BOOKWORM

For readers of Sabatini, especially from the Rafael Sabatini Group, here is the first table for reference, if you want to arrive at a better understanding of this very private person as man & writer.

The tables are subject to modification after the eagerly-awaited biography cum bibliography by Jesse F. Knight and Steve Darley comes out.

Correction of the following text should be mailed to the author.

READING RAFAEL SABATINI

table 1

DATE	LIFE	WORK
1875, 29 April	Rafael is born
1892	Rafael begins to work as translator of commercial correspondence
1895/96	Rafael begins to write stories & articles, but doesn't immediately seek publication. Christine is born around this time
1898, December	Rafael's first published story – found thus far by JFK (2007). He is 23 yrs old	The Red Mask
1899, June	Rafael is 24	The Fool's Love Story
September		The Vicomte's Wager
November		The Curate and the Actress
December		Sword and Mitre
1900, January		The Dupes
May	Rafael is 25	The Coward
June		The Malediction
August		The Red Owl
		The Outlaw of Falkensteig
September		The Evidence of the Sword
October		Out of the Dice Box
December		D'Aubeville's Enterprise
1901, January		The Marquis' Coach
February		Tommy
March		The Lottery Ticket
June	Rafael is 26	The Hostage
August		The Nuptials of Lindenstein
September		The Republic's Seal
November		Loaded Dice
December		Of What Befell at Bailienochy
		The Outlaw and the Lady
		[28 Dec.- Mar. 1902, 11 pt serial, The Lovers of Yvonne]
1902	collaborates with Stephanie Baring on play, prod. in Luton, Bedfordshire	Kuomi the Jester
January		After Worcester Field
February		Chancellor's Daughter
March		Carolus and Caroline
April	Rafael is 27	In the Eleventh Hour
August		Under the Red Seal
September		The Jealousy of Delventhal
November		The Shriving of Felsheim
? UK, May (US)		The Lovers (UK)/ Suitors (US) of Yvonne
1903, October	Rafael is 28	The Duellist's Wife
		The Ghost of Citizen Duvallon
November		The Ducal Rival
Nov? Dec?		The Siege of Savigny
1904, January		Mademoiselle de Castelroc [to become Trampling of the Lilies]
February		The Sacrifice
March		The Locket
May?	Rafael is 29; he is courting Ruth Goad Dixon	My Lady Roseton
July		Judge Foscaro's Crime
August		The Face of the Clock
September		The Devourer of Hearts
		The Metamorphosis of Colin
?		The Tavern Knight, dedicated "to R.G.D."
1905	Rafael marries Ruth; resigns his job & becomes a full-time writer
March		Annabel's Wager
May	Rafael is 30	The Captain of the Guard
July		The Spiritualist
December		His Last Chance
?		Some Verses to Alexia
?		The Rubicon
1906, 14 January		The Copyhunter
July	Rafael is 31	Wirgman's Theory
September		The Baker of Rousillon
October		The Spurs of Jealousy
December		Mr Dewbury's Consent
?		Bardelys the Magnificent [ser. April -?]
?		The Trampling of the Lilies
1907, May	Rafael is 32	The Elopement
2 July		The Opportunist
September		The Plague of Ghosts
October		The Fortunes of War
December.		The Risen Dead
?		Love-at-Arms, dedicated to "My Wife"
1908, 27 June	Rafael is 33	The Justice of the Duke
July		The Bargain
August		The Act of Sequestration
September		The Usurpers [to become St Martin's Summer]
December		The Abduction
?		The Shame of Motley
1909, March		The Avenger
April	Rafael-Angelo is born; his father, Rafael is 34
August		Monsieur Delamort
?		St Martin's Summer
1910	collaborates with Henry Hamilton on play, prod. in Birmingham	Bardelys the Magnificent
January		Gismondi's Wage
February		The Pasquinade
October	Rafael is 35	The Lust of Conquest
		The Foster-Lover
?		Anthony Wilding (UK), Arms and the Maid (US) dedicated "To Rafael-Angelo"
1911	Rafael is 36; Bardelys is produced in London & he writes	The Fugitives
August		The Pretender
?		The Lion's Skin
1912, February.		The Blackmailer
August	Rafael is 37	Ambs-Ace
		The Dream
?		The Justice of the Duke
?		The Life of Cesare Borgia
?after 1912?		Forestalled
1913, February.		Playing with Fire
April	Rafael is 38; has his marriage already begun to sour?	The Ordeal
June		The Altruist
September		The Wedding Gift
December		The Tapestried Room
?		The Strolling Saint
?		Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition
1914	Rafael turns 39; around this time (1914/15) Christine would have been around 20. We don't have a date for her marriage to Lancelot Dixon, but she may have entered his circle about this time
May		The Heresy of Don Ramon
August		The Sword of Islam (sh. st.)
September		The Valet Mystery
		Casanova's Alibi
October		Shrinkage
November		Kynaston's Reckoning
?		The Gates of Doom
	at some time after World War I breaks out, Rafael is employed by the British Govt to work in Intelligence, as a translator (for ciphers & codes)

