James bond casino royale 1953
British publishing house Jonathan Cape publishes Ian Fleming’s first novel, Casino Royale, introducing the world to literature's most famous spy: James Bond,
The son of a parliamentary minister and grandson of a Scottish financier, Fleming grew up in a wealthy London family. Educated at Eton and prestigious military schools, Fleming worked as a journalist and junior editor for Reuters and was stationed in pre–World War II Moscow.
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The 10 Coolest James Bond Cars EverFleming then returned to London to work as a stockbroker. But global conflict loomed, and the director of naval intelligence, Rear Adm. John Godfrey, recruited Fleming to serve as his personal assistant. During his intelligence career, Fleming would rise to the rank of commander, planning operations for an elite team of British commandos, the 30 Assault Unit.
Though his desk-bound duties laid the foundation for his espionage fiction, they kept Fleming out of the field. When he turned to writing after the war, he poured that frustration into his fictional alter ego — making sure Bond was always in on the action. Searching for a moniker that seemed British without sounding too dramatic, Fleming chose his MI6 hero's name from the author of the book, Bond's Birds of the West Indies.
It was not the first spy novel, but Casino Royale would elevate the espionage genre into the elite levels of popular culture. Arthur Conan Doyle, William Le Queux and Joseph Conrad were only some of the accomplished authors who took a shot at spy fiction in previous decades. But, Fleming was the first to combine style and sexiness with the dangerous world of espionage.
[Spoiler alert: Plot summary follows.]
Casino Royale sends Bond to France on an assignment to confront master gambler Le Chiffre. The Soviet agent embezzled Soviet money to start a failed chain of brothels, and he needs to win a high-stakes baccarat game to repay his Russian bosses. If Bond can defeat Le Chiffre on the tables, his superiors in London hope Smert' Shpionam (SMERSH, the KGB's revenge division — literally "Death to Spies") will kill Le Chiffre.
Aided by the beautiful Vesper Lynd (secretly a Soviet agent herself), Bond beats the villain at cards. But, Le Chiffre captures , torturing and almost castrating him before a SMERSH assassin finally kills Le Chiffre. Bond recovers with Lynd and plans to quit Her Majesty's Secret Service and live happily ever after with Lynd. That's a big change for the all-business literary Bond, as he has no time for women when introduced.
When Lynd thinks SMERSH has targeted her for assassination, the double agent commits suicide — leaving Bond a heartfelt love note to explain her betrayal. His romantic illusions shattered, Bond returns to duty with MI6. His short report into London is also one of the great closing lines of any novel: "The bitch is dead now."
[Spoilers end here.]
Compared to later Bond novels and especially to the films, Casino Royale is not gadget-centric.