Harry Paget Flashman did not leap full grown from the brain of George MacDonald Fraser, who died on January 2, 2008. Fraser took a swaggering, sometimes cowardly, bully from the pages of the 19th century classic, Thomas Hughes’s Tom Brown’s Schooldays, set in England’s Rugby School, where Flashman is a foil for the heroes of the tale. In Hughes novel, the young Flashman is eventually dismissed from Rugby. Fraser’s genius was to take this reprobate and make him into the anti-hero of a delightful series of novels.
Fraser’s Flashman retains all of his cowardly bullying nature, as well as a keen sense of self preservation, and adds to that a wandering eye for the ladies. Not what you think of as the most attractive characteristics in a fictional protagonist. The first book in the Flashman series Flashman finds our hero serving in the British Army in the Afghan War of 1839-42. Despite his best efforts to avoid danger, Flashy is captured by the Afghan tribesmen, and finds himself at last in a besieged garrison which is about to be overrun. In his efforts to save himself, Flashman attempts to surrender the colours to the Afghanis, but fate intercedes, and he is found wounded, and clutching the British flag, earning him a hero’s reputation. This example is pretty typical of the further adventures of Flashman, as he participates, albeit unwillingly, in the Crimean War, the U.S. Civil War, the Second Opium War, the Taiping Rebellion, and other hot spots of the 19th century.
Despite Flashman’s perhaps off-putting nature, these stories are often hilariously funny and have an attention to historic detail that will appeal to fans of Patrick O’Brian and Bernard Cornwell. Fraser had an ear for dialog and language, and took an unapologetic delight in his protagonist.
While best known for the Flashman series, Fraser also wrote numerous other adventure novels, a pair of memoirs, and several screenplays.
Check the WRL catalog for Fraser’s works
I will greatly miss George Macdonald Fraser and his Flashman series. In addition to sorrow at a nice man’s passing, now we will never learn how Harry Flashman managed to serve on both sides at the battle of Gettysburg, an incident Fraser mentioned as an aside in one of the books.
Among Fraser’s screen plays are The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974). These are brilliant adaptations – which WRL has in its collection – and I recommend them highly for anyone who enjoys historical action movies. Outstanding cast with lots of witty dialog and flashing swords.
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