Secret Service (On Her Majesty's Secret Service) First Edition
: Glidrose Productions Ltd, 1963 First Edition
Italian: Garzanti, 1965
Translation: Rossella Rossi Irti
"He turned nervously a cigarette, straightened his shoulders, and drove in the archive was closed for so long, his reminiscences. It was now an adult, a man with a murky and dangerous years of memories: a spy. "
James Bond to a year traveling to Europe in search of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, head of SPECTRE. His fighters, however, did not yield any results. Blofeld seems to have disappeared into thin air. Discouraged and tired of a mission so boring, that it deems unsuitable for its capabilities, our meditation to resign by the secret services. While in the Riviera, with its direct Bentley Royale Les Eaux, Bond engages in a race with a mysterious girl who leads a Lancia Flaminia Zagato Spider. The race ended with the victory of women, something unheard of for Bond, who decides to follow her to the Hotel Splendide. He discovers that she is uninhibited Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo. Teresa Bond follows the casino, where he attended a game of chemin de fer in which she loses a large sum of money that can not be welded. Bond intervenes to prevent the scandal of his own pocket by paying the debt. The girl decides to thank him for offering a night of love. The next morning, however, Tracy (this is his diminutive) throws him out of the room so abruptly. Astonished by his behavior, Bond follows the girl on the beach and realizes that she contemplates suicide. 007 acts to prevent the tragedy but is blocked by two shady characters who, threatening him with the gun and the woman, forcing them to board a speedboat. After a short trip they are taken inside a truck where is the headquarters of Marc-Ange Draco, head of the Union Race and the father of Tracy. This is concerned about her daughter in depressive crisis after the departure of her husband (the despicable Italian Count Vicenzo Di) and the subsequent loss of their son from meningitis. Draco asks Bond to express that appreciation for his curriculum vitae, to take care of the girl in exchange for one million pounds in gold. Bond indignantly rejects the offer and recommended Tracy man hospitalized in a psychiatric clinic. Draco then asks if he can pay her debt to have prevented her daughter to hurt the agent and says she wants to know if Blofeld is still alive. After a quick survey Draco tells Bond that his arch enemy is in good shape and hides in Switzerland. Bond informs MI6 that goes to work until it detects a trace. Through his lawyers Blofeld has contacted the prestigious Institute of Heraldry for the evidence of his nobility. In fact, he looks like Count Balthazar de Bleuville, believing to be the legitimate heir of the family.
Bond then decides to a trap his enemy. Posing as a specialist in genealogy, Sir Hilary Bray, he goes with the permission of M to Switzerland to meet him. His plan is try to gain his trust, tricked into Germany in search of a key document to prove his nobility, and do kidnap British intelligence. Bond sets out a bold plan to Eichmann.
Playing as the secret agent Sir Bray arrives in Switzerland where he is waiting for Irma Blunt, integerrima Blofeld's personal assistant. After a short helicopter trip over the majestic snow-capped Alps (it is December 23), Bond lands on the Piz Gloria, a remote cottage on top of a super technology of the highest peaks of Europe.
this axis is ten beautiful English girls who are subjected to a series of treatments for allergy. Bond charms everyone with his charm but at the same time is tight for the task that awaits him. The next morning, Irma Blunt him to know Blofeld. 007 does not recognize him as the man who is looking for. Blofeld, in fact, has undergone a series of plastic surgery to change facial features. He is described by Fleming according to current physiognomy that distinguishes all his evil: insidious and repulsive. " Her forehead was furrowed with wrinkles and nose, described as short and wide, and was hooked on the right nostril, from what I ate, poor thing, seemed a sign of tertiary syphilis. "
Bond manages to fool Blofeld, extremely suspicious, convincing him that his stay at the Piz Gloria is essential to clarify some aspects of the noble origins of his client. Gets to remain so for at least a week. The agent then starts to flirt with girls, Ruby, looking for more information on the Piz Gloria. After seducing her shall obtain the names of all the girls present at the chalet. But his cover is under threat: Blofeld, in fact, has captured the No. 2 official of the station Z in Zurich. Bond fears that the light under torture could reveal his true identity. He decides to run away that night. After possession of a pair of skis the agent is launched at night on dangerous mountain trails, followed by the men of Blofeld. After a brutal fighter, who also sees him escape an avalanche, man arrives exhausted and here in St. Moritz, surprisingly, meets Tracy, ready to help. She is there because his father was concerned about the fate of Bond and explained everything. The two, after a daring car chase, they manage to escape the hit men of Blofeld.
