Popular Culture
Skarbek became a legend in her lifetime. Soon after her death, she entered the realm of popular culture. It has been said that Ian Fleming, in his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale (1953), modeled Vesper Lynd on her. According to William F. Nolan, Fleming also based Tatiana Romanova, in his 1957 novel From Russia, with Love, on Skarbek.
Four decades later, in 1999, Polish writer Maria Nurowska published a novel, Miłośnica (The Lover)—an account of a fictional female journalist's attempt to probe Skarbek's story.
There have been three published biographies of Skarbek:
- Madeleine Masson, Christine: a Search for Christine Granville, OBE, GM, Croix de Guerre (1975, republished 2005);
- Jan Larecki, Krystyna Skarbek, Agentka o wielu twarzach (Krystyna Skarbek, Agent of Many Faces, 2008); and
- Clare Mulley, The Spy Who Loved: the Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville, Britain's First Special Agent of World War II (2012).
A Polish television series was announced by that country's public broadcasting corporation, Telewizja Polska (Polish Television).
The 5 February 2009 Krakow Post reported that Agnieszka Holland was to direct a big-budget film about Skarbek—Christine: War My Love.
Read more about this topic: Krystyna Skarbek
Famous quotes related to popular culture:
“Like other secret lovers, many speak mockingly about popular culture to conceal their passion for it.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Popular culture entered my life as Shirley Temple, who was exactly my age and wrote a letter in the newspapers telling how her mother fixed spinach for her, with lots of butter.... I was impressed by Shirley Temple as a little girl my age who had power: she could write a piece for the newspapers and have it printed in her own handwriting.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)