarly disposed married women; weekends playing golf for high stakes at one of
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