Talk:Wilbur Smith

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To-do list for Wilbur Smith: edit · history · watch · refresh · Updated 2010-04-15 Here are some tasks awaiting attention: notable enough for their own articles and should only be summarized here. There are whole pages without any internal links - needs wikification. Book names should be in boldface . Very few references Expand : *Lead More non-book specific biographical information is needed

I added a description of the plot of River God. The writing is pretty bad and it probably misses some major plot points but it's very hard to compress such a huge book into a decent summary. Feel free to rewrite and expand, but at any rate my bad description is better than nothing. :) 82.71.7.193 17:02, 9 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No, it's a great start. I just beefed it up a little. I did the audiobooks about a year ago, so my memory isn't the best - you mentioned leaving Egypt and returning to Egypt - I thought that was Lower Kingdom vs. Upper Kingdom? Or am I confusing book 1 with book 3 (if you haven't read them yet, feel free to skip book 2). —

Talk Contrib Reverts 18:43, 9 July 2006 (UTC)[reply

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Actually I now realise I've left out the whole Lower Kingdom (where Taita et al come from) vs. Upper Kingdom and the 'false' pharaoh. The Hyksos actually take over both lower and upper kingdoms, forcing the main characters up the nile (towards it's source) and into Ethiopia. I've also left out the Lord Intef vs. rivalry and it's affect on Tanus' plight. And somehow I've managed to not even mention Kratas at all... 82.71.7.193 20:13, 9 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I wrote a very basic plot synopsis for The Quest. Great book, but very different from anything Smith's written before. If someone could patch up what I wrote, that would be great thanks. Razoroo 12:25, 19 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'll try to do a summary for this soon - I've read it several times, but not for a year or two, I'm too rusty to do a decent one now, but when I've finished reading Blue Horizon I'll get onto the Seventh Scroll.Helmetlad 17:22, 29 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

In my opinion many of the books here deserve a far longer explanation due to the complexity of the plots, and becuase of just how excellent the books are. I have thought of doing some sort of character summary for the different sets of books - there are characters that stand forward predominantly and remain through each of the series'. In addition there was no mention of the newest Courtney novel, Triumph of the Sun, a milestone in that it combined both the Courtney and Ballantyne lines. I'll continue to update slowly. --Liquid121 21:23, 5 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I agree. The books by Smith discusses some rather encompassing issues. I'll also do some editing and would add some more later on, and the updates may come slowly as there is a need to re-read some of the books by the author for its complexity. Modelwatcher 08:28, 21 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I just finished Rage and can probably write the summary for that one. It means doing Rage before the summaries for the previous books in the series are done, but it can be edited in the future if need be. Only problem is I disagree that in Rage "the enmity between Shasa and Manfred explodes...". In this one they work very closely together, Shasa even joining Manfred's political party. They confide together to do nothing to stop the plotted assasination attempt of the Prime Minister (Shasa only acts because the attempt occurs right in front of him). And at the end when Manfred is revealed as White Sword, Shasa only requires him to resign as Minister of Police, he could have demanded a lot more considering White Sword's previous actions against his family. What do you think? FatDaks 02:46, 21 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It's biographical material the page really needs, that's what the article is mainly about. The books can be detailed on their own pages, for example River God is large enough to have its own article already. I've assessed it as a start class article - there's plenty on the books but only a paragraph or so on the subject, so it will need a great deal of expansion. Richard001 08:49, 16 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Could a logged-in user create a redirect Blue Horizon (novel) → Wilbur Smith (for now) and add this as another disambiguation to the Blue Horizon page? thanks 84.129.160.221 (talk) 14:09, 21 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

i removed the following paragraph as it sounded more like an advertisement than information. i believeit conforms to wikipedia's weasel words clause and if anybody has a problem kindly post here. paragraph deleted The original Courtney trilogy has a power and historical content that few books can claim. Covering a period of South African history from before the Zulu Wars to the establishment of the Union of South Africa makes the books a very interesting mirror of the period. Wilbur Smith drives his characters through this period of history with a multitude of side plots, effective characters both minor and major, brutal violence and the inclusion of the most human situations that every reader can relate to. Tca achintya (talk) 23:42, 9 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I would have said that it falls foul not so much of "Weasel words" but of "Original Research", in that it appears to be the contributor's own (not necessarily incorrect) opinion, although as you suggest it might also derive from a non-disinterested source such as a publisher's advertisement. If a similar analysis could be sourced from a published and authoritative independent source such as a literary scholar or professional critic, it would, I think, be admissible. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 00:12, 10 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I am going to create 3 new articles: The Courtney Series (books), The Ballantyne Series (books), The Egyptian Series (books), and move corresponding parts of this article there. If anyone has any concerns or ideas, please express them here. Yurivict (talk) 12:31, 11 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Good idea! This seemed to have gone quiet, so I've taken the liberty of moving the stuff on the Ballantyne novels to their own page.Swanny18 (talk) 19:41, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Smith's books have been called racist and sexist by critics. This article by Richard Peck gives a good overview of the stereotypes Smith uses in his books: http://legacy.lclark.edu/~peck/pubs/Beware/JCAS-updated.pdf So far, this article on Wikipedia lacks criticism of Smith's work. Therefore I think, some of the aspects mentioned in the article by Peck should be included to draw a complete picture of the reception of Smith's novels. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.1.41.23 (talk) 19:26, 14 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Under the Courtney Series the article reads: The Courtney series can be split into three parts, each part following a particular era of the Courtney family.

In chronological order it goes the Third Sequence, First Sequence, then the Second Sequence. However this is a slight generalization, so in fact the book sequence is:

This makes no sense at all; on what grounds can it be "split into three parts"? What are the "eras"? (the dates given are pretty much continuous with the exception of Blue Horizon in the 1730s). What is meant by "Third Sequence" and so on? Even if it was coherent it's unsourced

You say ‘Some critics of Smith argue that his novels often contain sexist and racist assumptions and that they may have a political agenda.’ But earlier you refer to the ‘radical politics [that] had been the backbone of his first novel...’ I think the political aspect needs to be explained in more depth. Valetude (talk) 17:15, 15 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I am sure people do have that criticism. With the Courtney and Ballantyne books the perceptions of the people at the time is reasonably accurate. Biscuit1018 (talk) 17:37, 5 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

And very few critics have ever written anything that anyone other than other critics will ever read. I read Cry Wolf when I was fourteen back in 1977 and still remember the basics of it. Can't remember anything ever written by a critic. Except for the notable exception of The Importance of Being Earnest.

Criticism is only of use when it is valid and criticising the characters in a novel set in the early part of the twentieth century for possessing the normal and common views of the time is pretty much an illustration of the critic's lack of knowledge or common sense. Of course some of the characters display 'sexist and racist assumptions'. They inhabit a bygone world when many unenlightened people were sexist and racist. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.150.18.209 (talk) 18:47, 16 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Does anyone know why "The Delta Decision" and "Flight of the Falcons" by wilbur Smith, do not appear on his book history. I have both in paperback??? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.148.112.104 (talk) 17:05, 10 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The Delta Decision is also known as Wild Justice, and I presume you mean A Falcon Flies, both of which are listed. Editrite! (talk) 01:29, 15 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]