Glad to hear it, Patrick. But I'm still confused. Does an
Author need to be in print to be considered 'Classic'? Or to
be influential? In the 21st Century how many 'Classic'
authors ( or even good ones) are in print at any given time?
Many of the authors and books discussed here are currently
out of print. Those of us who are interested, ( A healthy and
hopefully growing literate minority) will still ferret them
out. And, hey, it depends on your definition of 'in print'.
Hornung, like Doyle, is out of Copyright. That means that a
thorough web search will find most of his works as ebooks
just a click away.It also means that you or I or anybody else
can publish him should we choose to do so.
And just because I can't resist the symmetry,
Here's a Hornung quote from Graham Greene!
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/e-w-hornung/complete-short-stories-of-raffles.htm
Eric.
"Patrick King"
abrasax93@yahoo.com
wrote:
> I don't dismiss Hornung at all. I love Hornung.
But
his books are our of print. Does anyone else read him
except you and me? I literally found ancient editions
of his books used in a barn bookseller. Most people
today don't know anything about him. This guy did
create a new genre, yes, of the gentleman theif, but
also of the criminal protagonist. The suspense in
Hornung's books wasn't about how do we catch the
crook, it was how does the crook get away. I think it
was a very interesting twist. His writing is
excellent, his characters are vivid, but his work is
nearly forgotten while Holmes and Watson are classics.
I also love Edgar Wallace. His books, too, are nearly
impossible to find in the US. Only used editions. Last
time I was in London they were still available. How
about now? He was a writer that managed to be both
gripping and eerie.
Patrick King
--- nqexile <nqexile@yahoo. com.au> wrote:
> On the question of whether he wrote literature -
I
> ain't gonna go
> there, but don't dismiss Hornung so quickly.
Surely
> he was the father
> of the gentleman thief genre. I'm thinking
the
> Saint, Bernie the
> Burglar (to bring us back to the subject of
Block)
> Peter Cheyney's
> Alfonzo MacTavish,and Im sure there are those of
us
> who can name quite
> a few more. (There is a very famous French
example
> that completely
> escapes my memory for the moment) Raffles,
like
> Holmes, hasn't bitten
> the dust yet. There has been more than one
author
> who has contributed
> new Raffles stories. There has been at least
one
> British TV series and
> there are pastiches of 'Raffles meets Holmes'
and
> that kind of
> thing.Obviously something about the Raffles
concept
> is still quite
> appealing.
> The books are very readable. The only problem
with
> them is that there
> is a little too much Cricket.
>
> Eric
>
> --- In rara-avis-l@ yahoogroups. com, Patrick
King
> <abrasax93@. ..> wrote:
> >
> > And for certain Poe, Wilkie Collins and Doyle
are
> > classic literature and they're the
absolute
> father's
> > and grandfathers of the genre. The question is,
is
> > E.W. Hornung classic literature? He was
Doyle's
> > brother-in-law. His characters, Raffles
the
> Amateur
> > Cracksman, and Stingeree the
Austrailian
> bushranger,
> > were very popular, made into a highly
successful
> > movies. But does anyone read him
now?
> >
> > Some make it, some don't.
> >
> > Patrick King
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