Ruth Heredia is the originator and holds the copyright to all material on this blog unless credited to some source. Please do not use it or pass it off as your own work. That is theft. If you wish to link it, quote it, or reprint in whole or in part, please be courteous enough to seek my permission.

BOOKWORM

For fellow members of the Rafael Sabatini Group who are about to begin regular discussions of each novel in turn, here is something drawn up a while ago for someone close (therefore having access to the same books), who was going to read the novels in order and give her unbiased opinion. It may be useful to others.

Points to consider when analysing & commenting on the novels

Narrative voice:

~ 3^rd person – author as narrator

~ 1^st person – protagonist as narrator

~ 1^st person – a supporting character as narrator

~ 1^st person – more than one supporting character as narrator [e.g. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins]

What are the difficulties inherent in the chosen voice?

Is there any outstanding achievement/tour de force in using the chosen voice, or in overcoming the particular limitations of the chosen voice? [Consider The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie]

Time:

In what period is the story set? Any disadvantages? Any advantage?

What is the time-span covered by the narrative? Can the narrative pace sustain the length, if it is a long period? Any gains? Any losses?

Place:

In what country/ location is the story set?

If it is a fantasy, are there any deliberately allusive details/teasing hints? [e.g. Morning Star by Rider Haggard is clearly set in Egypt, even if at no specific period in its ancient history, but The Blue Hawk by Peter Dickinson never gives any such indication of a locale yet the reader gets the clearest sense of its being set in ancient Egypt.]

Characters:

Main characters

Are these types, or is each unique to its story?

Is there a noticeable tendency to repeat a certain type? What are the characteristics of the type in question? [Consider the number of protagonists in Sabatini’s fiction & non-fiction that are illegitimate sons.]

Supporting characters

What are the classes that are represented, and what is the treatment of each as a class?

Are all characters from a class given a fixed set of characteristics? [Consider the treatment of policemen in detective fiction, at a certain period of history.]

Are certain types repeated? [e.g. the faithful all-purpose man-servant attached to the protagonist; the long-suffering but loyal innkeeper, etc.]

Real-life characters

Are these used at all?

Do they take part actively in the story, or are they merely part of the local colour?

If they take active part how are they accommodated to a fictitious narrative? – successfully?

Are there any ‘trademarks’ in an author’s habitual treatment of such characters? [Consider Sabatini’s clever clues to the half-real-half-fictitious character of ‘St. Just’ in Scaramouche the Kingmaker; & the unnoticeable juggling of dates to do with the Comte de Puisaye in The Marquis of Carabas.]

Local colour:

Costume; modes of transport; houses with their furnishings & their grounds – this applies to ships also – all that in cinema would be covered by ‘production’. How are these treated?

Language:

Is the language of the narrative suited to the narrative voice used?

Is there much direct speech, & if there is, how convincing is it?

Does the author appear to have some favourite words/expressions/usages?

Could these be said to constitute a signature or trademark of the author’s writing?

Does it seem to you a weakness to be excused, an unbearable/scarcely bearable annoyance, or a special charm/endearing trait?

Tone:

Is the tone of the narrative

serious – ‘high serious’

‘sentimental/romantic serious’

‘ironic [even ‘disenchanted’] serious?

light [even flippant] – as in a comedy of manners?

romantic-sentimental – the kind in which, typically, two very difficult/tiresome characters who are destined to be/already are in love, stupidly set obstacles in each other’s way, obstinately misunderstand each other, pass through numerous, mostly needless trials [each of which would capsize an ordinary human] & unnecessary fits of the dismals, & exasperate the reader before finally falling into an embrace?

