The Flashman Papers
The Flashman Papers is a series of novels and short stories written by
During the course of Fraser's novels, Flashman goes from his expulsion from school into the army. Although he is a coward who tries to run away from any danger, he is involved in many famous military episodes from the 19th century, often taking actions that cause or affect subsequent events, such as his flatulence affecting the Charge of the Light Brigade,[a] or being the person who probably shot George Armstrong Custer. When circumstances run against him and he is forced to fight, he often does so relatively capably. Despite his cowardice and his attempts to flee, he becomes a decorated war hero and rises to the rank of brigadier-general. He also meets people who either were notable at the time—such as Benjamin Disraeli and the Duke of Wellington—or who became well known after Flashman met them—such as Abraham Lincoln. Flashman either has, or tries to have, sex with most of the female characters: by the tenth book he estimates that he has had sex with 480 women.
The publication sequence of the books differs from the fictional chronology, with the time frame of some books overlapping. One of the novels, Flashman and the Redskins, is in two parts: part one takes place in 1849–50, while the second covers 1875–76. Although the main series of stories finishes in 1894, Flashman lives on until 1915 and appears in his late 80s in another Fraser novel, Mr American.
Context
The great mass of manuscript known as the Flashman papers was discovered during a sale of household furniture ... The papers, which had apparently lain untouched for fifty years, in a tea chest ... were carefully wrapped in oilskin covers.
The series consists of twelve
Fraser was working as a journalist on The Glasgow Herald when he wrote the first novel, Flashman; writing in the evenings, after work, he took 90 hours in total to write the story.[7][8] After the book was published, he left journalism and took up writing novels.[7] When a break from writing was forced upon him by a broken arm, he abandoned the book until his wife read the manuscript and urged him to finish.[8] He did not find a publisher for the novel for two years, until Barrie & Jenkins published it in 1969.[8] When the novel was published in the US the same year, of the 34 reviews read by Alden Whitman of The New York Times, ten of them considered the book to be a genuine autobiography.[9] Fraser researched each novel at Trinity College Dublin.[10] From their first publication, the books were a commercial success,[11] and new editions appeared on the best-sellers' lists.[12]
Flashman
FLASHMAN, Harry Paget, brigadier-general, V.C., K.C.B., K.C.I.E.: Chevalier, Legion of Honour; Order of Maria Theresa, Austria; Order of the Elephant, Denmark (temporary); US Medal of Honor; San Serafino Order of Purity and Truth, 4th class
Biographical note, Flashman on the March[13]
Flashman is from a semi-aristocratic background; he recounted that his great-grandfather "made a fortune in America out of slaves and rum, and piracy, too, I shouldn't wonder".
Flashman is 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall, weighs 13 stone (180 lb; 83 kg) (12½ stone in the first book, fourteen stone in the last), has broad shoulders and is attractive to women.
In the course of the series, Flashman is promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, and decorated numerous times by different countries. While the books cover some of the awards—such as being given the Victoria Cross for his actions during the sieges of Cawnpore and Lucknow[24]—some stories are not known, such as how and why he served on both sides of the American Civil War and how he won the Medal of Honor.[25][d]
During his travels Flashman meets people who took part in 19th-century events, including
Flashman died in 1915, although the details are unknown.[28]
Publication sequence
Title and time | Publisher | Date | Length (first edition) | Plot | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Flashman (1839–1842) |
Herbert Jenkins | 1969 | 256 pp | Flashman's expulsion from 11th Regiment of Light Dragoons commanded by Lord Cardigan. After an affair with a fellow-officer's lover, he fights a duel, but cheats. He is posted to Scotland because of the affair, and is billeted with the Morrison family; he takes advantage of one of the daughters, Elspeth. After a forced marriage, Flashman is required to resign his position in the Hussars and instead is gazetted into a position with the East India Company .
After revealing his language and riding skills, Flashman is assigned to Afghanistan, where he is present at the retreat from Kabul, the last stand at Gandamak and the Siege of Jalalabad. |
[29] |
Royal Flash (1842–1843 and 1847–1848) |
Barrie & Jenkins | 1970 | 256 pp | Fleeing from a police raid on a brothel he was visiting, Flashman meets sexually transmitted disease, which would be embarrassing if uncovered by his future wife. This turns out to be a lie and the prince has been imprisoned in Jotunberg Castle. Flashman is a doppelgänger of the Prince and is trained to take his place until the Prince is cured. Flashman is accompanied to Strackenz by Bismarck's accomplices, Rudi von Starnberg, Detchard and de Gautet, and is married to the Duchess. Shortly afterwards, while out hunting, Flashman finds out that Bismarck meant to double-cross him and kill him, but he turns the tables on his attacker and tortures the information out of him and kills him instead. He is then captured by Strackenzian nationalists and forced to help them storm the Jotunberg Castle. They are successful, but Flashman and von Starnberg fight in the dungeon, with Flashman narrowly escaping death before escaping back to England, with the help of Montez, who robs him along the way.
