Ian Fleming and the Politics of Ambivalence, by Ian Kinane (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021, Pp

Ian Fleming and the Politics of Ambivalence, by Ian Kinane (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021, pp. 244) STEPHEN WATT In a moment of prescience in the introduction of Ian Fleming and the Politics of Ambivalence, Ian Kinane anticipates the possibility of confusion – or, dare I say, some variety of ambivalence – arising from the title of his book. About what or whom was Ian Fleming so ambivalent? Lots of things, as it turns out. !he open" ing pages of this #ne study productively complicate the term $ambivalence%, and the chapters that follow delineate several of the issues – and people(s' – about which and whom Fleming was sharply divided( $his simultaneous attraction and disdain toward the prospect of )ritain*s decoloni+ation of ,amaica% &-', for in" stance, and his mi.ed feelings about America*s $rising in/uence in geopolitical affairs% as )ritain*s stature was tumbling into decline &12'. In these and other mat" ters, ,amaica occupies a position of privilege both in Fleming’s writing and Kin" ane*s argument, as he stipulates at the outset( $Ian Fleming and the Politics of Ambi- valence is the #rst book-length literary"critical study of the representation of ,a" maica in Fleming’s work% &3'. As is the case with the book*s title, this phrasing is important, as his project is not a biography of Fleming’s life on and fascination with ,amaica; that is, an account typically based on an archive of personal docu" ments, interviews with family and friends, and so on. Instead, as a $literary"crit" Stephen att is Pro.os' Pro/essor Emeri'us o/ Englis0 1' Indi1n1 ,ni.ersi'2 *looming'on# His boo3s in4lude Bernard Shaw’s Fiction, Material Psychology and Afectt Shaw, Freud, Simmel 5201867 1n( 8Something Dreadful and Grand t American !iterature and the "rish#$ewish %ncon# scious 520156# He 1n( his (1ug0'er )1i'lin 01.e %us' edi'ed Volume 4 · Issue 1 · Spring 2021 1n 1n'holog2 on 'he 14'ion /ilm /r1n4hise $ohn &ick( ISSN 2514-2178 !I" 10#24877$%bs#70 Dis'ribu'ed under )) *+ 4#0 ,- ical study% of Fleming’s representation of the postwar 6aribbean, Kinane spends much of his time – and proftably so – engaged with the three ,ames )ond nov" els set in ,amaica: Live and Let Die &781-', Dr. No &7819', and The Man ith the Golden !"n &78:1'. In this context and in these novels, such historical develop" ments as the changing political climate of the 6old ;ar era, speci#cally decolon" isation and the waning of )ritish in/uence in geopolitical affairs, grow in import" ance, and the site most revelatory of these is ,amaica. ,amaica is thus the provenience of what are at times ve.ing contradictions for Fleming and readers alike. And political sea-changes in the postwar era are not the only sources of such oppositions; on the contrary, perhaps the most de" bated of Fleming’s ambivalences concerns race and, in turn, accusations of racism that have long dogged Fleming’s representation of non"white <thers. As Kinane notes, Fleming’s $perceived racism has become so essential to contempo" rary considerations of his work, so embedded within the collective critical con" sciousness of the ,ames )ond universe% &9=', that it must be confronted. And Ki" nane does: $>t?o be clear, the book does not make the case that Fleming is any" thing other than what he was: a casual racialist% &75 my emphasis'. In later readings of Fleming’s #ction, he usefully discusses various manifestations of this casual racialism: )ond*s inability in Live and Let Die to discern the particularities of black faces in dimly lit spaces, for example, or @*s unfortunate aside in Dr. No that $sex and machete #ghts are about all >the ,amaicans? know% &9:'. At the same time, Fleming and )ond*s affection for 6aribbean people counter instances in the novels of a $dismissive racism% &12'5 so, too, do Auarrel*s healing ministrations and tutelage of )ond in Live and Let Die in his role as a $symbolic paterfamilias# and $paternal protector% &=:'. Btill, the allegations of racism are so numerous, so frequently exfoliated in e.egeses of the )ond novels, that they must be scruti" nised in the three chapters that follow, each of which focuses upon one of the novels mentioned above, and in the concluding chapter $Afer Fleming: ,amaica on Bcreen%. Kinane*s readings produce what are at times brilliant extensions of the theoretical issues outlined in the introduction. !here, a brief review of psycho" analytic understandings of $ambivalence% gives way to a more considered discus" sion of the ambivalence inherent to colonialism as theorised by Eomi )habha, Anne @cClintock, and others. For )habha in The Location of $"lt"re &788-', the $colonial presence is always ambivalent >F? characteri+ed, on the one hand, by mastery, and, on the other, by displacement and