''For Your Eyes Only'' is a
collection
Collection or Collections may refer to:
* Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department
* Collection (church), money donated by the congregation during a church service
* Collection agency, agency to collect cash
* Collectio ...
of
short stories
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
by the British author
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., a ...
, featuring the fictional British
Secret Service
A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...
agent Commander
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
, the eighth book to feature the character. It was first published by
Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960.
Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...
on 11 April 1960. It marked a change of format for Fleming, who had previously written James Bond stories only as full-length novels.
The collection contains five short stories: "
From a View to a Kill
''For Your Eyes Only'' is a collection of short stories by the British author Ian Fleming, featuring the fictional British Secret Service agent Commander James Bond, the eighth book to feature the character. It was first published by Jonathan C ...
", "
For Your Eyes Only", "
Quantum of Solace
''Quantum of Solace'' is a 2008 spy film and the twenty-second in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. It is the sequel to Casino Royale (2006 film), ''Casino Royale'' (2006). Directed by Marc Forst ...
", "
Risico
''For Your Eyes Only'' is a collection of short stories by the British author Ian Fleming, featuring the fictional British Secret Service agent Commander James Bond, the eighth book to feature the character. It was first published by Jonathan C ...
" and "
The Hildebrand Rarity
''For Your Eyes Only'' is a collection of short stories by the British author Ian Fleming, featuring the fictional British Secret Service agent Commander James Bond, the eighth book to feature the character. It was first published by Jonathan C ...
". 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
William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...
, an author he greatly admired.
Elements from the stories have been used in a number of the
Eon Productions
Eon Productions Ltd. is a British film production company that primarily produces the ''James Bond'' film series. The company is based in London's Piccadilly and also operates from Pinewood Studios in the UK.
''Bond'' films
Eon was start ...
James Bond film series
James Bond is a fictional character created by British novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. A British secret agent working for MI6 under the codename 007, Bond has been portrayed on film in twenty-seven productions by actors Sean Connery, David Niv ...
, including the 1981 film, ''
For Your Eyes Only'', starring
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 19 ...
as James Bond. The film used some elements and characters from the short stories "For Your Eyes Only" and "Risico". "From a View to a Kill" also gave part of its title (but no characters or plot elements) to the fourteenth Bond film, ''
A View to a Kill
''A View to a Kill'' is a 1985 spy film and the fourteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and is the seventh and final appearance of Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Although the title is adapted ...
'' (1985), while plot elements from "The Hildebrand Rarity" were used in the sixteenth Bond film, ''
Licence to Kill
''Licence to Kill'' is a 1989 spy film, the sixteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the second and final film to star Timothy Dalton as the MI6 agent James Bond. It sees Bond suspended from MI6 as he pursues t ...
'' (1989). "Quantum of Solace" was used as the title for the
twenty-second Bond film.
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 rider was ''en route'' from SHAPE, the
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) is the military headquarters of the NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) that commands all NATO operations worldwide. ACO's and SHAPE's commander ...
, then located in
Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
, to his base, Station F, in
Saint-Germain in France. Since Bond is already in Paris, his superior,
M, sends him to assist in the investigation in any way he can. Bond disguises himself as a dispatch-rider and follows the same journey to Station F as the previous rider. As expected, the assassin attempts to kill Bond. Bond, however, is ready and kills the assassin. He then uncovers the assassin's hidden base of operations.
"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
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
officer who is the chief of counterintelligence for the Cuban secret service. They are killed by two Cuban
hitmen
Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...
at the direction of their leader, Major Gonzales; all three work for von Hammerstein. The Havelocks turn out to be close friends of
M, who served as the groom's best man during their wedding in 1925. M subsequently gives Bond a voluntary assignment, unconnected to sanctioned Secret Service duties; to travel to
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
via Canada, find von Hammerstein at his rented estate at Echo Lake and assassinate him as a warning to future criminals who might think to target British citizens. When Bond arrives on the scene, he finds the Havelocks' daughter,
Judy, who intends to carry out her own mission of revenge with a
bow and arrow
The bow and arrow is a ranged weapon system consisting of an elastic launching device (bow) and long-shafted projectiles ( arrows). Humans used bows and arrows for hunting and aggression long before recorded history, and the practice was comm ...