The next morning, all'areoporto Zurich, Bond takes an unprecedented decision: he loves Tracy and asks her to marry him.
Back in London, the agent reports this to M and its consultant to the Ministry of Agriculture. The latter reveals his fears to colleagues. It 's very likely that Blofeld in his refuge at the Piz Gloria is working on biological weapons to destroy the agricultural heritage of England, thereby knee the country. The ten girls were brainwashed with hypnosis in the UK to introduce the bacteria to lethal viruses. It 'important to act immediately. But there is a diplomatic problem insurmountable. Blofeld is in Switzerland and MI6 can not act officially in Switzerland. Bond gets the green light to turn to informal M Draco. The head of the Union Race, happy for the impending marriage of his daughter, agrees to help the future generations and organizes a raid with his men at the Piz Gloria.
The attack on the enemy succeeds, the chalet is destroyed, but fails to capture Bond Blofeld, who fled on board a bob. But the important thing is that the danger of biological warfare has been foiled. Now we can devote himself entirely to his marriage with Tracy.
" Yes." James Bond monosyllable uttered at 10.30 this morning a New Year's crystal clear in the hall of the British Consulate, and he said it with conviction. "
These are lines that celebrate the (short) transition from bachelor to conjugate 007.
A threat, in fact, it is incumbent on both spouses. Blofeld and Irma follow them on board a red Maserati and fired a fatal blow that kills Tracy. Bond, upset, embraces the woman whispering: "It's okay ... We have all the time we want. "
Thus ends one of the most dramatic novels of the saga, with a final heartbreaking and sad. Secret Service is a powerful spy novel where the author wanted to introduce a romantic mood, however, that poorly binds to the main story. Far decide to get married to his protagonist is a strong choice, impact, that should be prepared in a detailed and realistic, coming into the psyche of the character, making the reader understand the reasons for this sudden volte-face.
Fleming, however, dismisses the matter as follows: "Bond thought suddenly. Hell! I do not find more than a girl like this. It has everything I ever wanted in a woman. It 's beautiful, in bed and out. E' adventurous , courageous and resourceful. Exciting at any time. It seems you love me. For more allow me to continue my activities and, being alone, do not oppress me with friendships, relationships, or relationships. And, above all, he needs me. "
This James Bond inveterate bachelor sexist, misogynist at times, turns into a sentimentalist. Once the decision is to be charged at the turn made by Fleming in his private life. Ten years earlier, evidently moved by the same beliefs of her child, he married Anne Charteris and now feels the need for a spectacle of its decision making yet another transfer in the literature. The problem is that this event is not narratively justified by what happened before between the two lovers. At the beginning of the event 007 has spent a night of love with Tracy and then was discharged from the girl. When the father revealed that she suffers a nervous breakdown, the agent was tender and advised to Draco's in hospital! Now, just to have it reviewed after six months and have spent a night on the run with her, is this transformation?
The dialogue between Bond and Tracy then resemble a song by Julio Iglesias and reveal how little esteem Fleming had in the feminine: "Do not would love if I were not a pirate. ," says Tracy languid her lover. Or: " You can make love without love. "
Once again women Fleming (And Bond) is reduced to some pretty silly and romantic, without human depth. All the clichés of '50s female are then enclosed in the character of Tracy.
The strength of the book is in the intertwining, locked and full of suspense. The antagonist is another memorable Bond villains: granite in its desire to hurt, though not very clever when he asks his real name at the Institute of Heraldry information about their genealogy. A little noticed move that reveals him to his enemies.
Realism is one of the points of the book: the refuge of technological Blofeld is inspired by the luxurious Corviglia Club near Geneva, where the author was with his wife for a report on Switzerland. Then to ensure that the details of arms of his book were accurate, Fleming spent several afternoons at the Institute of Heraldry in Queen Victoria Street. Here he learns that the Bond family motto is "The World Is Not Enough , then used as the title for one of the chapters film starring Pierce Brosnan.
said that we must admit that after the stories of For Your Eyes Only Secret Service is an exciting return to tradition bondiana, Fleming confirmed that the great storyteller's story bigger than life.
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