Comments | frostokovich: Farewell, Flashy

frostokovich

Farewell, Flashy

Jan 20, 2008 13:24

The sad sad news arrived yesterday that George Macdonald Fraser has died at 82. The author of The Flashman Papers, possibly the finest historical fiction ever penned, is gone. His legacy is stunning as well as entertaining. If you want to know the truth about 19th century empiricism, look no further than the footnotes of his various novels. But ( Read more... )

the three musketeers, george macdonald fraser, historical fiction, flashman, literature

Comments 3

klingonguy January 20 2008, 19:09:47 UTC

My ex-wife worked as the assistant to the president of a small, micro-electronics firm. The fellow had apparently set up a correspondence with Fraser, and every few months Janet would come home and report in about the latest package that was received from or sent off to GMF on the Isle of Man.

I still remember reading "Flashman at the Charge" in the pages of an issue of Playboy that I's swiped out of my brother's room. Ah, those were the days.

birdhousefrog January 20 2008, 21:38:38 UTC

Hmmm. You don't want my comments on his sexism, do you? GRRM blogged his passing about a week ago, I think. Seems he was quite the fan as well. You win my support for the definitive movie script of Three Musketeers/Four Musketeers. But I never could manage the Flashman texts. This from a woman who admits reading the Gor novels at the misguided age of 14. And we won't mention the slave collar, no we won't. Very unenlightened of me.

Oz

Sexism frostokovich January 20 2008, 22:36:39 UTC

I'm not sure I can agree that Fraser was sexist (although not knowing him, I can't say), only that Harry Flashman certainly was. You could not, likewise, write an authentic fictional portrait of Richard Burton (no, the other one) without similarly portraying him as a...male of his period. And said portrait would not endear him to any women I know.

g