Sally Dugan
Auteur de Men of Iron
Œuvres de Sally Dugan
Measure for Measure: Fascinating Facts About Length, Weight, Time and Temperature (1993) 6 exemplaires
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Sexe
- female
Membres
Critiques
Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 5
- Membres
- 73
- Popularité
- #240,526
- Évaluation
- 3.5
- Critiques
- 3
- ISBN
- 10
For instance, I have read the Baroness' biography, and completely believed - why wouldn't I? - that the inspiration for the Scarlet Pimpernel came to her while waiting for a train one day, after which she then dashed off the first novel in the space of a few weeks, before selling the story as a play first and then finding a publisher who agreed to represent her because his mother liked the novel. Ha! The Baroness was far more canny than that. She 'tweaked' two previous stories written in serial form - one, 'The Sign of the Shamrock', damn near identical to The Scarlet Pimpernel, including a character called Percy Blakeney - and switched the setting to the French Revolution after a trip to the 1900 Paris Exhibition. Orczy also rewrote two existing stories - 'Juliette' and 'Jasper Tarkington's Wife' to make them into Pimpernel stories for demanding publishers (the stories became I Will Repay and The Pimpernel and Rosemary, of course). Clever woman! She may also have been inspired by a 'real life' Pimpernel, Louis Bayard, according to Elizabeth Sparrow, whose book is now my next port of call (in for a penny...)
Aside from gleaning fresh insight into the Baroness and her writing, I was also delighted to learn new facts about the stories themselves. Marguerite, Sir Percy's wife, was obviously the focus of the first novel, but she was relegated from the 'cleverest woman in Europe' to 'loyal helpmeet' in the sequels, which I always found frustrating - but once again, Orczy was merely adapting to suit her readers, who wanted to read more about an English hero, not his French wife. Orczy's non-violent, creative plots morphed over time into swashbuckling, boy's own adventures, the covers illustrated with pistols and swords, and the books were employed as propaganda during both world wars (ably assisted by Leslie Howard). I also find it sad that the books must continue to conform to expectations, even after the author's death - not only has TSP been 'downgraded' to a children's classic, but the PC brigade have also been at the text with a liberal dose of whitewash.
Apart from the usual academic waffle about colonial readings, the 'Other' (Barthes) and 'Orientalism' (Said), Sally Dugan's study of The Scarlet Pimpernel is actually very informative, accessible and open to all levels, from obsessives like myself to new readers and/or viewers (the play, films and musical are also covered). I only had two quibbles - Percy's mother was not French, and was the 1982 film really more successful than the original 1934 adaptation? Don't get me wrong, I love both, but the best dialogue from the former came from the latter, and Anthony Andrews came a poor second to Leslie Howard as a fop.
A must-read for all uber-fans of the Pimpernel - although I would recommend checking the library for a loan copy until the price comes down a notch!… (plus d'informations)