Field Guide to Birds of the West Indies: Field Guide to Birds of the West Indies

Simon, Taryn (Photographer)/ Baumann, Daniel/ Baumbach, Nico

ISBN 10: 3775740929 / ISBN 13: 9783775740920

Published by Hatje Cantz Pub, 2016

01 edition. 606 pages. 11.50x8.00x1.75 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __3775740929

Synopsis:

In 1936, an American ornithologist named James Bond published the definitive taxonomy Birds of the West Indies. Ian Fleming, an active bird-watcher living in Jamaica, appropriated the name for his novel’s lead character. He found it “flat and colourless,” a fitting choice for a character intended to be “anonymous. . . a blunt instrument in the hands of the government.” In Field Guide to Birds of the West Indies, Taryn Simon (*1975) casts herself as James Bond (1900–1989) the ornithologist, and identifies, photographs, and classifies all the birds that appear within the twenty-four films of the James Bond franchise. The appearance of many of the birds was unplanned and virtually undetected, operating as background noise for whatever set they happened to fly into. Simon’s ornithological discoveries occupy a liminal space―confined within the fiction of the James Bond universe and yet wholly separate from it. This taxonomy of 331 birds is a precise consideration of a new nature found in an alternate reality.

From the Back Cover: In 1936, an American ornithologist named James Bond published the definitive taxonomy Birds of the West Indies. Ian Fleming, an active bird-watcher living in Jamaica, appropriated the name for his novel's lead character. He found it "flat and colourless," a fitting choice for a character intended to be "anonymous. . . a blunt instrument in the hands of the government." In Field Guide to Birds of the West Indies, Taryn Simon (*1975) casts herself as James Bond (1900-1989) the ornithologist, and identifies, photographs, and classifies all the birds that appear within the twenty-four films of the James Bond franchise. The appearance of many of the birds was unplanned and virtually undetected, operating as background noise for whatever set they happened to fly into. Simon's ornithological discoveries occupy a liminal space-confined within the fiction of the James Bond universe and yet wholly separate from it. This taxonomy of 331 birds is a precise consideration of a new nature found in an alternate reality.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Field Guide to Birds of the West Indies: ...
Publisher: Hatje Cantz Pub
Publication Date: 2016
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Brand New