NON-FICTION BOOK
James Bond 007, héros mythique (1980)
Gérard Lehmann
First edition, softcover
Publisher: Odense University Press
Cover: N/A
t may come as a surprise to some that as far back as 1980 a Danish publishing house published an academic treatise in book form on James Bond 007.
The book was called "James Bond 007, héros mythique", published by Odense University Press, and as the title suggests, the text is in French. The author, Gérard Lehmann, was associated with the now defunct Department of Romance Languages at the then University of Odense. Due to our lack of proficiency with the French language, the content of the book cannot be referenced here, but Lehmann's colleague at the time, Lars Ole Sauerberg, tells Bond•O•Rama that the thesis was "driven by an interest in mass-read fiction in the light of the prevailing theory of structuralism, in particular perhaps Umberto Eco and Claude Lévi-Strauss".
In light of Lehmann's research results, Sauerberg later had to revise some passages about Ian Fleming in his English-language nonfiction book aboht the literary James Bond character, "Secret Agents in Fiction" (MacMillan Press, 1986).
At the time of writing, "James Bond 007, héros mythique" is still available through Syddansk Universitetsforlag's online store:
● Purchase "James Bond 007, héros mythique" (external link)
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