. Judy kills von Hammerstein by shooting him in the back with an
arrow
An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...
from away at the exact moment that he dives into a lake. A shoot-out then occurs between Bond and Gonzales and the two Cuban gunmen. Bond kills all of them and returns to Canada with Judy, who has been wounded during the gunfight.
"Quantum of Solace"
After completing a mission in the
Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
, Bond is in
Nassau
Nassau may refer to:
Places Bahamas
*Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence
Canada
*Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792
*Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...
and attends a disappointing dinner party at
Government House
Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries.
Gover ...
. When the other guests have left, Bond remarks that if he ever marries, he imagines it would be nice to marry an air hostess. The
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
then tells Bond the story of a relationship between a former civil servant, Philip Masters and
air hostess
A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are primar ...
Rhoda Llewellyn. After meeting aboard a flight to London, the couple married and went to live in Bermuda, but Rhoda eventually began a long
open affair with the eldest son of a rich Bermudian family. As a result, Masters' work deteriorated, and he suffered a nervous breakdown. After recovering, he was given a break from Bermuda by the governor and sent on an assignment to Washington. Upon his return Masters was determined to end his marriage and he divided their home into two sections, half to each of them and refused to have anything to do with his wife in private—although they continued to appear as a couple in public. He eventually returned to the UK alone, leaving Rhoda with unpaid debts and stranded in Bermuda—a cruel act which he would have been incapable of carrying out just a few months earlier. The governor explains his point to Bond: when the "Quantum of Solace" drops to zero, humanity and consideration of one human for another is gone and the relationship is finished. Despite the success of Masters' plan to take revenge on his unfaithful wife, he never recovered emotionally. After a time, Rhoda married a rich Canadian. The governor then reveals that the dinner companions whom Bond found dull were in fact Rhoda and her husband. The governor hinting that Bond should have a quantum of solace for what they went through.
"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
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
informant,
Kristatos, who in turn tells Bond that a man named
Enrico Colombo
This is a list of allies of ''James Bond'' who appear throughout the film series and novels.
MI6
M
M is a Rear Admiral of the Royal Navy, and the head of the Secret Intelligence Service. Fleming based the character on a number of people ...
is behind the racket. When Bond sets out to find more information on Colombo, he is captured and brought aboard Colombo's ship, the ''Colombina''. Colombo informs Bond that Kristatos is actually the one in charge of the drug smuggling operation, and that Kristatos is backed by the Russians. Colombo agrees to help Bond by providing information about things "as long as none of it comes back to Italy"; Bond agrees to help Colombo eliminate Kristatos. Bond, Colombo and his men sail the ''Colombina'' to Santa Maria where Kristatos's men are in the process of loading another shipment of drugs. They attack Kristatos's ship and adjacent warehouse and discover Kristatos lurking near the warehouse, preparing to detonate a bomb. Kristatos tries to escape, but is killed by Bond.
"The Hildebrand Rarity"
![Fish3120](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Fish3120.jpg)
Bond is on an assignment in the
Seychelles
Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...
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
Stingrays are a group of sea rays, which are cartilaginous fish related to sharks. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatidae ( ...
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
Raymond Benson
Raymond Benson (born September 6, 1955) is an American author best known for being the author of the James Bond novels from 1997 to 2003. Benson was born in Midland, Texas and graduated from Permian High School in Odessa in 1973. In primary scho ...
notes that two of the stories ("Quantum of Solace" and "The Hildebrand Rarity") are experimental for Fleming, while the remaining three are straightforward Bond adventures. In the two experimental stories Bond is given something of a more human side, with "Quantum of Solace" evidencing Bond's reaction to the Governor's story by showing a compassionate side, as he sees the real life of Philip Masters and Rhoda Llewellyn as being more dramatic than his recent mission; the forthcoming trip he has to make to the
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
, he now sees as "dull and unexciting". In "The Hildebrand Rarity", Bond is also shown with a humanitarian side, with feelings for the plight of Liz at the hands of her husband and for the use of the poison on the fish by Milton Krest.
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. 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.
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'').
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
again makes an appearance in the stories: in ''For Your Eyes Only'', Von Hammerstein is a former
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
officer, whilst the
RCMP
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...
officer, Colonel Johns, served with the British under
Montgomery in the
Eighth Army. In "The Hildebrand Rarity", Milton Krest is of German descent, and in "Risico", both Enrico Colombo and Aristotle Kristatos fought for the British in the war.
