exercises in compound storytelling

Sunday, September 28, 2008

reasonable questions, unreasonable questions

Ian Fleming's commissioned impression of James...Image via WikipediaToday's GetReligion asks about the spiritual and/or moral framework of the James Bond novels.

Libby Purves, a Times columnist, novelist and radio broadcaster, asks the question that most people probably think when they consider whether Bond ever knelt at church: “Does James Bond have faith in anything but himself?”

I guess this is a reasonable question to ask for any "world" or "universe" that is sufficiently large, and I'm not sure when that threshold is reached. There's probably no hard and fast rule. I guess there are also reasonable questions about whether the movies would be included or not, etc.

Lord of the Rings certainly has a moral framework; on bad days it's nothing but. Does Remembrance of Things Past? The Harry Potter series? Left Behind? I'm not sure. If and when I ever read them I'll have that question not quite foremost in my mind.

I can't answer regarding the Bond novels; I only read Goldfinger (Anthony Burgess recommended it in 99 Novels) and honestly I thought it was mostly about brand names and action.
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