Research/Preparation:

Does the author appear to have mastered his/her material, especially in period fiction?

Is there an odour of candle-grease & dusty manuscripts about the narrative, or is the research worn lightly/used subtly? [Consider the admirably thorough research but oh so soporific effect of George Eliot’s Romola.]

Influences:

What influences, if any, can be discerned in the work; and if there is an influence or more than one, is it to be found in the earlier books, does it wane as the writer develops his own individual style, or – and this would be rather strange – does the influence show quite late?

Finally, a work of art is more than the sum of all its parts. Does this work, really work? Is it a pleasure to read?

Would you want to read it again?

Would you want to own a copy so as to have it at hand whenever you feel like re-reading a part/the whole book?

Any other comment?

This is not a scholarly guide - heaven forbid! - but just one person's notion of how the novels might be read. Another 'template', of a kind, for the next.

Ruth Heredia is the originator and holds the copyright to all material on this blog unless credited to some source. Please do not use it or pass it off as your own work. That is theft. If you wish to link it, quote it, or reprint in whole or in part, please be courteous enough to seek my permission.

attica-ruth magazine 17

Journal Jottings

SHAKE HANDS ON A BARGAIN .....

..... AND A KISS SEALS IT

Deccan Herald: Nagesh Polali

THANK GOD FOR DOGS!

When 45-year-old Debbie Parkhurst choked on a piece of apple, she began to thump her chest to dislodge the piece. Observing her throughout, and seeing her fail, was Toby, her two-year-old golden retriever. Toby knocked her to the floor on to her back, and proceeded to jump up and down on her chest until she had coughed up the piece of apple.

The natural reaction to such stress is a fainting spell, but Toby kept his mistress from losing consciousness until she could summon help by vigorously licking her face. The proof of her account was to be seen in the roughly paw-print-shaped bruises on her chest.

How much is that doggie.......?

scribendi cacoethes

from the series, Clamavi:

BLACK HUMOUR

A family is a fearsome thing, God wot.

Its exterior conceals

The complex of wheels

That turn within,

And relentlessly grind

Each one’s mind.

©2007 by Ruth Heredia

PLEA

The life dutiful

Is not beautiful.

It’s a cruel waste

Not at all to my taste;

So make haste to relieve me,

Oh make haste!

©2007 by Ruth Heredia

HAPPY FAMILIES

(or wise sayings revised)

“Familyarity breeds contempt.”

The family closely bonded

Includes some who have absconded;

But stuck lifelong in the bond

Will be the one who was conned.

“Nothing more than kin

And very much less than kind.”

©2007 by Ruth Heredia

VANITAS

Do you voice inside your head

The words best left unsaid?

Is that your safety valve –

The only one you have –

Lest anger speed you early to a grave?

Must the devious answer serve

A working modus to preserve,

Is't the only way to buy a brief reprieve?

When dreams of creating to ash have turned,

And into smoke the fires that burned,

Is muffling of your screams the prize you've earned?

When to value truth is learnt,

Youthful follies slain and burnt,

Are you unsurprised to find your heroes – weren't?

Don't you feel it most frustrating –

Suffocating – aggravating –

To confine the liberating

Insights you have gained,

To an audience inside your head?

©2007 by Ruth Heredia

G – R – R – RHYME

"And what is it you do?" the occasional visitor asks.

"Housework", she says, distracted from one of her endless tasks.

"But you have so many talents, don't you think it is a waste?"

"Do I have a choice?" she counters, in her mouth the familiar taste

Of bitterish-salt saliva rising swiftly in a tide.

"Excuse me", she mumbles with mouth full, and quickly goes inside.

"Can't you find someone to help you?" – th'inquisitor is not quitting.

"How silly of me not to think of it!" but her tone is forbidding.

"There's no need to be so touchy"; the visitor is offended.

In her mind's eye she makes an image, of this creature – upended.

©2007 by Ruth Heredia

ACCOMMODATION

"You are a caged bird", they told her,

when she was a girl yet,

not woman grown in her mind.

"This is my cage", she thought, ironical,

but spoke no word.

Such thoughts she never voiced,

not then, nor after;

it was the pattern, largely,

of her life.

She couldn't have said why it was –

not then, not till much after –

what consideration

had trammelled her tongue.

But once, a long time after,

her pent-up indignation

had burst out into speech.

The lightning bolts that flew then,

the cannonade they preceded,

had seared into her memory

the reason for her reticence.

