« Previous · Home · Next »
It's Flashman Day, Damn Your Eyes!
By Lt Col P
This weekend is not only the 2nd Annual MilBlog Conference and Son & Heir's second birthday, but it's also Harry Flashman's birthday. To those of you who are Flashman fans, he needs no introduction. However, to the uninitiated, he is the most magnificently vile, awful, lecherous, treacherous, cowardly scoundrel you could imagine. He is, in fact, the greatest soldier that never lived.
Who fled for his life during the retreat from Kabul, and was later hailed as the gallant sole survivor? Why, it's old Flash Harry! Who was that paleface seen valiantly cutting down the Sioux at Little Bighorn, or errr, rather trying to save himself from one of his own most despicable acts? It's Colonel Flashman, God Bless 'im! Who was it that toadied his betters from India to England, bullied his inferiors nearly from pole to pole, and never passed up a chance to debauch a lady of any race, creed or nationality? Why, it's the hero of Balaclava!
The genius of the Flashman books is their unimpeachable historical accuracy, save of course for Flashman himself, and he is a borrowed work of fictional genius. One can learn so much from them that they should be classed as faction instead of fiction. The Great Game, the American Civil War, the slave trade, the Opium Wars, the Indian Mutiny, and God knows what else. It's all there in great detail, told by one of history's greatest cads.
So to Flashman fans new and old, raise a glass this weekend to Sir Harry. Don't we all wish we could be him for a day!
Late addition... The "editor" of the Flashman Papers is none other than the author of Quartered Safe Out Here, one of the best memoirs of WWII.
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://op-for.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/943
Comments
I found my first Flashman in a used bookstore. It was the first installment of his misadventures. It took me 2 years to find another volume, Flashman and the Indians. Incredible reading. The Flashman Chronicles should be required reading for any serious or not-so-serious student of histrory, particlulary one with a fondness for scoundrels!
By the way, Flashma and the Indians had one of the better tactical explinations of the Battle of the Little Big Horn that I've read.
Good call on Little Bighorn, Matt, and another illustration of how valuable these books are for the serious historian. To all, the book Matt is referring to is Flashman & The Redskins, which is not a politically correct title. (It also contains some of his most shockingly awful conduct.) Which reminds me to say, if you are sensitive about any sort of un-PC language, well, the Flashman books are ones you might want to avoid. Don't say we didn't warn you!
guys you just gotta stand on that hillside (after having read some of the literature about those days) and look at the crosses scattered about, and see off in the not to far distance where the encampment was.
brings two thoughts to mind. (holy cow here come all the f&*(*&g indians & please mr. custer i don't wanta go.)
somebody shoulda fragged custer before his first haircut.
c
Flashman is unknown to me...would it be appropriate for middle teens to read? (as a grandma, I'd love to get a couple of young ones hooked on something other than pop music and some of the idiot romance novels that abound)
Suek, I love the Flashman books but I would be just a bit hesitant to recommend them for middle teen readers. Flashman spends most of his time, when not in headlong flight from Ghazis, Cossacks, Apaches, Malay pirates, mutinous sepoys, Thug stranglers, etc. etc., in headlong and usually successful pursuit of women ranging from whores in London to an empress of China.
On the other hand, the actual descriptions of Flashman's amorous encounters is, by current standards, relatively modest.
Try one for yourself and see what you think. Most libraries should have at least some of the series on the shelf.
Here's to Flashy, so aptly dubbed "The Ace of Cads"!
ANYTHING by G.M. Fraser is worth reading, but I'd draw your attention to his three collections of "McAuslan stories," based on Fraser's early-postwar experiences as a subaltern of the Gordons in Libya, Palestine and the UK. They're beautifully constructed, falling-down funny, and evocative of better times and better men. Titles:
The General Danced at Dawn
McAuslan in the Rough
The Sheikh and the Dustbin
I blush to admit that I was nearly finished with the first Flashman book I read before I was completely sure that Harry was fictional.
Didn't stop me from reading every subsequent one I could get my hands on, the history around him was great.
Now to go dig up the McAuslan tales...
Thank you...duly noted. I'm guessing that from that info I would be wise to wait a year or two, and make use of the time by checking them out myself.
That about falls into the category of making sure you buy the books you intend to give for Christmas gifts in plenty of time to read them yourself, doesn't it!
Ran into the time limit on posting....what's the interval required? I've got 8.33am on my first comment, and it's 5:20pm now...that's not exactly bam bam bam...!
And now it's tomorrow morning. Is that possible? Sure it is - because today is yesterday's tomorrow...!!!
Please allow me to give an enthusiastic second to Bill Befort's recommendation of GMF's McAuslan stories. From the first in the series, "Monsoon Selection Board":
"But the thing that was universally agreed was that there was no known way of ensuring success before a Selection Board. There were no standard right answers to their questions, because their methods were all supposed to be deeply psychological. The general view throughout the Army was that they weren't fit to select bus conductors, let alone officers, but that is by the way."
Suek, I would not hesitate to give these books to any intelligent teenager looking for a good read.
A couple of other authors I would recommend: Terry Pratchett and Peter Dickinson. Pratchett's YA books: "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents", "The Wee Free Men", "A Hat Full of Sky" and "Wintersmith". Dickinson books include: "Tulku", "The Blue Hawk", "The Dancing Bear", "Shadow of a Hero" and "AK".
I hope you find these suggestions useful.
Post a comment
Potential comment conditions listed here. Oh, and you may use basic HTML for formatting.
Dang it, now I have yet another book to add to my never ending list...
Oh, and a Happy Birthday to your son! Sorry I can't be there this weekend...