Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: RARA-AVIS - Kingsley Amis's *Colonel Sun*


ran24@cam.ac.uk
Thu, 25 Nov 1999 09:02:57 +0000


--On Wednesday November 1999, 11:04 -0500 William Denton <buff@pobox.com> wrote:
> I once read an interesting article about the fetish-like attention paid to
> Bond's cigarettes, clothes, cars, etc., little of which appears in classic
> hardboiled stuff (except for maybe cigarettes). I think Fleming was an
> odd one.

There's an article in The Critical Responses to Raymond Chandler (Van Dover), I forget which one, but can check it out, which argues that
'expertise', the knowledge of brand names, objects, sports, etc., are signs of masculinity. Insofar as he is aggressively masculine, Bond is hardboiled.
 
> Amis's Bond book wasn't pretty poor, as I recall.
I really liked Colonel Sun. It was like The Rutles to The Beatles; you can learn a lot by watching someone copy another artist. Amis uses enough cliches, and enough right-wing offensiveness to pull it off, and the torture scene is brilliant. Also, some subtle psychology in the character of Colonel Sun himself.

Ray Newman.

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