fantasy% &-'. Bimilarly, Fleming’s view of a $mediati+ed% ,amaica, a $topographical hybrid construct, >is? forged in equal parts from the author*s local experiences of the island >...? and his con" 2 In'ern1'ion1l 9ourn1l o/ 91mes *on( Studies · Volume 4 · Issue 1 · Spring 2021 cerns, anxieties and desirous projections for its future% &77'. !hese $desirous pro" 4ections%, of course, involved more than imperial decline, nationhood, or de" colonisation5 and both in a later section of the introduction &$Fleming, <riental" ism, and the ,amaican G.otic”' and throughout, Kinane identi#es $desirous% cathe.es directed toward non"white or other colonised subjects: the e.otic African"American nightclub dancer in Live and Let Die, for example, whose per" formance transf.es )ond, and the $frankness% and $lack of shame% about human sexuality he observes that so sharply contrast with $conservative )ritish tastes% &:7'. Such ambivalence, ably e.cavated in readings of the novels, leads to larger Cuestions: for example, how does one explain the enduring popularity of the )ond #lm franchise if, in fact, Fleming and his famous $double-”% agent &not the same person, as Kinane emphasises' are deemed to be racists? Are )ritish #lmgo" ers racists as well, or do they fail to recognise their own racism, always-already embedded in the national consciousness? Intangling such knotty issues, Kinane advocates for a $critical reconsideration% of Fleming’s oe"vre, which includes a determination of whether his novels are $efgies of political incorrectness% or, in" stead, evidence of his ability to $transport the reader back to this outmoded pe" riod% &98'. Ian Fleming and the Politics of Ambivalence achieves such a reconsidera" tion. !he readings of both Live and Let Die and Dr. No are engaging and provocative – the discussion of Ko*s and Eoney Lyder*s di0erent hybridity, and )ond*s $attempted colonial subjugation% &733' of the latter, especially so – and the third chapter on The Man ith the !olden !"n makes an especially useful con" tribution. For in his reading of The Man ith Golden !"n, Kinane makes e.cellent use of the Fleming Archive at Indiana Iniversity*s illy ibrary, Cuoting from, among other things, correspondence between Fleming and ;illiam Mlomer. Lest anyone infer from this archival work that Kinane embarks upon the biographical study he vowed to eschew, such is not the case. Instead, positioning ,amaica in the critical foreground allows for an innovative reading of the novel Fleming once derided as a $stupid book% &an aesthetic verdict not without merit'. It does so at least in part, in Kinane*s view, by Fleming’s withholding $from the reader any insight into )ond*s inner psychological and emotional life%, with the result that, in the end, $,amaica is what matters% &727', especially its newly gained inde" pendence. And from its opening pages, the novel suggests its author*s ambiva" lence about this fact( on the one hand, the book serves as a $barely coded en" dorsement of )ritain*s continued surveillance of its former ,amaican colony%5 on the other, Fleming opens The Man ith the Golden !"n $with an unmistakably S. W1'' · "an Fleming and the Politics of Am)i*alence, &2 I1n -in1ne : scathing reproach of )ritain*s imperial politics% through )ond*s $face-off% with @ &738'. !his division aside, the novel shows in subtle ways how the political land" scape of the )ritish",amaican relationship has changed5 for example, )ond*s nemesis Scaramanga travels throughout the 6aribbean almost blithely, while $the colonial power of )ritain%, represented by )ond*s limited freedom of access and mobility, is $no longer accommodated% &723'. In these and other ways, am" bivalence about ,amaica, the fascinating throughline of Kinane*s argument, ele" vates the importance of a novel that, for most readers, marks $something of a nadir in the )ond canon &leaving aside the altogether derisible The %p& Who Loved Me'% &738'. <ne of the great strengths of Ian Kinane*s project in Ian Fleming and the Politics of Ambivalence, then, is that its critical focus enables him to formulate #rst" rate readings of the global and racial politics of Fleming’s #ction. !hese readings continue in the brief last chapter $Afer Fleming: ,amaica on Screen%, which comes as something of a surprise given this title. $A(er Fleming: ,amaica )n %creen%, that is, suggests a consideration of #lms from the 78=Hs and aDer, perhaps afer the #lmic adaptation of The Man ith Golden !"n in 78=-, or those that e." hibit the in/uence of Fleming’s representation of the 6aribbean. ;hen #rst reading the title in the !able of 6ontents, my mind wandered to the emergence of reggae in popular culture and to Merry Een+el*s #lm The *arder The& $ome &78=3', starring ,immy 6li0, and +ab&lon &789H', which admittedly has more to say about )ri.ton than Kingston, where Een+el*s #lm is set.

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