Ian Lancaster Fleming, James Bond’s literary father, was born in 1908: athletic champion, journalist, banker, stock exchanger, secret agent during World War II, publisher, it was not until 1952 that he invented his hero “James Bond” to whom he devoted 14 books. If the author died in 1964, at the age of 56, his character has survived in the publishing world thanks to the “New adventures of James Bond” written successively by Kingsley Amis, John Gardner and Raymond Benson, but mainly on the screen with 20, and soon 21 films. In 1965, when the cinema transformed James Bond into a social phenomenon, a pioneering book was published in Italy, Il caso Bond, directed by O. Buono and Umberto Eco (Milan, Bompiani, coll. “Case d’Oggi, 37). In this book, Umberto Eco analysed the narrative structures of Fleming’s novels. In 1980, in Danemark, G. Lehman showed the relation between James Bond and ancient and medieval heroic literature (James Bond: mythical hero, University Press, Odense). Since then, despite a few mainly anglo-saxon studies, the literary James Bond does not seem to have received the required academic attention. As for the cinema James Bond, despite the fact that for 43 years it has been the longest, non stop, series of the whole history of the seventh art, and that it survived the Cold War, it does not really represent, in France, at least, a recognized object of research. Neverthless, from 1962 – when Dr No was released – to Casino Royale soon, one can suggest that these movies (and the novels before them) are excellent witnesses of the cultural history of our societies and of their evolution and they really have specific aesthetics that deserve to be reassessed. If James Bond belongs to contemporary history and to popular genres he gave birth to, a history of all of this remains to be written.

Immediately after the French release of Casino Royale – announced for the 17th November 2007 – this colloquium aims at looking into James Bond seriously. All methodological approaches will be examined by the organisers who intend to welcome all fields of research. Three main lines of study will be favoured:
- historical, political and scientific recontextualisation of the novels and films in order to clarify the interactions between the works and the period during which they were written;
- all papers questioning the notion of “popular genres” and their avatars in the saga of James Bond;
- the socio-anthropological approaches of the “Bondian” world.

This colloquium will benefit from the support of different institutions and partners, both State and private. Among them, apart from the BnF highly involved in this project, and the CEEA both of which will welcome the colloquium on their premises, the CHCSC of the UVSQ and the Research Group 3458 « Représentation. Recherches théâtrales et cinématographiques » of the University Paris 10 – Nanterre are contributing to the organisation of this conference.

An exhibition and films – if possible – will be shown at the time of the colloquium at the BnF.

The proposals should include a title and an abstract of approximately 20 lines (250 words) giving the main ideas the paper will develop. It should be sent to the organisers (by email – RTF) before the 15th march 2006):
- Françoise Hache-Bissette (Centre d’histoire culturelle des sociétés contemporaines, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin en Yvelines) : francoise.hache-bissette@chcec.uvsq.fr
- Fabien Boully (Université de Paris 10-Nanterre, dpt. des arts du spectacle) : fabien.boully@wanadoo.fr
- Chenille (Bibliothèque nationale de France) : vincent.chenille@bnf.fr

The papers themselves – for publication – are to be sent, at the latest, in April 2007.