For Your Eyes Only (short story collection)
Author | Ian Fleming |
---|---|
Cover artist | Richard Chopping |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Series | James Bond |
Genre | Spy fiction |
Publisher | Jonathan Cape |
Publication date | 11 April 1960 |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Preceded by | Goldfinger |
Followed by | Thunderball |
For Your Eyes Only is a
The collection contains five short stories: "From a View to a Kill", "For Your Eyes Only", "Quantum of Solace", "Risico" and "The Hildebrand Rarity". Four of the stories were adaptations of plots for a television series that was never filmed, while the fifth Fleming had written previously but not published. Fleming undertook some minor experiments with the format, including a story written as an homage to W. Somerset Maugham, an author he greatly admired.
Elements from the stories have been used in a number of the
Plots
"From a View to a Kill"
Bond investigates the murder of a motorcycle dispatch-rider and the theft of his top-secret documents by a motorcycle-riding assassin. The dispatch-rider was en route from SHAPE, the
"For Your Eyes Only"
"For Your Eyes Only" begins with the murder of the Havelocks, a British couple in Jamaica who have refused to sell their estate to Herr von Hammerstein, a former
"Quantum of Solace"
After completing a mission in the
"Risico"
Bond is sent by M to investigate a drug-smuggling operation based in Italy that is sending narcotics to England. M instructs Bond to get in touch with a
"The Hildebrand Rarity"
Bond is on an assignment in the Seychelles Islands; through Fidèle Barbey, his influential and well-connected local contact, he meets an uncouth American millionaire, Milton Krest, who challenges the two to aid him in the search for a rare fish, the Hildebrand Rarity. Bond, Barbey, Krest and his English wife, Elizabeth, set off aboard Krest's boat, Wavekrest, in search of the fish. During the journey, Bond learns that Milton verbally and physically abuses everyone around him, especially his wife—whom he punishes with the use of a stingray tail he dubs "The Corrector". Krest finds the Hildebrand Rarity and kills it—along with many other fish—by pouring poison into the water. Wavekrest sets sail for port. Along the way Krest gets very drunk, insults Bond and Barbey and tells his wife he will beat her again with the stingray tail. Later that night, Bond hears Krest choking; investigating, Bond finds that Krest has been murdered—apparently by having the rare fish stuffed down his throat. So as not to be entangled in a murder investigation, Bond throws Krest overboard and cleans up the scene of the crime, making it look as though Krest fell overboard after one of the ropes holding his hammock broke: Bond suspects both Barbey and Mrs. Krest, but is unsure which is responsible.
Characters and themes
Continuation Bond author
An aspect of Bond's relationship with M is shown in "For Your Eyes Only", with Bond taking the decision from M's shoulders about what should happen to the murderers of M's friends, the Havelocks; the scene also shows the reader about the weight of command and M's indecision as to what path to follow.[4] The daughter of M's friends, Judy Havelock, is a tough and resourceful character, according to Benson, although after she has avenged her parents' death and is wounded, she softens and allows Bond to take up his usual role of protector.[4]
In "Risico", academic Christoph Lindner identifies the character of Enrico Colombo as an example of those characters who have morals closer to those of the traditional villains, but who act on the side of good in support of Bond; others of this type include Darko Kerim (From Russia, with Love), Tiger Tanaka (You Only Live Twice) and Marc-Ange Draco (On Her Majesty's Secret Service).[5]
Justice and revenge are themes that run through two of the stories. In "For Your Eyes Only" the idea of revenge is looked at from a number of angles: Bond's, M's and Judy Havelock's,[8] and each has a different interpretation. Bond's approach to killing is also dissected in "For Your Eyes Only", while the morality of killing is a theme in "The Hildebrand Rarity".[8]
Background
In the summer of 1958, CBS television commissioned Fleming to write episodes of a television show based on the James Bond character. This deal came about after the success of the 1954 television adaptation of Casino Royale as an episode of the CBS television series Climax!. Fleming agreed to the deal, and began to write outlines for the series; however, CBS later dropped the idea.[9] In January and February 1959 Fleming adapted four of these television plots into short stories at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica and added a fifth story he had written in the summer of 1958.[10] Fleming biographer Andrew Lycett noted that at the time Fleming was writing both the television scripts, and the short story collection, "Ian's mood of weariness and self-doubt was beginning to affect his writing"[11] and this can be seen in Bond's internal monologue of thoughts.[11]