|
[30] |
Flash for Freedom! (1848–1849) |
Barrie & Jenkins | 1971 | 272 pp | Flashman is falsely accused of cheating at cards, and runs away from disgrace by accepting an offer of a berth on the slaving ship part owned by his father-in-law; the ship is captained by John Charity Spring, an ex- slave driver on a plantation. Caught having sex with the owner's wife, he is himself sold into slavery, but escapes with a slave, before being assisted to freedom by junior congressman Abraham Lincoln . He returns to New Orleans and demands passage to Britain from Spring.
|
[31] |
Flashman at the Charge (1854–1855) |
Barrie & Jenkins | 1973 | 286 pp | Flashman is ordered to protect and mentor William of . | [32] |
Flashman in the Great Game (1856–1858) |
Barrie & Jenkins | 1975 | 336 pp | Flashman is at Rani Lakshmibai. He listens to her grievances against the British Raj and attempts to seduce her. Shortly afterwards he is nearly garroted by Thuggees and assumes the disguise of Makarram Khan, a Hasanzai of the Black Mountain, and takes refuge in the native cavalry at Meerut. While there, the Sepoy Mutiny begins. Flashman survives the Siege of Cawnpore and the Siege of Lucknow but ends up imprisoned in Gwalior after an attempt to deliver Lakshmi into British hands. He is released just in time to witness her death in battle. In the aftermath Flashman is awarded the Victoria Cross and is knighted; he is also given a copy of the recently published Tom Brown's School Days, which describes him being a bully and a coward while at school.
|
[33] |
Flashman's Lady (1842–1845) |
Barrie & Jenkins | 1977 | 328 pp | Flashman meets Tom Brown, a former acquaintance from Old Rugbeians. Following separate threats from a bookmaker and a Duke, Flashman accompanies Don Solomon Haslam—a businessman from the East Indies—Elspeth and his father-in-law on a trip to Singapore. Once there, Haslam reveals himself to be the pirate Sulieman Usman, and he kidnaps Elspeth. Flashman reluctantly gives chase in the company of James Brooke to rescue her, but is himself captured by Usman. He escapes from Usman's ship at Madagascar, but is captured and enslaved by the Malagasy, eventually becoming military advisor and lover to Queen Ranavalona I . He and his wife finally escape from the island during an Anglo-French naval attack.
|
[34] |
Flashman and the Redskins (1849–1850 and 1875–1876) |
William Collins, Sons | 1982 | 512 pp | The story immediately follows the end of Flash for Freedom! Part one In his haste to leave New Orleans and avoid arrest, Flashman agrees to accompany Susie Willinck and her company of prostitutes westwards on the Washington DC, he meets George Armstrong Custer and Mrs. Arthur B. Candy, and travels to Bismarck, North Dakota, with Mrs. Candy to pursue a carnal relationship. She reveals herself to be the former slave Cleonie, and he is kidnapped by Sioux and kept captive at Greasy Grass. He escapes just in time to take part in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, where he sees the defeat and death of Custer—possibly being the one who kills him. Flashman is captured, partly scalped and hidden by Frank Grouard, who reveals himself to be his illegitimate son from Cleonie. Grouard breaks a promise to his mother and decides not to kill Flashman, but instead takes him back to Deadwood, Dakota Territory .
|
[35] |
Flashman and the Dragon (1860) |
William Collins, Sons | 1985 | 352 pp | While in Hong Kong, Flashman is reluctantly persuaded by an English vicar's wife to escort a shipment of concubine. He is finally freed when the British army arrives at Peking; he then witnesses the destruction of the imperial Summer Palace .
|
[36] |
Flashman and the Mountain of Light (1845–1846) |
William Collins, Sons | 1990 | 332 pp | Flashman is in India, and is dispatched by First Sikh War, but becomes involved in plans by the Punjabi nobility to curb the power of the Khalsa. Returning to the relative safety of the British forces, Flashman arrives just in time to become an unwilling participant in the attack on Ferozepore. Injured, he attempts to avoid the rest of the war in a sick bed, but is called on by Jind Kaur to smuggle her son Duleep Singh and the Koh-i-Noor diamond out of the country.
|
[37] |
Flashman and the Angel of the Lord (1858–1859) |
HarperCollins | 1994 | 400 pp | While in South Africa Flashman has a chance meeting with John Charity Spring. Spring drugs Flashman and ships him to the US, where charges are still outstanding against him. Flashman avoids the authorities, but is found by Crixus, a leader of the US Marines attack.
