Nachie
18th May 2006, 21:07
"Flashman, Harry Paget. Brigadier-General, V.C., K.C.B., K.C.I.E.; Chevalier, Legion of Honour; U.S. Medal of honor; San Serafino Order of purity and truth, 4th Class. b 1822, s H. Flashman, Esq., Ashby and Hon. Alicia Paget; educ. Rugby School. m. Elspeth Rennie Morrison, d. Lord Paisley; one s., one d. Served Afghanistan, 1841-42 (medals, thanks of Parliament); Crimea (staff); Indian mutiny (Lucknow, etc., V.C.); China, Taiping Rebellion. Served US Army (major, Union forces, 1862; colonel (staff) Army of the Confederacy, 1863). Travelled extensively in military and civilian capacities; a.d.c. Emperor Maximilian of Mexico; milit. advisor, H.M. Queen Ranavalona of Madagascar; chief of staff to Rajah of Sarawak; dep. marshall, U.S. Chmn, Flashman and Bottomley, Ltd.; dir. British Opium Trading Co.; governor, Rugby School; hon. pres. Mission for Reclamation of Reduced Females. Publications: Dawns and Departures of a Soldier's Life; Twixt Cossack and Cannon; The Case Against Army Reform. Clubs: White's, United Service, Blackjack (Batavia). Recreation: oriental studies, angling. Add. Gandamack Lodge, Ashby, Leics."
The Flashman Papers are an incredible series of historical fiction by George MacDonald Fraser, and probably other than Don Quixote, the funniest books I've ever read. Harry Flashman was a minor bully character in the English classic Tom Brown's School Days. He is expelled from the elite private school where the book is set for being a drunkard. In the 1970's, this guy Fraser picks up the character and begins writing his "memoirs" as found in a dusty old trunk in an attic. Flashman, writes Fraser, immediately joined the British army after being expelled from Rugby in the first half of the 1800's, and quickly became a war hero and well-known figure for his daring exploits in all areas of life. The joke is however, that Flashman is actually a total coward who only through the utmost trickery and above all blind luck manages to survive the incredible odds arrayed against him. In these "memoirs", he for the first time tells the truth about how he swindled his way through the most important events of the 19th century.
These are the books so far:
Flashman - Early life, Afghan uprising 1839-1842.
Royal Flash - Lola Montez and Otto von Bismarck 1842-43; Schleswig-Holstein controversy 1847-48.
Flash for Freedom! - American slave trade 1848-49.
Flashman at the Charge - Crimean War (Charge of the Light Brigade), 1854; Central Asia, Battle at Fort Raim 1855.
Flashman in the Great Game - Sepoy Indian Mutiny 1856-58.
Flashman's Lady - Borneo Piracy, Madagascar 1842-45.
Flashman and the Redskins - The 1849 Gold Rush 1849-50; Battle of Little Big Horn, 1876.
Flashman and the Dragon - Taiping Rebellion, 1860.
Flashman and the Mountain of Light - Indian Punjab, Sikh Rebellion 1845-46.
Flashman and the Angel of the Lord - John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry 1858-59.
Flashman and the Tiger
“The Road to Charing Cross” (novella) - Congress of Berlin, Treaty of San Stefano, 1878; Bodyguard to the Emperor Franz Joseph, 1884.
"The Subtleties of Baccarat" (novella) - Tranby Croft scandal, 1890.
"Flashman and the Tiger” (novella) - Zulu Uprising, 1879, and Tiger Jack Moran, 1894.
Flashman on the March - Abyssinia
I've read them all, and they're incredible. Flashman is of course a total misogynist and racist, as well as a brute and various other horrible things you would expect from his class at that time period. Excellently written and meticulously/hilariously footnoted. An example, from Royal Flash, in which Flashman (with the help of Otto Von Bismark) kidnaps and impersonates a prince to secure the peace of a tiny Prussian border province:
"34. It is just possible that the orator was Karl Marx. The Strackenzian coronation must have taken place before his recorded return to Germany from Brussels, where he had conceived the Communist Manifesto, but it is not inconceivable that he visisted Strackenz beforehand. The coronation certainly offered a tempting target at a time when European politics generally were in a precarious state. Against the fact that there is no evidence of his ever having visited the duchy, must be balanced Flashman's description of the orator, which is Marx to the life."
There are still other books waiting to be written, including the story of how he fought in the US Civil War (for both sides, of course). He's already met Lincoln and taken part in John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry...
More information is available HERE (http://www.briansiano.com/flashman/).
The Flashman Papers are an incredible series of historical fiction by George MacDonald Fraser, and probably other than Don Quixote, the funniest books I've ever read. Harry Flashman was a minor bully character in the English classic Tom Brown's School Days. He is expelled from the elite private school where the book is set for being a drunkard. In the 1970's, this guy Fraser picks up the character and begins writing his "memoirs" as found in a dusty old trunk in an attic. Flashman, writes Fraser, immediately joined the British army after being expelled from Rugby in the first half of the 1800's, and quickly became a war hero and well-known figure for his daring exploits in all areas of life. The joke is however, that Flashman is actually a total coward who only through the utmost trickery and above all blind luck manages to survive the incredible odds arrayed against him. In these "memoirs", he for the first time tells the truth about how he swindled his way through the most important events of the 19th century.
These are the books so far:
Flashman - Early life, Afghan uprising 1839-1842.
Royal Flash - Lola Montez and Otto von Bismarck 1842-43; Schleswig-Holstein controversy 1847-48.
Flash for Freedom! - American slave trade 1848-49.
Flashman at the Charge - Crimean War (Charge of the Light Brigade), 1854; Central Asia, Battle at Fort Raim 1855.
Flashman in the Great Game - Sepoy Indian Mutiny 1856-58.
Flashman's Lady - Borneo Piracy, Madagascar 1842-45.
Flashman and the Redskins - The 1849 Gold Rush 1849-50; Battle of Little Big Horn, 1876.
Flashman and the Dragon - Taiping Rebellion, 1860.
Flashman and the Mountain of Light - Indian Punjab, Sikh Rebellion 1845-46.
Flashman and the Angel of the Lord - John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry 1858-59.
Flashman and the Tiger
“The Road to Charing Cross” (novella) - Congress of Berlin, Treaty of San Stefano, 1878; Bodyguard to the Emperor Franz Joseph, 1884.
"The Subtleties of Baccarat" (novella) - Tranby Croft scandal, 1890.
"Flashman and the Tiger” (novella) - Zulu Uprising, 1879, and Tiger Jack Moran, 1894.
Flashman on the March - Abyssinia
I've read them all, and they're incredible. Flashman is of course a total misogynist and racist, as well as a brute and various other horrible things you would expect from his class at that time period. Excellently written and meticulously/hilariously footnoted. An example, from Royal Flash, in which Flashman (with the help of Otto Von Bismark) kidnaps and impersonates a prince to secure the peace of a tiny Prussian border province:
"34. It is just possible that the orator was Karl Marx. The Strackenzian coronation must have taken place before his recorded return to Germany from Brussels, where he had conceived the Communist Manifesto, but it is not inconceivable that he visisted Strackenz beforehand. The coronation certainly offered a tempting target at a time when European politics generally were in a precarious state. Against the fact that there is no evidence of his ever having visited the duchy, must be balanced Flashman's description of the orator, which is Marx to the life."
There are still other books waiting to be written, including the story of how he fought in the US Civil War (for both sides, of course). He's already met Lincoln and taken part in John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry...
More information is available HERE (http://www.briansiano.com/flashman/).