House of Cards (novel)
OCLC 880303283 | | |
Followed by | To Play the King | |
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Website | www |
House of Cards is a political thriller novel by British author Michael Dobbs. Published in 1989, it tells the story of Francis Urquhart, a fictional Chief Whip of the Conservative Party, and his amoral and manipulative scheme to become leader of the governing party and, thus, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
A
The novel was followed by two sequels: To Play the King and The Final Cut. Both were adapted for television by the BBC and aired in 1993 and 1995 respectively.
Background
Michael Dobbs began working for the Conservative Party in 1977, and from 1986 to 1987, served as Prime Minister
Shortly after leaving his post as Chief of Staff in 1987, Dobbs and his wife visited Malta on holiday. While sitting beside a swimming pool in Malta, Dobbs scribbled the letters "FU" and a drawing of two raised middle fingers on a piece of a paper. The letters would become the initials of House of Cards protagonist, Francis Urquhart.[6] Dobbs stated that he had not planned to write the book saying, "None of this was planned. It was all a bit of a joke, an accident. I had no intention of being a writer, or even finishing the book. It was just a holiday distraction."[7] Dobbs insists that it is not a "book of revenge", but "most of the stuff I put into House of Cards was material from events I'd either seen, or participated in, or done, or watched other people do."[6] Dobbs has also stated that the book was not a comment on contemporary politics, and also drew inspiration from the works of Shakespeare.[8]
Plot
Following the resignation of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the ruling Conservative Party is about to elect a new leader. In the subsequent leadership election, the moderate but indecisive
Urquhart exploits his position as Chief Whip to undermine Collingridge by leaking inside information to the press, and (using £50,000 given by a party donor) engineering an
Prior to the final ballot, Urquhart murders the party's drug-addicted and increasingly unstable public relations consultant, Roger O'Neill, whom he forced into helping him to remove Collingridge from office. Urquhart invites O'Neill to his
Mattie untangles Urquhart's web and confronts him in the deserted roof garden of the
Revision
After the initial TV series the author revised the published novel to bring it in line with the UK TV series, in which Urquhart throws Mattie from the roof rather than committing suicide, thus allowing for a continuation of the story. The name of the newspaper that Mattie Storin works for was changed from The Daily Telegraph to the fictional The Chronicle, same as the TV series.
Sequels
The novel was followed by two sequels - To Play The King and The Final Cut.[9]
Adaptations
- House of Cards (UK TV series), a 1990 television series written by Andrew Davies, and produced by the BBC.
- House of Cards (U.S. TV series), a 2013 series based on the BBC series and the novel, set in Washington, D.C., commissioned and released by Netflix.
References
- ^ "BBC Radio 4 Extra - Michael Dobbs - House of Cards".
- ^ Henley, Jon (13 September 2013). "The house of Michael Dobbs". the Guardian. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
- ^ Moore, Charles (4 October 2015). "Margaret Thatcher biography part 14: Wobbly Thursday". The Telegraph. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
- ^ Dobbs, Michael (14 February 2014). "Book Versus Show: 'House of Cards'". Huffington Post. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
- ^ "From Fletcher to the House of Cards". Tufts Now. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
- ^ a b c "House of Cards creator Michael Dobbs: "I must have sold my soul"". New Statesman. 7 July 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
- ^ "What "House of Cards" creator, Lord Dobbs, can tell us about realpolitik". Financial Review. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
- ^ "House Of Cards creator Michael Dobbs on the dark arts of politics". The National. 27 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
- ^ "If You Like House of Cards, You Should Read These Books". trendchaser. 26 January 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2018.