Yet she learned to fly, with a difference.

The fledging was long and painful,

but the freedom she found, within her cage,

would suffice until all bars were broken.

©2007 by Ruth Heredia

BOOKWORM

The Old Pretender

TWO BITES AT A CHERRY

~ an idiosyncratic reading of The Lion’s Skin and The Gates Of Doom, both by Rafael Sabatini

PREAMBLE

Once upon a time, we were encouraged to read Prefaces/Introductions in their proper place, which is before the work (novel/biography/study) begins. “Spoiler” was not a concept known to us, not even by some other name, and we actually hoped for some guidance from the writers of those prefaces.

To be sure, it would have been a decidedly unfriendly act to tell someone who had just begun to read a detective story how it was going to end. But those of us who enjoyed detective stories of quality were happy to own copies that could be re-read for other pleasures than the solving of a puzzle.

However, it is now de rigueur to attach the warning “Spoilers Ahead”, so be warned all finicky readers that spoilers, and mainly spoilers, lie ahead.

The theme that emerges from this miscellany appearing under the heading, TWO BITES AT THE CHERRY, will be formally presented at the end, but there will be plenty of clues along the way.

Many of the views expressed here are likely to provoke a dissenting response. My views may be singular, but they are sincerely held, not expressed for the mere love of provocation. Dissent is welcome so long as it is moderated by courtesy.

Part of what’s to come:

Chronologies of The Lion’s Skin and of The Gates Of Doom. The plot of the latter is so full of action and so intricately woven that a chronology as a reference base is preferable to leafing back and forth in search of a thread mislaid. The plot of the former is simple and straightforward, making an interesting contrast.

Chapter-wise notes and remarks, incorporating illustrations (images) and some speculations, for each novel in turn.

Comparisons between the two novels.

THE LION’S SKIN ~ a chronology

(as all the action is confined to 1721, only the month and the day/date will be given) [There's no reason to think that Sabatini bothered about Gregorian or Julian calendars and when exactly the reformed calendar became effective in this or that country. A simple ready reckoner would have supplied such needs as he had, I believe. Sabatini gives us only four indicators of the time: Chapter I is set in April; Chapter II is set in May; the day of the thwarted mock-marriage ends with a night of full moon; Sir Richard is buried on a Monday.]

April ~ Prelude in Paris gives the back story and sets up the plot machinery.

May (we are not told what part of the month) ~

Day 1 (of the action) ~ Justin Caryll, having landed at Dover the previous day, arrives in Maidstone; incident at the inn; Lord Ostermore, Hortensia and Justin reach Croydon by nightfall; encounter in the garden. [If the full moon is to be taken seriously, then this would be Sunday, May 11.]

Day 2 ~ Arrival in London; Justin seeks out his friends from college days and after

Day 5 ~ Incident in the park. [Wharton's line about Dulcinea is probably a quotation from a poem or a play not presently traceable; it cannot be taken literally as an indicator of the date because of the full moon that was specified for the end of Day 1.]

Day 8 or 9 ~ At White’s Rotherby challenges Justin to a duel; Sir Richard visits Justin and is followed back to his own lodging

Day 9 or 10 ~ The duel. [If we take the first day as May 11, this is May 19 or 20.]

(4 weeks later it is June, but when exactly we can only guess) [It might be June 15.]

June ~

Day 1 ~ Incident in the arbour at Stretton House

Day 2 ~ Justin leaves Stretton House

5 days later (evidently a Saturday) ~ Justin visits Sir Richard at dusk; Green’s man shoots Sir Richard, who dies. [If Day 1 is June 15, Day 7 is Saturday, June 21.]

Next day (Sunday) ~ Justin mourns

Monday (Sabatini specifies) ~ Sir Richard is buried; Hortensia reveals her feelings and wishes to Justin

Next 2 days ~ Justin struggles with himself

Following day (Thursday?) ~ Justin goes to Stretton House to ask Lord Ostermore’s permission to marry Hortensia: Lord Ostermore has suffered a stroke; he dies without recovering consciousness; climax of action; conclusion

The Jacobite Cause is a mere peg to hang the story on; one of two pegs, the other being the South Sea Bubble.

