Re: RARA-AVIS: The definition of classics

From: Patrick King ( abrasax93@yahoo.com)
Date: 08 Nov 2007


What I got from your post is that you think Fleming was entirely original and that he created a seperate genre. I think he built James Bond on Nayland Smith's frame and virtually all his villians were variations on Dr. Fu Manchu. Otherwise we agree. He was fun to read as a teenager, a step up from the Hardy Boys. It's pretty hard to read him now. Just too silly and improbable. But then again, so is Sax Rohmer and Earl Stanley Gardener and Mickey Spillane.

Patrick King
--- William Ahearn < williamahearn@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> --- Patrick King < abrasax93@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > Do you mean that you don't believe Sax Rohmer,
> Edgar
> > Wallace & Chandler influenced Fleming in the
> > creation
> > of James Bond? You believe Fleming created Bond in
> a
> > vacuum? Come on, William! Fleming's characters and
> > plot lines scream Rohmer & Wallace, while Bond is
> an
> > English Philip Marlow.
> >
> Not only didn't I say that, I didn't say anything
> close to it. What I don't understand is why you
> think
> it's important. What does it have to do with, what
> does it mean in terms of anything at all? Just
> because
> Fleming claimed an "inspired" pedigree that don't
> mean
> that dog can hunt. Who cares about inspiration or
> stylistic lineage. Just give me something I want to
> read. In my book, Fleming was a fun read when I was
> a
> kid but to think he's a writer of lasting value to
> me
> at least is not based on who he claims inspired him.
> I've moved on because other writers offer more than
> the James Bond so locked in his class-conscious
> nonsense and that tired sexual aspect that was just
> as
> silly with Mike Hammer (unless of course, you're 14
> years old). I just don't get your point.
>
> William
>
> Essays and Ramblings
> <http://www.williamahearn.com>
>
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