The Signs of James Bond

This book is an analysis of the most significant elements that compose the “Bond formula,” such as names, binary oppositions and narrative patterns. It tackles Ian Fleming’s novels as well as the 22 films of the Eon Productions series and follows the evolution of certain determining features (paradigms) from the text to the screen, to determine their function within the narration. This study reveals how the James Bond universe goes well beyond mere spy adventures to become a genre in itself as well as, now, a standard cultural reference. The book also shows that the underlying ideology of the James Bond narration is not as conservative as it might appear, for it promotes ideals of the Enlightenment period such as secularity, pragmatism and the common good.

Daniel Ferreras Savoye is a professor of French and Spanish literary and cultural studies at West Virginia University. His work on marginalized authors, comic books, detective fiction, popular culture issues and critical theory has appeared in Hispania, French Literature Series, Ángulo Recto, The Popular Culture Review and La tribuna.

Daniel Ferreras Savoye
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 208
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2013
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7056-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0012-3
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments viii

Foreword by James Chapman 1

Introduction: The Last Spy Standing 3

1. Dr. Bond 11

2. The Names of the Order 32

3. Positions and Oppositions 56

4. Primal Forces 91

5. Bondian Art 115

6. Bonding the New World Order 151

Conclusion: The Runaway Narrative Structure 176

Chapter Notes 181

Works Cited 193

Index 197