Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman (Wordsworth Classics) - Softcover

Hornung, E. W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1853260940 ISBN 13: 9781853260940

Publisher: Wordsworth, 1994

Synopsis

Hornung, who happened to be Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's brother-in-law, wrote the Raffles stories as a sort of homage/dark-side version of Sherlock Holmes; Doyle had mixed feelings about this, admiring the writing but worried about making a criminal into the protagonist. Here we first meet Bunny Manders and learn how he encounters Raffles, who'd been a much-admired senior boy when they were at school. Bunny is in dire straits, having bet money he doesn't have, and as Raffles is one of the people he lost to he's gone to ask for - well, he isn't sure; just to explain and confess before he blows his own brains out. But to his surprise Raffles laughs it off, admitting that he's short of cash himself, and suggesting a way to correct the situation. To Bunny's shock, Raffles sketches a plan for a robbery, but such is his desperation - and his unwillingness to be seen as less than "game" by Raffles - he goes along. And thus begins their partnership, and the saga of Raffles the "gentleman thief". [Raffles' own rationale: "Of course, it's very wrong, but we can't all be moralists, and the distribution of wealth is very wrong to begin with."]

About this title

About the Author:

E. W. Hornung (1866–1921) was a British author whose most famous creation, A. J. Raffles, appeared in such follow-ups to The Amateur Cracksman as The Black Mask, A Thief in the Night, and the full-length novel Mr. Justice Raffles. He was married to Constance Doyle, the sister of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Robert Giddings is an eminent literary critic who reviews for such publications as the Guardian, the New Statesman, and the Sunday Times.

From AudioFile:

An English gentleman's honor is beyond reproach or suspicion even in the case of Raffles, a national cricket star and an utterly charming and accomplished thief who turns to crime to sustain a lifestyle he can ill afford. Alas, our intimacy with this fascinating protagonist and his accomplice is hindered by a labored, often torpid narration, which is heedless to the text's dramatic cues. Although Covell approximates a "top-drawer" English accent, he cannot sustain it; his attempts at regional dialects are inconsistent and lapse into painful parody. Perhaps a native speaker might have succeeded better in capturing the flavor of Victorian society, wherein the appearance of honor and position, so delineated by language, is to be respected above all else. B.M.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Wordsworth
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 1853260940
• ISBN 13: 9781853260940
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384