What is a quantum of solace?
I’m off this evening to see the new James Bond film. But just what exactly is a “Quantum Of Solace”?
As a teenager in the 1960s when the Bond movies first appeared, I read all 14 of Ian Fleming’s 007 books and still have copies on my shelves. Two of the books were in fact collections of short stories. One – “For Your Eyes Only” – consisted of five stories and the the third was titled “Quantum Of Solace”.
The whole story is an after dinner conversation between the Governor of the Bahamas and James Bond in which the former narrates the experience of a man betrayed by his wife.
The Governor opines:
“”I’ve seen flagrant infidelities patched up. I’ve seen crimes and even murder forgiven by the other party, let alone bankruptcy and every other form of social crime. Incurable disease, blindness, disaster – all these can be overcome. But never the death of common humanity in one of the partners. I’ve thought about this and I’ve invented a rather high sounding title for this basic factor in human relations.I have called it the Law of the Quantum of Solace.”
Bond responds:
“Quantum of Solace – the amount of comfort. Yes, I suppose you could say that all love and friendship is based in the end on that. Human beings are very insecure. When the other person not only makes you feel insecure but actually seems to want to destroy you, it’s obviously the end. The Quantum of Solace stands at zero.”
In fact, the story is based on an actual case and reflects Fleming’s own marital difficulties at the time of his writing the story, as explained by Andrew Lycett here.
Footnote (2/11/08): I’ve now seen the film and reviewed it here.
November 16th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Quantum of Solace is entertaining at least… a lot of high quality visuals, but the movie as a whole could stand to lose six or seven fewer chase scenes