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, 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".
Background
In the summer of 1958,
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
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!
''Climax!'' (later known as ''Climax Mystery Theater'') is an American television anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa. It was one of the few CBS programs ...
''. Fleming agreed to the deal, and began to write outlines for the series; however, CBS later dropped the idea. 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. Fleming biographer
Andrew Lycett
Andrew Michael Duncan Lycett (born 1948) FRSL is an English biographer and journalist.
Early life
Born at Stamford, Lincolnshire to Peter Norman Lycett Lycett and Joan Mary Duncan (née Day), Lycett spent some of his childhood in Tanganyika, wher ...
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" and this can be seen in Bond's internal monologue of thoughts.
"From a View to a Kill"
"From a View to a Kill" was initially intended to be the backstory for
Hugo Drax
Sir Hugo Drax is a fictional character created by author Ian Fleming for the 1955 James Bond novel '' Moonraker''. For the later film and its novelization, Drax was greatly altered from the novel by screenwriter Christopher Wood. In the film, D ...
, the villain of the novel ''
Moonraker''. The story would have taken place during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, 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
Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use ...
and a disfigured face. The story was one that Fleming had drawn up for the television series. 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. The idea of the underground hideout was inspired by Fleming's brother
Peter
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
's band of
Auxiliary Units
The Auxiliary Units or GHQ Auxiliary Units were specially-trained, highly-secret quasi military units created by the British government during the Second World War with the aim of using irregular warfare in response to a possible invasion of the U ...
who dug tunnel networks in Britain in 1940 as part of a
resistance movement
A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objective ...
in advance of a
German invasion German invasion may refer to:
Pre-1900s
* German invasion of Hungary (1063)
World War I
* German invasion of Belgium (1914)
* German invasion of Luxembourg (1914)
World War II
* Invasion of Poland
* German invasion of Belgium (1940)
* G ...
. The original name for the story was "The Rough with the Smooth", which was also the original title of the books, before ''For Your Eyes Only'' was chosen for publication.
"For Your Eyes Only"
The story was originally entitled ''Man's Work'' and was set in
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
, 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. The name of the villain of the story, Von Hammerstein was taken from General Baron
Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord
Kurt Gebhard Adolf Philipp Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord (26 September 1878 – 24 April 1943) was a German general (''Generaloberst'') who was the Commander-in-Chief of the Reichswehr, the Weimar Republic's armed forces. He is regarded as "a ...
(1878–1943), one of Hitler's opponents. Fleming also considered calling the story "Death Leaves an Echo" and based the story on "Rough Justice", which was to be episode three of the television series.
"Quantum of Solace"
![Maugham facing camera](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Maugham_facing_camera.jpg)
"Quantum of Solace" was based on a story told to Fleming by his neighbour and lover
Blanche Blackwell
Blanche Blackwell (; 9 December 1912 – 8 August 2017) was a Jamaican heiress, mother of Chris Blackwell, and an inspirational muse to Ian Fleming and Noël Coward.
Early life
Blanche Lindo was born on 9 December 1912 in San José, Costa R ...
about a real-life police inspector Fleming portrayed as a civil servant, Philip Masters. As thanks for the inspiration, Fleming bought Blackwell a
Cartier Cartier may refer to:
People
* Cartier (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
* Cartier Martin (born 1984), American basketball player
Places
* Cartier Island, an island north-west of Australia that is part of Australia' ...
watch. Fleming paid homage to a writer he greatly admired,
W Somerset Maugham, by writing the story in Maugham's style.
The format—a private conversation between an agent and a high-ranking diplomat about socially unequal romance—is taken from Maugham's short story
"His Excellency". "Quantum of Solace" was first published in the May 1959 issue of ''
Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Food and drink
* Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo"
History
* Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953
Hotels and resorts
* Cosmopoli ...
'' in the US, and then in the UK in ''Modern Woman's Magazine'' of November 1959.
"Risico"
In 1958 Fleming holidayed with his wife Ann in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
and at the
Lido peninsula; Fleming was a great admirer of
Thomas Mann
Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...