"From a View to a Kill"
"From a View to a Kill" was initially intended to be the backstory for Hugo Drax, the villain of the novel Moonraker.[9] The story would have taken place during World War II, and featured Drax as the motorcycle assassin who crashes his bike and is taken to an American field hospital. Later, the hospital is bombed, leaving Drax with amnesia and a disfigured face.[9] The story was one that Fleming had drawn up for the television series.[9] The SHAPE head of security, Colonel Schreiber, was designed to be the antithesis of Bond, with greying hair, the air of a bank manager, desk with silver framed photographs of his family and a single white rose; the description shows Fleming using colour to show Schreiber's lack of colour and personality.[6] The idea of the underground hideout was inspired by Fleming's brother Peter's band of Auxiliary Units who dug tunnel networks in Britain in 1940 as part of a resistance movement in advance of a German invasion.[9] The original name for the story was "The Rough with the Smooth",[9] which was also the original title of the books, before For Your Eyes Only was chosen for publication.[10]
"For Your Eyes Only"
The story was originally entitled Man's Work[9] and was set in Vermont, where Fleming had spent a number of summers at his friend Ivar Bryce's Black Hollow Farm, which became the model for von Hammerstein's hideaway, Echo Lake.[12] The name of the villain of the story, Von Hammerstein, was taken from General Baron Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord (1878–1943), one of Hitler's opponents.[13] Fleming also considered calling the story "Death Leaves an Echo"[14] and based the story on "Rough Justice", which was to be episode three of the television series.[15]
"Quantum of Solace"
"Quantum of Solace" was based on a story told to Fleming by his neighbour and lover
"Risico"
In 1958 Fleming took a holiday with his wife Ann in Venice and at the Lido peninsula; Fleming was a great admirer of Thomas Mann's work Death in Venice,[16] which was based on the Lido, and the Flemings visited it for that reason, using the location as the backdrop for "Risico".[10] For the love interest in the story, Lisl, Fleming used the name of an ex-girlfriend from Kitzbühel in Austria, where he had travelled in the 1930s.[19] For the name of Colombo, Fleming borrowed the surname of Gioacchino Colombo, the Ferrari engine designer.[20]
"The Hildebrand Rarity"
In April 1958 Fleming flew to the Seychelles via Bombay to report for The Sunday Times on a treasure hunt; although the hunt was not as exciting as he hoped, Fleming used many of the details of the island for "The Hildebrand Rarity".[10] Fleming combined the backdrop of the Seychelles with his experience he and Blanche Blackwell had undergone when they had visited Pedro Keys, two islands off Jamaica, and watched two scientists do something similar with poison to obtain samples.[21] For the villain of the story, an abusive American millionaire, Fleming used the name Milton Krest: Milton was the code name of a Greek sea captain who ferried British soldiers and agents through German patrols and who received the Distinguished Service Order and an MBE, whilst Krest was the name of tonic and ginger beer Fleming drank in Seychelles.[22] "The Hildebrand Rarity" was first published in Playboy in March 1960.[21]
Release and reception
No one in the history of thrillers has had such a totally brilliant artistic collaborator!
Ian Fleming in a letter to cover artist Richard Chopping.[23]
For Your Eyes Only was published on 11 April 1960 in the UK as a hardcover edition by publishers Jonathan Cape;[24] it was 252 pages long and cost fifteen shillings.[25] The subtitle, Five Secret Occasions in the Life of James Bond, was added for publication; 21,712 copies were printed and quickly sold out.[10] For Your Eyes Only was published in the US in August 1960 by Viking Press and the subtitle was changed to Five Secret Exploits of James Bond; in later editions, it was dropped altogether.[24]
Artist Richard Chopping once again provided the cover art for the book. On 18 March 1959 Fleming had written to Chopping about the cover he had undertaken for Goldfinger, saying that: "The new jacket is quite as big a success as the first one and I do think [Jonathan] Cape have made a splendid job of it".[23] Moving on to For Your Eyes Only, Fleming said "I am busily scratching my head trying to think of a subject for you again. No one in the history of thrillers has had such a totally brilliant artistic collaborator!"[23]
Reviews
