Charlie Higson deserves credit for making Silverfin (2005) appealing to readers
and Bond fans of all ages. Placed in 1933, this hero narrative where thirteen
year young Bond saves the world in a straightforward heroic quest, is full of
action and ingredients such as suspense, a bold villain, elaborate plans for
world domination, technology, life and death situations, violence, capture and
escape, supporting friends from different backgrounds, a monster with good
intentions, a detective, a mad scientist/professor, a housekeeper, plenty of
cliffhangers, and a classic plot ending, leaving me as a reader satisfied. Just
as the books and the films with Adult Bond, first written during the cold war
of the 1950s, Silverfin has a healthy
dose of good humour and self distance. A Bond experience is to suspend your
knowledge of the real world and go along for the ride. It is fiction, our hero
is more than capable, even at this young age, and the reader knows he lives on
in sequel books. The aim is to entertain, revive nostalgia of a lost time, sell
books and make money.
Higson’s
Bond is a round character and a modern boy, who preferably eats multicultural
food, speaks several languages, runs, swims and who learns to dive, drive and
fish. His stamina stops him from giving up. His character gradually develops, as
he turns tougher and challenges his abilities. But he also learns of the
importance of his family (aunt, uncle, dead parents) and heritage. Dealing with
uncle Max’s dying and death, he starts taking his footsteps to become a spy and
work for MI6 and also to drive his Aston Martin. Though deprecatory and feeling
intimidated by Wilder at first, he watches her from a distance and learns that
her strengths is needed by him in his pursuit to destroy the lab. Getting out he
doesn’t walk away, but returns and trusts George, who in spite of fear eventually
takes side against his father. Red Kelly is a good guy though he has a
background of stealing, so Bond realizes not to judge people by first
impression or from their background. Most of the side characters are round characters
with many qualities and many develop throughout the story.
Silverfin is full of intertextuality and is
flirting vividly with the clichés of the genre and British Literature for
Children and Youths. The most obvious flirtation is to Rowlings’s Harry Potter
books. The initial setting in Eton with details of school life (the school
year, the school itself, school activities, teachers, lessons,
sport days) make/s that pretty inevitable. Later in the remote Scottish
moors our hero is supported by Wilder and Red and form a literary trio (just as
Harry has Hermione and Ron). But in the climax they stand back and instead
George steps in (just as Harry has different helpers in the different books).
Lord Hellebore (as Lord Voldemort) is the villain, who marks James with a scar.
Not to mention the last chapter, there James wakes up in his bed after passing
out and hardly survived saving the world. The voice in James’s head while
diving out through the underwater tunnel, coming from the dying uncle Max (and
not father as in Harry’s case), the eels (and the basilisk), the castle by a lake
and its surrounding landscape, just as the importance of water and breathing
under water are other resemblances.
Planting seeds to future happenings
Higson follows the Bond formula. In an interview he said he “tried all along to make them
proper books, as engrossing and serious as any adult books. I wanted to create
a quality product with a long shelf life. I wanted depth. I wanted to have the
readers lose themselves in this world. I don’t patronise the kids and I try to
put in as many Bondian elements as I am able without it becoming cheesy. … as
much an adventure for the reader as it is for Bond … I have tried to follow
Fleming’s rules as much as possible. Do proper research, create a convincing
background, write about things you are passionate about, create a believable
world with authentic detail and that gives you the leeway to go off into more
fantastic areas without losing the reader”. SilverFin begins with a similar opening
to Casino Royale. Fleming writes "The scent
and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning".
Higson writes "The smell and noise and confusion of a hallway full of
schoolboys can be quite awful at twenty past seven in the morning". At the circus the announcer presents "The Mighty
Donovan", who is Donovan "Red" Grant's father, referenced in From Russia, with Love. While hunting Lord Hellebore tells George he is a
true Red Indian. This reference of Fleming's World War II experiences,
also appears in Casino Royale.
The women in the story are few, but
they are strong and independent characters with modern values. (Aunt Charmian drives an identical Bentley to one Bond
drives in Casino Royale and in subsequent books). The US edition of the
book was edited to remove descriptions that were considered too racy for young
readers eg a description of Wilder 's
legs during a tussle with Bond. In aspect of gender students could write back
the story and change gender of the hero, or find differences from the book of how
women were regarded at the time and how it was changing even then. Teaching
students how to think, instead of what to think.
In my
opinion the class, gender and moral values of Eton are very much a cultural
reproduction of what part of the British society stands for. Where else but
Eton could Bond have attended school? After all "No other school can claim to have sent forth
such a cohort of distinguished figures to make their mark on the world"(Nevill).
Tony Little, the present Head Master of Eton College writes at their website “Our
primary aim is to encourage each Etonian to be a self-confident, inquiring,
tolerant, positive young man, a well-rounded character with an independent
mind, an individual who respects the differences of others. By the time he
leaves the school, we want each boy to have that true sense of self-worth which
will enable him to stand up for himself and for a purpose greater than himself,
and, in doing so, to be of value to society”.
(retrieved 20121015).
I simply like clever good old
entertainment!
/ Helena
|
I'm though a bit curious...what do you think about the private school Eton? I think Higson actually critizes Eton through this book. In that case does Higson also give criticism to what kind of glass, gender, moral values Britain stands for?
SvaraRaderaThere are always two sides of a story so to speak... You can read Silverfin just as ´simply good old entertainment´ or with a more critical eye depending what´s the purpose of the reading is. I tried both ways and I enjoyed both my different readig styles.
SvaraRaderaDen här kommentaren har tagits bort av skribenten.
SvaraRaderaI've been a big Harry Potter fan since 1998 when I read the first Harry Potter book to pupils at my "VFU" school. I can also see the similarity between Silverfin and HP. In both books the boys are orphan (it seems to be a standard in many English books that the hero/heroine is an orphan), Harry and James are both raised up by their aunts, they both board a train to get home, evil father/evil son, eels/basilisk, contests between JB-HP/ and the bad guys. But what is it with train scenes? The authors must love trains, and in the latest film "Skyfall" JB is having a fight on top of a train. The boys both attend a boarding school with some really weird people working there. But if I had to go to a boarding school I would definitely choose Hogwards to Eton.
SvaraRaderaI think the story in Silverfin changes quite a lot when James arrives in Scotland. The setting on the highlands of Scotland is really interesting. Could it really happen anything bad to James there during his vacation from school? Yes, it could! It's now when the action begins!
In her article Margery Hourighan brings up that analysis of how a story is told, narrative point of view, narrator, what values are preferable shows how the reader’s sympathies and perceptions are manipulated. The way the hero and his opponents are pictured reveals what has been valued and what has been thought of as inferior or evil in Western culture. In Silverfin the hero James Bond is all for fair play where George Hellebore and his father clearly are of the opinion that anything goes as long as you win whatever the fight is about, winning a race or ruling the world. At the end George changes and chooses to follow the “right track” and he turns against his father who is incurably evil. The story could be used to discuss drug abuse and doping.
SvaraRaderaIt’s an interesting issue you bring up regarding the US edition cutting out the description of Wilder’s legs. I didn’t find it in anyway sexy but I imagine an American editor could find it a bit dirty. How that is worse than all the into detail described violence I can’t understand.