's work ''
Death in Venice
''Death in Venice ''(German: ''Der Tod in Venedig'') is a novella by German author Thomas Mann, published in 1912. It presents an ennobled writer who visits Venice and is liberated, uplifted, and then increasingly obsessed by the sight of a Poli ...
'', which was based on the Lido and the Flemings visited it for that reason, using the location as the backdrop for "Risico". For the love interest in the story, Lisl, Fleming used the name of an ex-girlfriend from
Kitzbühel
Kitzbühel (, also: ; ) is a medieval town situated in the Kitzbühel Alps along the river Kitzbüheler Ache in Tyrol, Austria, about east of the state capital Innsbruck and is the administrative centre of the Kitzbühel district (). Kitzbühel ...
in Austria, where he had travelled in the 1930s. For the name of Colombo, Fleming borrowed the surname of
Gioacchino Colombo Gioachino Colombo (1903–1988) was an Italian automobile engine designer. Colombo was born in Legnano. He began work as an apprentice to Vittorio Jano at Alfa Romeo.
In 1937, Colombo designed the 158 engine for the Alfetta and caught the attentio ...
, the Ferrari engine designer.
"The Hildebrand Rarity"
In April 1958 Fleming flew to the Seychelles via Bombay to report for ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'' 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". 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. 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
The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...
and an
MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
, whilst Krest was the name of tonic and ginger beer Fleming drank in Seychelles. "The Hildebrand Rarity" was first published in ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
K ...
'' in March 1960.
Release and reception
''For Your Eyes Only'' was published on 11 April 1960 in the UK as a hardcover edition by publishers
Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960.
Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...
; it was 252 pages long and cost fifteen
shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...
s.
The subtitle, ''Five Secret Occasions in the Life of James Bond'', was added for publication; 21,712 copies were printed and quickly sold out. ''For Your Eyes Only'' was published in the US in August 1960 by
Viking Press
Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...
and the subtitle was changed to ''Five Secret Exploits of James Bond''; in later editions, it was dropped altogether.
Artist
Richard Chopping
Richard Wasey Chopping (14 April 1917 – 17 April 2008) was a British illustrator and author best known for painting the dust jackets of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels starting with '' From Russia, with Love'' (1957).
Early life
Chopping was ...
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
onathanCape have made a splendid job of it". 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!"
Reviews
Francis Iles
Anthony Berkeley Cox (5 July 1893 – 9 March 1971) was an English crime writer. He wrote under several pen-names, including Francis Iles, Anthony Berkeley and A. Monmouth Platts.
Early life and education
Anthony Berkeley Cox was born 5 July ...
, writing in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', noting the short-story format, "thought it better than the novels"
and wrote that "the first story is full of the old wild improbabilities, but one of the others has a positively Maughamish flavour."
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."
Writing in ''The Guardian''s sister paper, ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'', Maurice Richardson thought that "our Casanovaesque cad-clubman secret agent is mellowing a bit now";
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".
Writing in ''
The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world.
It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'',
Cyril Ray
Cyril Ray (16 March 1908 – 24 September 1991) was an English writer and journalist. After a spell as a war reporter, and then a foreign correspondent he became best known for writing about food and, especially, wine. He became a wine writer al ...
(under the
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
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".
Writing in
''The Listener'', John Raymond was of the opinion that Bond's "admirers ... will find him in top form"
and that the stories, "all but one of which are well up to 007's high standard".
Raymond believed that "The Commander seems to be mellowing with the years"
and because of this was "less of a show-off ... and, for once, his chronicler has almost cut out the sadism".
In terms of the villains in the book, most notably Milton Krest, Raymond saw that Fleming's "capacity to create villains is undiminished".
The critic for ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' reflected that "the mood of ''For Your Eyes Only'' is, in fact, a good deal more sober and, perhaps, weary than before";
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".
Philip Stead, writing in ''
The Times Literary Supplement
''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp.
History
The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...
'' thought that "Mr. Fleming's licensed assassin is in pretty good form."
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".
In the US, James Sandoe, writing in the ''
New York Herald Tribune
The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...
'' thought that ''For Your Eyes Only'' had "urban savagery and mighty smooth tale-spinning". Writing in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'',
Anthony Boucher
William Anthony Parker White (August 21, 1911 – April 29, 1968), better known by his pen name Anthony Boucher (), was an American author, critic, and editor who wrote several classic mystery novels, short stories, science fiction, and radio d ...
