In 1898, he began to publish the first Raffles stories. In 1899 Hornung and his wife moved to Kensington where they lived for many years.
Arthur Raffles is a “gentleman cracksman”… He went to a public school..where he met “Bunny” Manders who was several years his junior and who was his fag. Bunny is the narrator of the stories, and clelary Hornung was influenced by his brother in law’s Sherlock Holmes novels... Raffles is the clever one and the dominating one of the partnership.
Bunny is less intelligent and active, and he is in thrall to his friend. Raffles was a brilliant cricketer at school and now, he lives as a gentleman of leisure, gambling and winning quite often but really living on the proceeds of his secret life of crime. He is a skilled burglar and because of his positon in society and his skill at cricket, he is invited to upper class houses as a guest. Bunny Manders meets Raffles at a party and gets involved in gambling, losing all his money. Being a very sensitive naïve and conventional young man, he considers suicide, but Raffles persuades him not to do it. When Bunny learns that his hero is a thief, he is shocked but finds that it does not really impinge on his admiration and affection for his school friend. The two men become partners in crime. Raffles has a few scruples, but he has no real qualms about stealing from the rich. He refuses to steal from his hosts when he is staying at someone’s home... but he will steal from fellow guests.
The stories were well written and very popular, but many critics felt that it simply was wrong to make a criminal the hero of an adventure story
No comments:
Post a Comment