The spy who came in with the cold war

Bond, James Bond, that is, will bring scholars and fans alike to IU for half-century retrospective

By Susan Williams

A popular Bond Web site is called “Mr. Bang Bang Kiss Kiss.” Fleming’s cold war hero came into existence a half-century ago, and he’s still making a mark on cultural politics. A major collection of Fleming’s papers are housed at IU’s Lilly Library.

In commemoration of 50 years of that most famous secret agent whom we all know as Bond...James Bond, Chapman, senior lecturer in film and television studies at The Open University, United Kingdom, will keynote a conference, “The Cultural Politics of Ian Fleming and 007” at Indiana University Bloomington May 29-June 1.

The event will be hosted by the IUB Department of English and the Lilly Library. Highlights include two days of academic sessions featuring scholars from all over the world, the Ian Fleming archive on exhibit at the Lilly Library, a continuous screening of Bond films at Bloomington’s Buskirk-Chumley Theatre and items from two Bond movies, including the Q’s device-laden speedboat from The World is Not Enough.

“Ian Fleming created James Bond during the cold war with his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1953, and curiously enough, its adaptation for film was largely unsuccessful,” said Stephen Watt, professor of English and chairman of the department. He and Edward Comentale, assistant professor of English, are heading the conference.

“A 1954 movie, made for television, exists, starring Barry Nelson and Peter Lorre, but it scarcely made a ripple in the public’s imagination. Less than 10 years later, Bond and Fleming were household names,” Watt said.

There are plenty of good reasons to read Fleming’s 007 books or watch a James Bond movie—adventure, excitement, nifty gadgets, handsome men and beautiful women—but why is 007 worth a major academic conference? How about Bond’s influence as a cultural icon on, say, Buffy, the Vampire Slayer or on Marvel comic’s superhero universe that included Col. Nick Fury, head of SHIELD?

Or, oddly enough, did you know that both John and Robert Kennedy were fans of secret operations and spy stories, and that JFK once asked Fleming to dinner and quizzed him regarding how he might go about overthrowing Fidel Castro? Consider Bond as a forerunner of trademark effects and product placement in movies—think about his Bentley and his Beretta or his drink recipes (“three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet”), shaken, not stirred, of course. Or how about Bond as a defender of capitalism and a foe of socialism and communist ideology?

“Ian Fleming is prescient in predicting numerous issues relevant to the contemporary world: its representation of terrorism, for example, and the tactics of terror with which the West must contend,” said Watt. “They (Fleming and Bond) have much to say, in addition, about the relationships between sexuality and national security, about the redefinition of masculinity and the feminine.

“Less seriously, perhaps, the Bond novels suggest a decline in post-World War II Europe, for which a variety of fantasies are offered. Why, for 50 years, has Bond proved so appealing to the mass audience? How has he changed and his audience with him?”

Scholars from across the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Israel will take part in the conference to hear lectures, present papers and discuss Fleming’s legacy, said Watt. They will participate on seven panels scheduled for May 30- 31 to cover the following topics: Exotic Locales; Bond Films, I; Fleming and Bond, Then and Now; Bond and Commodity Culture; Bond Films, II; Bond and Popular Culture; and Fleming and the Cold War.

The Lilly Library’s Fleming exhibit will run from May through August. The collection, perhaps the largest of Fleming papers in the world, includes original manuscripts of the James Bond novels, along with letters, articles and other materials. His letters include correspondence from Raymond Chandler, Claudette Colbert, Robert Kennedy and Evelyn Waugh.

While the Bond memorabilia may be the most culturally interesting in a pop kind of way, the Lilly exhibit also includes Fleming’s very important collection of rare books and papers. This collection focused on works that marked major historical progress in the 19th century and includes early writings by Darwin on evolution, Einstein on relativity and Freud on psychology.

The Lilly Library acquired the Fleming collection after the author’s death in 1964 because of a contact made a few years earlier. David Randall, who later became curator of rare manuscripts for the IU library system, was manager of the rare book department at Charles Scribner’s Sons in New York when he met Fleming, who then was publisher of a journal called The Book Collector.

All IU faculty, staff and students are invited to attend the academic sessions at no charge, although for planning purposes, those attending must register in advance. The fee is $50 for those wishing to participate in all symposium social and academic activities.

To register, telephone IU Conferences at 1-800-933-9330 or visit this Web site:
https://www.indiana.edu/~iuconfs/007/

For more information on the conference, including an article on the Lilly Library’s Fleming collection, go to:
http://www.indiana.edu/~engweb/jamesbond/