Francis Iles, writing in The Guardian, noting the short-story format, "thought it better than the novels"[26] and wrote that "the first story is full of the old wild improbabilities, but one of the others has a positively Maughamish flavour."[26] Iles also thought that "it seems that one must either enjoy the novels of Mr. Ian Fleming beyond reason or be unable to read them at all."[26] Writing in The Guardian's sister paper, The Observer, Maurice Richardson thought that "our Casanovaesque cad-clubman secret agent is mellowing a bit now";[27] Richardson liked the format, saying that "the short form suits him quite well" although the downside is that "if it checks the wilder fantasies it cuts short the love-affairs".[27] Writing in The Spectator, Cyril Ray (under the pseudonym Christopher Pym) wrote that "each episode of the Bond novels meant the adventure was less probable and more preposterous than the last, and now our hero seems to have lost, as well as any claims to plausibility, the know-how, the know-who, know-what and sheer zing that used to carry the unlikely plots along. Perhaps all that mattress pounding is taking it out of poor Bond".[21]
Writing in The Listener, John Raymond was of the opinion that Bond's "admirers ... will find him in top form"[28] and that the stories, "all but one of which are well up to 007's high standard".[28] Raymond believed that "The Commander seems to be mellowing with the years"[28] and because of this was "less of a show-off ... and, for once, his chronicler has almost cut out the sadism".[28] In terms of the villains in the book, most notably Milton Krest, Raymond saw that Fleming's "capacity to create villains is undiminished".[28]
The critic for The Times reflected that "the mood of For Your Eyes Only is, in fact, a good deal more sober and, perhaps, weary than before";[29] the critic also thought that the short form worked well with Bond, and that "the girls, though a short story allows them only walk-on parts, are as wild and luscious as ever".[29] Philip Stead, writing in The Times Literary Supplement thought that "Mr. Fleming's licensed assassin is in pretty good form."[25] Stead considered that in the stories "occasionally there seem to be echoes of Ashenden and glimpses of Rogue Male, but the Bond ambience is persuasive".[25]
In the US, James Sandoe, writing in the New York Herald Tribune thought that For Your Eyes Only had "urban savagery and mighty smooth tale-spinning".[24] Writing in The New York Times, Anthony Boucher—described by a Fleming biographer, John Pearson as "throughout an avid anti-Bond and an anti-Fleming man"[30]—described what his main issue with Fleming's work was: "his basic weakness as a storyteller, which can be summed up in two words: 'no story.'"[31] In the short story form, however, Boucher finds that Bond's tales "are proportionate"[31] and that Fleming's "prose ... is eminently smooth and readable"[31] even if "Bond's triumphs are too simple and lack ... intricate suspense".[31]
Adaptations
Comic strip (1961–1967)
Four of the five short stories in For Your Eyes Only were adapted into
Story | Start date | End date | Adaptator | Illustrator |
---|---|---|---|---|
"Risico" | 3 April 1961 | 24 June 1961 | Henry Gammidge | John McLusky |
"From a View to a Kill" | 25 June 1961 | 9 September 1961 | Henry Gammidge | John McLusky |
"For Your Eyes Only" | 11 September 1961 | 9 December 1961 | Henry Gammidge | John McLusky |
"The Hildebrand Rarity" | 29 May 1967 | 16 December 1967 | Jim Lawrence | Yaroslav Horak |
Films
For Your Eyes Only (1981)
A number of details from the story are used in the film For Your Eyes Only, released in 1981 and starring Roger Moore as James Bond.[34] The film shows the murder of the Havelocks—a marine archaeologist and his wife—by a hit man, although it names the hitman as Gonzalez, rather than Gonzales. The film also changes the name of the Havelock's daughter, Judy, to Melina. For Your Eyes Only also uses much of the plot of "Risico", including the characters of Colombo and Kristatos.[35]
A View to a Kill (1985)
Part of the title of the story From a View to a Kill was used for the 1985 Bond film A View to a Kill, with none of the story used in this or any other film to date.[36]
Licence to Kill (1989)
Milton Krest, his foundation, the Wavekrest and "the Corrector" from "The Hildebrand Rarity" were incorporated into the 1989 film Licence to Kill.[37]
Quantum of Solace (2008)
Quantum of Solace was chosen as the title of the
Spectre (2015)
In the 2015 film Spectre M and Bond meet in a London safe house, which carries a name plate labelled "Hildebrand Prints and Rarities", a reference to The Hildebrand Rarity.[41]
See also
References
- ^ Benson 1988, p. 119.
- ^ Benson 1988, p. 121.
- ^ Benson 1988, p. 122-23.
- ^ a b Benson 1988, p. 120.
- ^ Lindner 2009, p. 39.
- ^ a b Black 2005, p. 41.
- ^ Black 2005, p. 43.
- ^ a b Black 2005, p. 42.
- ^ a b c d e f g Chancellor 2005, p. 146.
- ^ a b c d e Benson 1988, p. 17.
- ^ a b Lycett 1996, p. 369.
- ^ Lycett 1996, p. 209.
- ^ Lycett 1996, p. 122.
