Exploring the Genre

While researching for my paper on James Bond I decided to check out the Harold B. Lee Library for resources. One of the books I was looking for was Harmon and Holman's A Handbook to Literature which was recommended by my professor as a good general reference book for our papers. After looking around for a few minutes I was able to find the newest edition of the book. I could see why my professor recommended the book as it has countless helpful definitions of genre and terms in the world of fiction. One that I found particularly helpful was this passage on Escape Literature: "Writing whose clear intention is to amuse and beguile by offering readers a strong world, exciting adventures, or puzzling mysteries. It aims at no higher purpose than amusement. Adventure stories, detective stories, tales of fantasy, and many humorous stories are frankly escape literature, and they exist for no other purpose than to translate readers for a time from the care ridden actual world to an entrancing world of the imagination.


Longfellow, in "The Day is Done", defined the effect of escape literature:

Come, read to me some poem,

      Some simple and heartfelt lay,

That shall soothe this restless feeling,

      And banish the thoughts of day.

And the night shall be filled with music,

      And the cares, that infest the day,

Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,

      And as silently steal away.

How Ian Fleming envisioned what Bond  looked like

For the most part I would place James Bond under escape literature, but I think they are especially a form of escapism for men. The Bond novels take us to exotic places and the stories are filled with intrigue, but along the way Bond is able seduce various beautiful women and fight and gun down all the baddies. He is suave, sophisticated, and always looks great in his suit. He always gets the job done no matter what is in his way He has been described as the man men want to be and the one women want to be with. I think that says something about how the character has managed to endure so long. He is the epitome of masculinity and thats why we keep going to see him at the theaters because for just two hours we can be the ultimate man. Thats why there have been numerous sequels to the original Ian Fleming novels that continue to this day.