Lynd, Vesper

The cocktail appears in the book and is named for Vesper Lynd, the double agent who is Bond s lady interest until her suicide over split allegiances to the free world and the evil empire of the Soviet Union. Bond dedicates the drink to the violet hour, a beautiful evocation of the ethos of the cocktail. Nice, Sir James. 

Bond frets more fully about gender roles blurring in the workplace, especially in his workplace in the world of espionage, once his partner Vesper Lynd is apparently kidnapped in Casino Royale ... 

The hrst important early sale went to CBS television in 1954, shortly after the publication of the novel in America. The rights were sold to make a one-hour adaptation for the network s Climax , a dramatic series of mystery and suspense adaptations taped live in the studio. Broadcast in October of that year. Casino Royale starred Barry Nelson as American Jimmy Bond, Peter Lorre as the villain Le Chiffre, and Linda Christian as the hrst Bond girl. Vesper Lynd. Needless to say, Nelson s television character had little to do with Fleming s literary creation other than he liked martinis and was an excellent card sharp. The teleplay, however, faithfully followed the novel s plot, albeit toned down for American audiences and the network censors. 

Let s stay with the novel Casino Roy ale (written in 1953) for a moment, since that s going to be the next him. In Fleming s novel Bond sleeps with a fellow British agent called Vesper Lynd (she later turns out to be a Russian double agent, and kills herself). He s unhappy that he has to work with a female agent in the first place ( women were for recreation, he complains). The sex We re told that the conquest of her body, because of the central privacy in her, would each time have the sweet tang of rape. When he learns of her death, he says only, [T]he bitch is dead. Look again at those lines. You think this reflects an individual who likes women (From For Your Eyes Only, 1960 Don t be a silly bitch, this is man s work. From The Spy Who Loved Me, 1962 All women love semi-rape. From You Only Live Twice, 1964 This is man s work. )... 

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