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The Many Facets of Diamonds Are Forever: James Bond on Page and Screen, Edited by Oliver Buckton (Lexington Books, 2019, Pp

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The Many Facets of Diamonds Are Forever: James Bond on Page and Screen, Edited by Oliver Buckton (Lexington Books, 2019, Pp The Many Facets of Diamonds Are Forever: James Bond on Page and Screen, edited by Oliver Buckton (Lexington Books, 201 , !!. 222# NICHOLAS LEVESQUE Oliver Buckton’s new anthology, The Many Facets of Diamonds Are Forever: James Bond on Page and Screen, is acutely aware of its subject’s reputation As !om "ull writes in his foreword, #For Diamonds Are Forever to be sandwiched between Moonraker and From Russia With ove makes it $%& one of the most overlooked novels in Fleming’s writing career' (vii), while *uy +amilton’s ,-., /lm adapta0 tion is similarly lost between the singular entries !n "er Majesty$s Secret Service (,-1-) and ive and et Die (,-.2) !hough many of the essays in Buckton’s collec0 tion /nd a basis in the same set of essential early works of Bond criticism (princi0 pally 3mberto Eco’s #5arrative 6tructures in Fleming” and Bennett and 7oolla0 cott’s Bond and Beyond), they serve to e8tend the /eld of 9ames Bond 6tudies into new disciplines and futures. !he authors whose work is collected within : in0 cluding familiar names such as 9ames "hapman and Matthew B Sherman, alongside several newer contributors to the /eld : deploy afect theory, sound design, historiography, =ueer theory, feminism, postmodernism, and even food Nic%olas Levesque is . gr.du.)e s)uden) in Cinem. .n* /edi. S)udies .) )he Uni1ersi)2 o3 Sou)hern C.li3orni.% 4heir rese.r50 explores in3luen5es o3 ps25hedeli. .n* pos)modernism in in)ern.)ion.l 3ilm% Volume 2 · Issue 1 · Spring 2019 ISSN 2514 21!" DOI$ 10%24"!!&'bs%4! Dis)ribu)ed under CC +, 4%0 U- studies to prove that the academic potential of 9ames Bond research is unlimited, even among Bond’s #minor' adventures. As a volume, it continues the vital work of book0length explorations of in0 dividual Bond works, following "harles +elfenstein’s behind-the-scenes histories and Andrew ;cNess’s A %&ose ook at A >iew to a ?ill (@A,B) +owever, the diver0 sity of backgrounds and /elds represented results in a direct engagement with the confounding aspects of Diamonds Are Forever, rather than an attempt to bring forth a uni/ed Bond narrative. !he result is a collection that, while revisiting the same subjects, transcends the dangers of repetition or redundancy and ulti0 mately repositions the two versions of Diamonds Are Forever as, in Buckton’s words, #uni=ue landmarks of the 9ames Bond 6eries' that #ofer intriguing chal0 lenges for readers and critics in the twenty0/rst century' (,,) !o structure its diverse array of contributors and theories, Buckton organ0 ises The Many Facets of Diamonds Are Forever into three sections, each presenting a set of interrelated frameworks. !he /rst looks at intertextuality in its many forms. Elyn Achtymichuk0+ardy’s #!he Scorpion as Emblem of A<ect in Dia' monds Are Forever' /nds the entire afective world of the novel within its opening scene: to grapple with the complexities of Diamonds and the Bond franchise, Achtymichuk0+ardy proposes a move beyond reading for metaphor and instead centering the active processes by which #the real capability of emotion to shape bodies, ideas, and objects' (,D) recurs and circulates within the te8t 6he provides both a thorough analysis of the strands of emotion that run through the novel, as well as a compelling introduction to the tenets of afect theory Similarly, 9esc Bunyard’s #!he 6ounds of Diamonds Are Forever' maps the /lm’s motifs of dou0 bling and presence through an analysis of how voices : seen and unseen : strengthen or undermine a character’s mythic status. 