|
[38] |
Flashman and the Tiger (1878–1894) |
HarperCollins | 1999 | 352 pp | "The Road to Charing Cross"— Flashman goes to Berlin with "Tiger Jack" Moran in the aftermath of the Battle of Isandlwana; the pair escape to Rorke's Drift. Years later Moran reveals he was the cabin boy on Captain John Charity Spring's ship, the Balliol College (see Flash for Freedom!); he has been seeking revenge against the ship's crew and was blackmailing Flashman's granddaughter in order to sleep with her. While trying to kill him, Flashman is mistaken for a tramp by Sherlock Holmes, while the police arrest Moran for trying to kill Holmes (see "The Adventure of the Empty House ").
|
[39] |
Flashman on the March (1867–1868) |
HarperCollins | 2005 | 320 pp | While in military expedition against King Tewodros II. On Flashman's arrival in Abyssinia, Napier enlists him and despatches him on a secret undercover mission to recruit Queen Masteeat and her Galla people, who are opposed to Tewodros. Flashman succeeds in enlisting the assistance of Queen Masteeat, but is then captured by Tewodros' forces. Flashman is held captive while Napier's forces advance and then storm the capital Magdala , and is present when the king commits suicide.
|
[40] |
Fictional chronology
Title | Years covered | Publication order | Locations | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Flashman | 1839–1842 | 1 | Britain, India and Afghanistan | [41] |
Royal Flash | 1842–1843 | 2 | Britain, Germany and Denmark | [42] |
Flashman's Lady | 1842–1845 | 6 | Britain, Borneo and Madagascar | [43] |
Flashman and the Mountain of Light | 1845–1846 | 9 | Indian Punjab | [44] |
Royal Flash | 1847–1848 | 2 | Germany and Denmark | [42] |
Flash for Freedom! | 1848–1849 | 3 | Britain, West Africa and the USA | [45] |
Flashman and the Redskins | 1849–1850 | 7 | USA | [46] |
Flashman at the Charge | 1854–1855 | 4 | Britain, Crimea and Central Asia | [47] |
Flashman in the Great Game | 1856–1858 | 5 | Britain and India | [48] |
Flashman and the Angel of the Lord | 1858–1859 | 10 | India, South Africa and the USA | [49] |
Flashman and the Dragon | 1860 | 8 | China | [50] |
Flashman on the March | 1867–1868 | 12 | Abyssinia | [51] |
Flashman and the Redskins | 1875–1876 | 7 | USA | [46] |
"The Road to Charing Cross" | 1878 | 11 | Berlin | [52] |
"Flashman and the Tiger" | 1879 | 11 | Africa | [53] |
"The Road to Charing Cross" | 1883–1884 | 11 | Europe | [52] |
"The Subtleties of Baccarat" | 1890 & 1891 | 11 | Britain | [54] |
"Flashman and the Tiger" | 1894 | 11 | Britain | [53] |
Other references
Flashman also appears in another book by Fraser,
Notes and references
Notes
- ^ As a result of drinking inferior champagne after recovering from dysentery, Flashman suffers from flatulence. The noise of his eruptions startles his horse to such an extent it bolts towards the Russian lines, speeding up the British advance.[1]
- ^ Royal Flash took elements from Anthony Hope's 1894 novel The Prisoner of Zenda in what The Guardian described as "a double literary conceit";[3] Flash for Freedom ends with Flashman and a slave girl avoiding their pursuers by escaping over a frozen river, an event Flashman claims was later used in Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin;[4] and the short story "Flashman and the Tiger", from the book of the same name, intertwines a Flashman story into the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Empty House".[5]
- ^ In the first novel, Flashman describes himself as six feet tall and weighing 12 and a half stone:[18] in Flashman and the Angel of the Lord he says he is six feet, two inches tall.[19]
- ^ Fraser had no intention of describing Flashman's role in the American Civil War. In a 2002 interview he said, "to me, the American Civil War is a colossal bore. It was a rotten war, it's been done to death and I'm not terribly interested. An American wrote to me urging me to write it, saying it had to be the high point of Flashman's career. I wrote back saying: 'Son, it's a foreign sideshow. The Crimea, the Indian Mutiny, these were the important things in Flashman's life. Your civil war? He was so disinterested that he fought on both sides'."[26]
References
- ^ Fraser 1996a, pp. 117–122.
- ^ Fraser 1974, p. 7.
- ^ a b c d Reynolds, Stanley (4 January 2008). "Obituary: George MacDonald Fraser: He created Harry Flashman, tormentor of Tom Brown turned comical anti-hero". The Guardian. London. p. 34.
- ^ Fraser 1994a, p. 341.
- ^ Hitchens 2006, p. 186.
- ^ Fraser 1974, pp. 7–8.
