Sally Dugan

I have been a fan of the Scarlet Pimpernel for over a decade, ever since catching a re-run of the 1982 film and then discovering the entire series of books by Baroness Orczy at the library where I worked (I also 'rescued' the harder to find, out of print hardbacks when there was a cull of the fiction reserve at said library). The strength of my ardour for Sir Percy and Marguerite might have waned since the days when I could quote the films verbatim and collected anything and everything to do with the Pimpernel - or maybe not, considering what I paid for this study! - but I will always have a soft spot for the characters. Sally Dugan, however, has proved that I am still a mere novice in the ranks of Pimpernel aficionados - this woman knows her stuff (and how fantastic to be sponsored for researching such a fun subject!)

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!… (altro)

Derived from a Channel 4 TV series I would imagine the book is almost a verbatim record of the various academics together with some nice pictures. It is actually quite a good interesting book but occasionally quite clunky as it melds what is spoken by one with comments from another.

There were a couple of downsides. Book design - fatal words if it involves changing the colours of pages and /or having pictures in the background as you try to read the type. Quite early there was something that irked me more than you can imagine. Huskisson is hit by a train and "Stephenson and his driver rushed him to a nearby vicarage, breaking the world speed record on the way,...."

What a stupid piece of writing. What world speed record? Accident spot to local vicarage? Track laid to vicarage door? Who was actually timing this? What distance was involved - vicarages are thick on the ground in the UK? To add information which is unnecessary but is distracting because of its incompleteness.… (altro)

This is a good book within its limits, and those limits are that it is the book of a TV series. It is quite readable and quite informative, although perhaps lacking in detail. It concentrates on the human history and is very light on engineering details. I find the informal chatty style a little superficial, and I don't like the quotes from a handful of historians and experts who speak of Brunel and Stephenson in the present tense - again, probably all the result of the TV series it's based on. While I acknowledge that Brunel was the greater all-round engineer of the two, a "polymath" as the book frequently calls him, I would still have liked to see more detail on Stephenson's life. It has some nice illustrations. Worth reading, but not a heavy-duty history of these two great engineers.… (altro)