See here.
(i) Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander is shot in the head with a low caliber pistol, loses consciousness and is buried in a shallow grave of loose soil but wakes up and digs herself out. Maybe Larsson could have left her apparently dead between volumes?
(ii) At the end of From Russia, With Love, the reader thinks that James Bond is dead;
at the end of You Only Live Twice, the other characters think that he is dead;
near the end of his last novel, The Man With The Golden Gun, Bond is shot and loses consciousness...
(iii) Poul Anderson makes us think that Dominic Flandry is going to die near the end of A Stone In Heaven and that Hanno is going to die near the end of The Boat Of A Million Years. However, both are rescued.
Physical Damage
Salander is hospitalized once and Bond several times whereas Flandry does not suffer comparable injuries.
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Do you think it would have been more plausible if Anderson had shown Flandry being seriously wounded at least once in the stories featuring him?
Sean
Sean,
Not sure but it happens a lot to Bond and never to Flandry!
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And considering how dangerous Flandry's work so often was, it would make sense if he had been seriously wounded at least once.
Sean
Paul and Sean:
Never that we're shown. It might've been better if one of the stories had briefly mentioned Flandry having had to spend significant time convalescing after an enemy came closer than usual to finishing him off.
Some writers favor the idea of nanotechnology, either already in the body or injected after an injury, to repair damage and drag someone back from the brink of death. Howard Tayler (yes, he spells it with an 'e') uses this in his science-fiction webcomic Schlock Mercenary. In a story arc back in 2006, one character clawed his way out of a shallow grave (his friends hadn't known he had really good "blood-nannies" in him; in justice, neither had he) and mused:
I have shaped the destinies of worlds, of nations, of galaxies. I have created and destroyed. I have followed and I have led. I have known love and it has known me back. I flirt with Death for a living and I have cheated the Reaper at least three times.
Switching to speaking aloud, he added, "Err... four. I'm pretty sure digging my way out of a shallow grave means I've cheated again. I sure wish I could remember how I got into that hole, or where my clothes are."
David,
Captain Jack in TORCHWOOD, a TV spin-off from DOCTOR WHO (spot the anagram), has a self-repairing body and can't be killed.
Paul.
Kaor, DAVID!
I like your suggestion, that it would have been sufficient if Anderson had mentioned Flandry needing significant time convalescing after one of the enemies of the Empire came closer than usual to finishing him off.
And I am aware of nanotechnology, and the possible implications of their practical use for medical treatment. Which I hope soon comes to pass!
Sean
Fleming had actual field experience in WW2; however pulp-lurid the Bond books are, this shows occasionally.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
The grim grittiness of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE comes to mind as being an esp. realistic James Bond novel. Esp. its description of the brutality and cynicism of the inner workings of Soviet Intelligence.
Sean
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