tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post7084207999067727522..comments2024-03-14T05:11:55.141-04:00Comments on Existential Ennui: Looking for the Perfect Bond (and Ripley too)Nick Jones (Louis XIV, the Sun King)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17716508525331235684noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-23922144577520656462012-03-22T13:29:52.956-04:002012-03-22T13:29:52.956-04:00Glad you concur, Craig. Tom Ripley's an odd on...Glad you concur, Craig. Tom Ripley's an odd one: I don't really see anyone in particular when I read the Ripley novels; he is, as you say, too anonymous in appearance, perhaps too mercurial, to assign a definite physical likeness to.Nick Jones (Louis XIV, the Sun King)https://www.blogger.com/profile/17716508525331235684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-79334228931660802792012-03-21T17:25:17.703-04:002012-03-21T17:25:17.703-04:00How I picture literary characters is influenced by...How I picture literary characters is influenced by descriptions in the text over anything else. James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, and Tom Ripley all look to me the way they're described by their creators. Fleming's Bond isn't Connery or Dalton or Brosnan or Craig; he's Hoagy Carmichael. Doyle's Holmes isn't Rathbone or Brett; he's Peter Cushing (only much taller). Highsmith's Ripley isn't Delon, Damon, Hopper, or Malkovich; he's too bland looking for me to think of a famous person to compare him to. Matheson's Robert Neville (from <i>I Am Legend</i>) isn't Vincent Price, Charlton Heston, or Will Smith; he's Dan Haggerty. The protagonist in Dick's "The Minority Report" is closer to Paul Giamatti than Tom Cruise. And so on and so forth.<br /><br />If the author doesn't give the characters physical descriptions, my imagination usually won't come up with something, and I won't really think about their appearance at all. I may be influenced by a film adaptation if I've seen one recently, but more often than not, their faces are just blurs to me.<br /><br />Bond on the first <i>Moonraker</i> cover looks like George Lazenby to me. Bond on the <i>Casino Royale</i> cover looks like a naive tourist asking the bartender for a light beer. I think the <i>From Russia with Love</i> cover is the best, but this Bond is still a bit too boyishly handsome for my tastes. The comic book drawings seem to hit the nail: handsome but rugged, the kind of face you could strike a match on (or possibly use to sand a coffee table).Craig D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02798473771333728151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-35314188251496523662011-12-14T10:38:11.076-05:002011-12-14T10:38:11.076-05:00Got to agree that the 1959 Pan edition of FRWL is ...Got to agree that the 1959 Pan edition of FRWL is dead on. Remarkable, too, how much his Bond on that cover looks like Timothy Dalton, who wouldn't play Bond for almost 30 years.Benzadmiralhttp://benzadmiral-uncle.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com