9ames "hapman expands on the nuanced analysis of Diamonds Are Forever from his essential icense to Thril& (,---E@AA.) with #!ransforming BondC Diamonds Are Forever in its "on0 texts' 7ith a wealth of historical details, "hapman explores the economic and cultural contexts that created Diamonds, noting that #$f&or the cultural historian $%& it does not sufce merely to criti=ue /lms : or any products of popular cul0 ture : for their cultural or ideological shortcomings. Gt is also incumbent upon us to attempt to explain how and why a /lm turned out the way it did' (BD) "on0 cluding this section is Buckton’s #9ames Bond, ;eet 9ohn BlaiHe: Gdentity !hef and Gntertextuality in Gan Fleming’s Diamonds Are Forever and The Diamond Smug' g&ers,' which provides evidence that Fleming intended 9ohn BlaiHe, a character from his non/ction report on contemporary diamond smuggling, to be a literary replacement for his more famous 9 B 2 In)ern.)ion.l 7ourn.l o3 7.mes +on* Stu*ies · Volume 2 · Issue 1 · Spring 2019 !he second section addresses matters of gender and sexuality in Diamonds !hough all forms of Bond media have inspired ongoing discussions around their representations of women and =ueerness, Diamonds Are Forever is notable for fea0 turing one of Fleming’s most fully-realiHed heroines, !i<any "ase, alongside the sadistic homosexual killers 7int and ?idd *rant " +ester’s #;y Adversary, ;y0 self' seeks to reconcile Fleming’s choice to depict homosexuality at a time when it was still outlawed in the 3nited ?ingdom with the subtextual =ueerness of his protagonist, arguing that it #provides a uni=ue parallel and vantage point for an examination of Bond himself' (JJ) 9ennifer K Martinsen’s #!he Devolution of !i<any "ase' and Ghan Amanatullah’s #!he 4yes of !i<any "ase' each shine light upon an atypical #Bond *irl' whose transition to /lm fell victim to cinematic ob0 jecti/cation As with Achtymichuk0+ardy’s analysis of the scorpion, Amanatullah refracts the politics of the entire novel through Fleming’s characteriHation of !i<any, while Martinsen draws upon feminist /lm theory and a richly-detailed close reading to illustrate how cinema can disempower female subjects. Along0 side Boel 3lfsdotter’s #!he Bond *irl 7ho Gsn’t !here: !he !i<any "ase' in For "is (yes !nly: The Women of James Bond (@A,B), it is apparent that !i<any and Dia' monds Are Forever are central to understanding the gender politics of Fleming and 9ames Bond !he /nal section gathers essays with an eye to consumption Matthew B Sherman’s #Attitudes Are ForeverC America Disdained' situates Diamonds within the Bond series’ negotiation of America and Britain’s #special relationship' dur0 ing the latter’s diminishing empire. Sherman provides extensive evidence from the novel, its /lm adaptation, and even Fleming’s travelogue Thril&ing %ities to thoroughly examine the mixture of fascination and derision with which Fleming and 4O5 Lroductions have depicted the 3nited 6tates. Similarly, Mark David ?aufman’s #!he Desert of the MealC Diamonds Are Forever as a +ollywood 5ovel' addresses the novel’s vision of American #violence to the real' (,B1) through the lineages of novels about +ollywood myth-making and Baudrillardian simulacra. !o close, Edward Biddulph’s #A +appy SelectionC !he Mepresentation of Food and Drink in the Book and Film of Diamonds Are Forever' elucidates the cultural, historical, and symbolic importance of dining within the notoriously detailed Bond franchise. Over the course of The Many Facets of Diamonds Are Forever, the novel and /lm versions of Diamonds emerge as being full of distinct traits that, in their best moments, highlight the contradictions that make Bond and Fleming such interesting sites of academic discourse. Gts subjects are a pulp novel written by an N. Le1esque · The Many Facets of Di.mon*s Are 9ore1er, e*. (2 Oli1er +uc;)on < author experiencing what Buckton calls #growing discontent with his literary hero' (.,) and a reputation for sprawling description that is nonetheless revealed as meticulously researched and structured, and its /lm adaptation that, accord0 ing to "hapman, #set the tone and style that would steer the series through the next decade' (BB) while presenting, in Martinsen’s words, a female lead who is #anything but modern, updated, or progressive' (,,2) !he lack of a uni/ed per0 spective among the collectionNs contributors will only serve to strengthen the reputation of Diamonds Are Forever as a worthwhile, rich text and to bolster its recognition within the ongoing project of 9ames Bond 6tudies. '(F('($)(* "hapman, 9ames. (,---) @AA. icence to Thril&: A %u&tura& "istory of the James Bond Fi&ms LondonC G B !auris O "o. Ltd Funnell, Lisa. @A,B For "is (yes !nly: The Women of James Bond 5ew PorkC "olum0 bia 3niversity Lress. ;cNess, Andrew @A,B A %&ose ook At A >iew to a ?ill "reateSpace Gndependent Lublishing Llatform. 4 In)ern.)ion.l 7ourn.l o3 7.mes +on* Stu*ies · Volume 2 · Issue 1 · Spring 2019.
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