- ^ a b c Fox, Margalit (3 January 2008). "George MacDonald Fraser, Author of Flashman Novels, Dies at 82". The New York Times. New York.
- ^ a b c "Obituary of George MacDonald Fraser Author who brought new life to Flashman, the cad to end all cads". The Daily Telegraph. London. 4 January 2008. p. 27.
- ^ Whitman, Alden (29 July 1969). "Gen. Sir Harry Flashman and Aide Con the Experts". The New York Times. New York. p. 26.
- ^ a b c Ramsay 2003, p. 361.
- ^
"Booksellers' choice: April: the panel selects the best new titles, including the latest from Sheila Quigley and Julian Clary; April Previews". ISSN 0006-7539.
- ^ Reid, Melanie (20 November 1994). "Flash...Bang...Wallop...He's... Mr Boring; George Macdonald Fraser the author of the Flashman novel". Sunday Mail. Glasgow. p. 24.
- ^ Fraser 2000, p. 6.
- ^ Fraser 1974, p. 16.
- ^ a b c d Langley, William (6 January 2008). "Profile: Harry Flashman, the Kind of Utter Bounder That Empires are Built on". The Sunday Telegraph. London. p. 28.
- ^ Millar, Peter (15 October 1994). "More than a Flash in the pan". The Times. London.
- ^ Krueger 2009, p. 139.
- ^ Fraser 1974, p. 31.
- ^ Fraser 1995, p. 127.
- ^ Fraser 1995, p. 114.
- ^ Fraser 1993b, p. 13.
- ^ Fraser 1993a, p. 130.
- ^ Fraser 1974, p. 72.
- ^ Fraser 1996b, pp. 365–366.
- ^ Fraser 1995, p. 400.
- ^ Mueller, Andrew (6 July 2002). "Crusty Old Codger". The Weekend Australian. Surry Hills, NSW. p. R10.
- ^ McGrath, Charles (11 November 2005). "An Agile Hero in Reputation, Not Action". The New York Times. New York.
- ^ Fraser 1995, p. 376.
- ^ "Flashman, from the Flashman papers". British Library Catalogue. London: British Library. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ "Royal Flash". British Library Catalogue. London: British Library. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ "Flash for Freedom". British Library Catalogue. London: British Library. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ "Flashman at the Charge". British Library Catalogue. London: British Library. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ "Flashman in the Great Game". British Library Catalogue. London: British Library. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ "Flashman's Lady". British Library Catalogue. London: British Library. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ "Flashman and the Redskins". British Library Catalogue. London: British Library. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ "Flashman and the Dragon". British Library Catalogue. London: British Library. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ "Flashman and the Mountain of Light". British Library Catalogue. London: British Library. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ "Flashman & the Angel of the Lord". British Library Catalogue. London: British Library. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ "Flashman and the Tiger". British Library Catalogue. London: British Library. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ "Flashman on the March". British Library Catalogue. London: British Library. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ Fraser 1974, p. 3.
- ^ a b Fraser 1993a, p. 3.
- ^ Fraser 1993b, p. 4.
- ^ Fraser 1991, p. 3.
- ^ Fraser 1994a, p. 3.
- ^ a b Fraser 1993c, p. iii.
- ^ Fraser 1996a, p. 3.
- ^ Fraser 1996b, p. 3.
- ^ Fraser 1995, p. 1.
- ^ Fraser 1994b, p. 3.
- ^ Fraser 2005, p. 320.
- ^ a b Fraser 2000, p. 11.
- ^ a b Fraser 2000, p. 271.
- ^ Fraser 2000, p. 211.
- ^ Fraser 1993d, p. 193.
- ^ Allen 1998, p. 278.
Bibliography
- Allen, Bruce (1 September 1998). "Black Ajax". The World and I. 13 (N9). ISSN 0887-9346.
- ISBN 978-0-330-02484-6.
- ISBN 978-0-00-617980-1.
- ISBN 978-0-00-617678-7.
- ISBN 978-0-00-617678-7.
- ISBN 978-0-00-617801-9.
- ISBN 978-0-00-271235-4.
- ISBN 978-0-00-617679-4.
- ISBN 978-0-00-617340-3.
- ISBN 978-0-00-649023-4.
- ISBN 978-0-00-617676-3.
- ISBN 978-0-00-617677-0.
- ISBN 978-0-00-651367-4.
- ISBN 978-0-00-719740-8.
- Condé Nast Publications.
- Krueger, Christine L. (2009). Encyclopedia of British Writers, 19th Century. New York: ISBN 978-1-4381-0870-4.
- Ramsay, Allan (June 2003). "Flashman and the Victorian Social Conscience". The Contemporary Review. 282 (1649). Contemporary Review Company Ltd.