THE GATES OF DOOM ~ a chronology

(as all the action is confined to 1721, only the month and the day/date will be given)

June ~

16, Monday ~ Pauncefort’s London house; gaming until early hours of Tuesday. Pauncefort and Gaynor play for the right to woo Damaris Hollinstone

17, Tuesday ~ Gaynor visits Second Secretary Edward Templeton in his office. Gaynor engages a valet either this day or the next

18, Wednesday ~ Gaynor dines with the Templetons en famille

19, Thursday ~ Gaynor warns Pauncefort that there is a traitor in their midst. He sets off for Priory Close, arriving in the late evening. Sir John Kynaston leaves Priory Close for Bath

26, Thursday ~ Gaynor and fellow Jacobites meet at The World's End, Chelsea. Evelyn writes to Pauncefort. Gaynor reveals all he knows about the traitor. Carteret sends a messenger to Priory Close, seeking Gaynor; and men who arrest all the Jacobites gathered in Chelsea but Gaynor. Gaynor contrives to spend the latter part of that night in custody, in the Gatehouse at Westminster

27, Friday ~ Gaynor, released, returns to Priory Close. Pauncefort insists with Carteret that Gaynor is Jenkyn, passing on what he has learned from Tresh. Evelyn's letter is delivered

28, Saturday ~ Gaynor gives notice to his valet; gives Damaris message for Sir John. Pauncefort interrupts their talk, fights Gaynor, flees. Gaynor returns to London, gets a room at modest hostelry, seeks Pauncefort, is arrested as Jenkyn

30, Monday ~ Gaynor is tried as Jenkyn, sentenced in the evening. (Sir John learns of the trial and sentence only just before the scheduled execution.)

July~

2, Wednesday ~ Gaynor writes to Damaris

3, Thursday ~ Gaynor despatches the letter and prepares to die. At about 8 a.m. the ordinary arrives, about 11 a.m. the hangman. Around noon Gaynor is hanged as Jenkyn. After 20 minutes he is cut down and taken to Dr Blizzard, who sedates him on his revival. Witness only to the hanging, and failing to retrieve the body, Sir John goes home. Evelyn spends sleepless night

4, Friday ~ Sir John questions, Evelyn confesses. Gaynor wakes up, is fed, sleeps again until that evening or the next (Sabatini is unclear)

5, Saturday ~ (Sabatini unclear again – could be next day) Damaris confides in Sir John

7, Monday ~ Pauncefort comes to Priory Close, fails to beguile Sir John, threatens him, encounters Evelyn and sows seed of mischief in her mind

10, Thursday ~ Templeton writes to Tollemache

12, Saturday ~ or next day, Tollemache prepares to go to London in response to letter

14, Monday ~ Pauncefort comes again to Priory Close. Damaris agrees to marry Pauncefort in exchange for immunity for Sir John but the latter forbids her. Pauncefort returns to London bent on extreme measures. Dr Blizzard's message takes Sir John to Gaynor in London. On his return home, he is arrested

15, Tuesday ~ Gaynor awaits Sir John and Damaris in vain. Tollemache sets off for London. Damaris yields to Pauncefort's pressure

16, Wednesday ~ Pauncefort partly persuades Carteret to oblige him, then writes to Damaris about wedding. Gaynor continues to wait in vain

17, Thursday ~ Gaynor takes leave of Blizzard, stops at hostelry for fresh clothing, proceeds to Priory Close, returns seeking Templeton . Tollemache arrives at Templeton's just ahead of Gaynor. Pauncefort leaves for Woodlands, his country house in Surrey, to marry Damaris that evening, even as Templeton, Tollemache and Gaynor reach Carteret's house. Climax and conclusion.

The action begins and concludes at night. The span is just over a month, from 16 June to 17 July, during one week of which Gaynor does little more than get better acquainted with Damaris, and during another two weeks of which Gaynor is officially a dead man. This means (sometimes frenzied) activity during a very few days out of thirty-two.

No actual Jacobite plotting is done, in marked contrast to what occurs in the later Jacobite novel, The Stalking Horse, which describes a dizzying succession of such plots. The Jacobite Cause comes across as a rather pathetic and tiresome mix of fanaticism and ineptitude with treachery stirred in; an impression only partly relieved by the quick wits and courage of the hero.

Ruth Heredia is the originator and holds the copyright to all material on this blog unless credited to some source. Please do not use it or pass it off as your own work. That is theft. If you wish to link it, quote it, or reprint in whole or in part, please be courteous enough to seek my permission.