- ^ Griswold 2006, p. 105.
- ^ a b Chancellor 2005, p. 147.
- ^ a b c d Chancellor 2005, p. 148.
- MacIntyre, Ben (25 January 2008). "Fleming's reflection on the limitations of love". The Times. p. 13.
- ^ Plath, Sinclair & Curnutt 2019, p. 32.
- ^ Chancellor 2005, p. 15.
- ^ Chancellor 2005, p. 197.
- ^ a b c Chancellor 2005, p. 149.
- ^ Chancellor 2005, p. 127.
- ^ a b c Turner 2016, 3159.
- ^ a b c Benson 1988, p. 21.
- ^ a b c Stead, Philip John (15 April 1960). "The Bond Ambience". The Times Literary Supplement. p. 246.
- ^ a b c Iles, Francis (29 April 1960). "Criminal Records". The Guardian. p. 11.
- ^ a b Richardson, Maurice (17 April 1960). "Crime Ration". The Observer. p. 20.
- ^ a b c d e Raymond, John (28 April 1960). "New Novels". The Listener. p. 767.
- ^ a b "Short Stories". The Times. 21 April 1960. p. 15.
- ^ Pearson 1967, p. 99.
- ^ a b c d Boucher, Anthony (5 June 1960). "Criminals at Large". The New York Times.
- ^ a b Fleming, Gammidge & McLusky 1988, p. 6.
- ^ a b McLusky et al. 2009, p. 97.
- ^ Barnes & Hearn 2001, p. 143.
- ^ Barnes & Hearn 2001, p. 135.
- ^ Barnes & Hearn 2001, p. 161.
- ^ Barnes & Hearn 2001, p. 176.
- ^ Tilly, Chris (28 January 2008). "Bond 22 Interview: Quantum of Solace producer Michael G. Wilson speaks". IGN. Archived from the original on 1 February 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2008.
- ^ "Bond film named – Quantum of Solace". Aberdeen Press and Journal. 25 January 2008. p. 13.
- ^ Noah, Sherna (24 January 2008). "New Bond Film Named". Press Association.
- ^ "13 James Bond Easter eggs you need to look out for in Spectre". Digital Spy. 26 October 2015. Archived from the original on 9 September 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
Bibliography
- Pearson, John (1967). The Life of Ian Fleming: Creator of James Bond. London: Jonathan Cape.
- Benson, Raymond (1988). The James Bond Bedside Companion. London: ISBN 978-1-85283-233-9.
- Fleming, Ian; Gammidge, Henry; McLusky, John (1988). Octopussy. London: ISBN 1-85286-040-5.
- Lycett, Andrew (1996). Ian Fleming. London: Phoenix. ISBN 978-1-85799-783-5.
- Barnes, Alan; Hearn, Marcus (2001). Kiss Kiss Bang! Bang!: the Unofficial James Bond Film Companion. ISBN 978-0-7134-8182-2.
- Smith, Jim; Lavington, Stephen (2002). Bond Films. London: ISBN 978-0-7535-0709-4.
- Black, Jeremy (2005). The Politics of James Bond: from Fleming's Novel to the Big Screen. ISBN 978-0-8032-6240-9. Archivedfrom the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
- Chancellor, Henry (2005). James Bond: The Man and His World. London: ISBN 978-0-7195-6815-2.
- Fleming, Ian (2006). Goldfinger. London: ISBN 978-0-14-102831-6.
- Griswold, John (2006). Ian Fleming's James Bond: Annotations And Chronologies for Ian Fleming's Bond Stories. ISBN 978-1-4259-3100-1. Archivedfrom the original on 9 July 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
- Macintyre, Ben (2008). For Your Eyes Only. London: ISBN 978-0-7475-9527-4.
- Lindner, Christoph (2009). The James Bond Phenomenon: a Critical Reader. ISBN 978-0-7190-6541-5. Archivedfrom the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
- McLusky, John; Gammidge, Henry; Hern, Anthony; Fleming, Ian (2009). The James Bond Omnibus Vol.1. London: ISBN 978-1-84856-364-3.
- Turner, Jon Lys (2016). The Visitors' Book: In Francis Bacon's Shadow: The Lives of Richard Chopping and Denis Wirth-Miller (Kindle ed.). London: Constable. ISBN 978-1-47212-168-4.
- Plath, James; Sinclair, Gail; Curnutt, Kirk (2019). The 100 Greatest Literary Characters. London: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-0376-0. Archivedfrom the original on 15 July 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
External links
- For Your Eyes Only at Faded Page (Canada)
- Ian Fleming Publications