Raffles and Bunny - Dark, morally uncertain, yet convincingly, reassuringly English?
Over the last fortnight or so I've been introducing my Grumpy Old Man (aka Mr B) to the delights of the 1970s TV series 'Raffles', starring Anthony Valentine and Christopher Strauli. It's a little dated in some ways, but has actually stood the test of time amazingly well! I was in my teens when it first aired, and remember being fascinated by the relationship between suave, sophisticated 'Gentleman Thief' Arthur J Raffles and his wide-eyed, puppy-faced sidekick Harry 'Bunny' Manders. I didn't dare speculate back then about any deliberate homoerotic content – but viewing it now, I can see that the scriptwriters were having a field day! The dialogue includes such gems as 'Being stripped naked by a policeman was certainly a novel experience!' 'I think I can safely say I've seen everything you've got, Bunny!' and 'A gentleman is always open to corruption – shall we go into the bedroom?' Mr B was particularly amused to see Raffles perusing a 'Gentleman's Magazine' featuring a large advert for Vaseline on the front page ...
Are these innuendos present in the original stories? That's not a rhetorical question, I actually haven't read them, though I've now put The Amateur Cracksman by: E. W. Hornung: The Amateur Cracksman Was the Original Short Story Collection by E. W. Hornung Featuring His Most Famous Character, A. J. Raffles, a Gentleman Thief in Late Victorian Great Britain. on my 'want to read' list! E.W. Hornung, who wrote the twenty-six short stories, one novel and two plays between 1898 and 1909, was actually the brother-in-law of Arthur Conan Doyle, so it's obvious where he got his inspiration from. ACD was somewhat equivocal in his acceptance of the sincerest form of flattery: 'I think there are few finer examples of short-story writing in our language than these, though I confess I think they are rather dangerous in their suggestion. I told him so before he put pen to paper, and the result has, I fear, borne me out. You must not make the criminal a hero.'
Hornung was unrepentant. Raffles and Bunny, he insisted, are 'something dark, morally uncertain, yet convincingly, reassuringly English.'
What on earth does that statement mean? Raffles certainly stands upon his dignity as an English gentleman, but what particular branch of moral uncertainty is deemed justifiable when personified by an upper class Englishman? Was Hornung perchance implying something about the (peculiarly English) relationship between his hero and sidekick, whose association had its roots in the (peculiarly English) public school system of 'fagging'? The French have a word for it, as they so often do – 'le vice anglais' supposedly favoured by ex-public schoolboys could constitute either flagellation or homosexuality (or, presumably, a combination of both). In his 1999 biography Raffles and His Creator: The Life and Works of E.W. Hornung, Peter Rowland claims that Hornung based Raffles and Bunny partly on Holmes and Watson and partly on his good friends Oscar Wilde and Bosie Douglas; writing in 1898, three years after Wilde's disgrace, this was bold to say the least....
At least ACD tried (unconvincingly) to marry Watson off, whereas Hornung appears to have contented himself with making Raffles rhapsodise over a series of beautiful, unattainable women: 'Are you in love with her?' asks Bunny anxiously on one such occasion; 'No, I don't think so' answers Raffles reflectively, 'I just think she's the most beautiful creature I've ever seen'.... Meanwhile, twentieth century British aficionados continued to insist manfully that there was nothing 'queer' about 'two chaps sharing digs' (actual quote from Captain Bill Mitchell, Secretary of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, sharing radio airtime with Yours Truly following the publication of My Dearest Holmes back in 1988).
Charlie Raven claims that we watched repeats of the 1975 TV series whilst working on My Dearest Holmes and A Case of Domestic Pilfering respectively – a memory that surfaces only vaguely to mind, in a haze of red wine, French cigarettes and Bach violin partitas – in which case, a little bit of Raffles and Bunny could well have worked its way into that other upper-class partnership of the 'morally uncertain' fin de siecle era, Guy Clements and Max Fareham. Readers of A Case of Domestic Pilfering will have to make up their own minds about that … meanwhile, if you'll excuse me, I have some gaps in my reading to remedy...
Are these innuendos present in the original stories? That's not a rhetorical question, I actually haven't read them, though I've now put The Amateur Cracksman by: E. W. Hornung: The Amateur Cracksman Was the Original Short Story Collection by E. W. Hornung Featuring His Most Famous Character, A. J. Raffles, a Gentleman Thief in Late Victorian Great Britain. on my 'want to read' list! E.W. Hornung, who wrote the twenty-six short stories, one novel and two plays between 1898 and 1909, was actually the brother-in-law of Arthur Conan Doyle, so it's obvious where he got his inspiration from. ACD was somewhat equivocal in his acceptance of the sincerest form of flattery: 'I think there are few finer examples of short-story writing in our language than these, though I confess I think they are rather dangerous in their suggestion. I told him so before he put pen to paper, and the result has, I fear, borne me out. You must not make the criminal a hero.'
Hornung was unrepentant. Raffles and Bunny, he insisted, are 'something dark, morally uncertain, yet convincingly, reassuringly English.'
What on earth does that statement mean? Raffles certainly stands upon his dignity as an English gentleman, but what particular branch of moral uncertainty is deemed justifiable when personified by an upper class Englishman? Was Hornung perchance implying something about the (peculiarly English) relationship between his hero and sidekick, whose association had its roots in the (peculiarly English) public school system of 'fagging'? The French have a word for it, as they so often do – 'le vice anglais' supposedly favoured by ex-public schoolboys could constitute either flagellation or homosexuality (or, presumably, a combination of both). In his 1999 biography Raffles and His Creator: The Life and Works of E.W. Hornung, Peter Rowland claims that Hornung based Raffles and Bunny partly on Holmes and Watson and partly on his good friends Oscar Wilde and Bosie Douglas; writing in 1898, three years after Wilde's disgrace, this was bold to say the least....
At least ACD tried (unconvincingly) to marry Watson off, whereas Hornung appears to have contented himself with making Raffles rhapsodise over a series of beautiful, unattainable women: 'Are you in love with her?' asks Bunny anxiously on one such occasion; 'No, I don't think so' answers Raffles reflectively, 'I just think she's the most beautiful creature I've ever seen'.... Meanwhile, twentieth century British aficionados continued to insist manfully that there was nothing 'queer' about 'two chaps sharing digs' (actual quote from Captain Bill Mitchell, Secretary of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, sharing radio airtime with Yours Truly following the publication of My Dearest Holmes back in 1988).
Charlie Raven claims that we watched repeats of the 1975 TV series whilst working on My Dearest Holmes and A Case of Domestic Pilfering respectively – a memory that surfaces only vaguely to mind, in a haze of red wine, French cigarettes and Bach violin partitas – in which case, a little bit of Raffles and Bunny could well have worked its way into that other upper-class partnership of the 'morally uncertain' fin de siecle era, Guy Clements and Max Fareham. Readers of A Case of Domestic Pilfering will have to make up their own minds about that … meanwhile, if you'll excuse me, I have some gaps in my reading to remedy...
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