—described by a Fleming biographer,
John Pearson as "throughout an avid anti-Bond and an anti-Fleming man"—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.'"
In the short story form, however, Boucher finds that Bond's tales "are proportionate"
and that Fleming's "prose ... is eminently smooth and readable"
even if "Bond's triumphs are too simple and lack ... intricate suspense".
Adaptations
Comic strip (1961–1967)
Four of the five short stories in ''For Your Eyes Only'' were adapted into
comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...
s published in the British newspaper ''
Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...
'' and subsequently syndicated around the world. The first three stories were adapted by
Henry Gammidge
Henry Francis Gammidge (1915–1981), was a writer of the James Bond comic strip that appeared in ''Daily Express'' newspaper and syndicated worldwide. Gammidge adapted Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, which were then drawn by illustrator John Mc ...
and illustrated by
John McLusky
John McLusky (20 January 1923 – 5 September 2006) was a comics artist best known as the original artist of the comic strip featuring Ian Fleming's ''James Bond''.
Biography
Hector John Dewhirst McLusky was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He eventua ...
and appeared in the newspaper between 3 April 1961 and 9 December 1961. All three comics were published again in 2005 as part of the ''
Dr. No'' anthology by
Titan Books
Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and co ...
. The fourth adaptation, "The Hildebrand Rarity", did not appear until six years after the comic-strip versions of the other stories. It was adapted by
Jim Lawrence and illustrated by
Yaroslav Horak
Yaroslav Horak (12 June 1927 – 24 November 2020) was an Australian illustrator and comics artist, of ethnic Czech-Russian origin, best known for his work on the newspaper comic strip ''James Bond (comic strip), James Bond''.
Biography
Horak ...
. This adaptation was reprinted by Titan Books in 2009 as part of Volume 2 of the ''James Bond Omnibus'' collection.
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
Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 19 ...
as James Bond. 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.
''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
''A View to a Kill'' is a 1985 spy film and the fourteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and is the seventh and final appearance of Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Although the title is adapted ...
'', with none of the story used in this or any other film to date.
''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
''Licence to Kill'' is a 1989 spy film, the sixteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the second and final film to star Timothy Dalton as the MI6 agent James Bond. It sees Bond suspended from MI6 as he pursues t ...
''.
''Quantum of Solace'' (2008)
''Quantum of Solace'' was chosen as the title of the
22nd Bond film; none of the story was used for the film's plot.
Daniel Craig
Daniel Wroughton Craig (born 2 March 1968) is an English-American actor who gained international fame playing the secret agent James Bond in the film series, beginning with '' Casino Royale'' (2006) and in four further instalments, up to '' ...
, who starred as Bond in the film, said the film also shares the primary thematic element of the story as "it relates to the fact that if you don't have that Quantum of Solace in a relationship, you should give up. If you are not respecting each other, it's over, and at the end of the last movie Bond doesn't have that because his girlfriend has been killed."
''Spectre'' (2015)
In the 2015 film ''
Spectre
Spectre, specter or the spectre may refer to:
Religion and spirituality
* Vision (spirituality)
* Apparitional experience
* Ghost
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Spectre'' (1977 film), a made-for-television film produced and writ ...
'' M and Bond meet in a London safe house, which carries a name plate labelled "Hildebrand Antiques and Rarities", a reference to ''The Hildebrand Rarity''.
See also
*
List of James Bond novels and short stories
''James Bond'' is a literary franchise comprising a series of novels and short stories, first published in 1953 by Ian Fleming, a British author, journalist, and former naval intelligence officer. The protagonist of the series, James Bond, is ...
*
Outline of James Bond
The following Outline (list), outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to James Bond:
James Bond (literary character), James Bond is a fictional character created in 1953 by the journalist and writer Ian Fleming, who featured him i ...
References
Bibliography
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External links
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Ian Fleming Publications
{{DEFAULTSORT:For Your Eyes Only (Short Story Collection)
1960 short story collections
Short story collections by Ian Fleming
Thriller short story collections
James Bond books
For Your Eyes Only (film)
Licence to Kill
A View to a Kill
Quantum of Solace
Jonathan Cape books