Harry Flashman

Flashman Papers #1

by George MacDonald Fraser

Expulsado de un internado por embriaguez y apartado del regimiento en que se enrola por pendenciero, Harry Flashman es enviado a Escocia, donde deshonra a una joven y se ve obligado a casarse con ella. Huyendo de esta situación, se traslada a la India, donde la casualidad, su cobardía innata y sus dotes para la impostura le convierten en un héroe de las guerras angloindias.

La frescura, la desfachatez y la simpatía que despierta el personaje permiten ya augurar con esta primera entrega una serie muy divertida y, además, de una calidad como reproducción de época realmente insólita en la narrativa actual

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Humor, Adventure, Historical, Comedy, War

464 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

George MacDonald Fraser is best known for his Flashman series of historical novels, purportedly written by Harry Flashman, a fictional coward and bully originally created by Thomas Hughes in Tom Brown's School Days. The novels are presented as "packets" of memoirs written by the nonagenarian Flashman, who looks back on his days as a hero of the British Army during the 19th century. The series begins with Flashman, and is notable for the accuracy of the historical settings and praise from critics. P.G. Wodehouse said of Flashman, “If ever there was a time when I felt that ‘watcher-of-the-skies-when-a-new-planet’ stuff, it was when I read the first Flashman.”

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harry Paget Flashman is NOT your typical morally-challenged but likeable scoundrel who you can’t help but love because of his sharp wit and buckets o’ charm.

No…he’s an ASSHOLE…a big one. A rapacious, lecherous, despicable scumbag with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I’m talking such odious funtivities as:

**Having sex with his Father’s mistress, and then beating and sexually assaulting her when she refuses his subsequent advances.

**Forcibly selling his Indian concubine to a passing artillery major, because she had become “too and mopish at night to be much fun.”

**Randomly flogging his household servants everyday “for their good and my own amusement.”

Get me…not the kind of actions at which it’s easy to give a wink and nod. I’m not even docking him for his racism and sexism, for which he gets a "sign-of-the-times" hall pass based on the 19th Century timeline.

And yet….

To the enduring credit of George MacDonald Fraser, he manages to weave a funny, engaging historical adventure around this black hole of virtue, one that kept me laughing and turning pages throughout.

PLOT SUMMARY:

Flashman follows the exploits of the notorious bully from immediately after his expulsion from Rugby School, as detailed in Tom Brown's Schooldays, from which Fraser borrowed the character. The story is framed as a fictional memoir/autobiography told in a series of “papers” discovered to have been written by Flashman when he was very old.

In this first installment, we follow Flashy from his schooling disgrace to his Machiavellian career in the Army, during which he travels from Scotland (where he seduces the young daughter of the family he billets with), to India (where he bangs everything with a pulse), to Afghanistan, where he’s a participant in the major events of the First Anglo-Afghan War. At every turn, through a combination of luck, quick thinking and timely cowardice, Flashman comes out smelling like a rose and ends this first novel as a famous war hero.

THOUGHTS:

I liked it. I feel like a bit of a heel for saying so, but Fraser’s polished, wonderfully paced, historically accurate story-telling, combined with Flashman’s unique, humorous voice won me over. It’s a combination of historical fiction, scoundrel lit, and dry British humor. Flashy’s observations about his colleagues and the world around him are unvarnished, unflattering, and often hilarious.

Many of his best barbs are reserved for his commanding officer in Afghanistan, General Elphy Bey. Here are a few examples:

But I still state unhesitatingly, that for pure, vacillating stupidity, for superb incompetence to command, for ignorance combined with bad judgment --in short, for the true talent for catastrophe -- Elphy Bey stood alone. Others abide our question, but Elphy outshines them all as the greatest military idiot of our own or any other day.

Only he could have permitted the First Afghan War and let it develop to such ruinous defeat. It was not easy: he started with a good army, a secure position, some excellent officers, a disorganised enemy, and repeated opportunities to save the situation. But Elphy, with the touch of true genius, swept aside these obstacles with unerring precision, and out of order wrought complete chaos. We shall not, with luck, look upon his like again.

And later, when Elphy’s incompetence causes things to go from bad to worse to downright disastrous:

Possibly there has been a greater shambles in the history of warfare than our withdrawal from Kabul; probably there has not…I am at a loss for words to describe the superhuman stupidity, the truly monumental incompetence, and the bland blindness to reason of Elphy Bey and his advisers. If you had taken the greatest military geniuses of the ages, placed them in command of our army, and asked them to ruin it utterly as speedily as possible, they could not – I mean it seriously -- have done it as surely and swiftly as he did. And he believed he was doing his duty. The meanest sweeper in our train would have been a fitter commander.

Fraser's humor sits very well with me, and generally kept me smiling. In the end, while I never liked Flashy, nor do I think I ever will, he did make me laugh. He kept me engaged and enjoying myself, and he gets props for that.

I have a feeling I will be returning to the Flashman Papers to read about more of Flashy's exploits...conquests...scandals...crimes and misdemeanors.

3.0 stars. Recommended.

[Henry Avila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harry Flashman anti-hero extraordinaire, soldier, coward, liar, womanizer, thief , charlatan, drunkard, in one word...scoundrel joined the British Army at 17, in the service of the Queen, after being expelled from the famed Rugby School, a little intoxicated, his father Henry a wealthy widower with a mistress Judy, of the same ilk as son, isn't too concerned quite busy with his gallivanting. So in 1839 as the former Princess becomes the newly crowned Queen Victoria (1837) , ruling England Flashman gets a different occupation also, ruling a saddle, enters a cavalry regiment under the legendary incompetent Lord Cardigan. An unwanted duel with a very unfriendly chap occurs, yet honor must be preserved at any cost. Harry is petrified and can't think of any way to skip this big honor. Soon afterwards forced to marry an innocent , pretty though not bright girl, Elspeth he seduced. Her relatives demand this and wanting to stay conscious ...agrees, lacking fortitude in his character a church wedding naturally transpires. Sent not willingly to India and then Afghanistan to fight a horrific war, sounds familiar ? Flashman doesn't believe in or care about his greatest objective is to remain alive. The British flee Kabul when the local tribes gather in the countless thousands to drive out the invaders, the luckless Harry is once again led by another incompetent General Elphinstone, disaster follows the British army as they dwindle in numbers trying to escape, unfortunately both he and the lord were historical figures, God save the Queen. The exciting vicious battle in a small fort as the desperate Flashman and a few others are surrounded by angry Afghans seeking revenge for the many insults and offences they have endured from the British, foreigners are hated here owing to good reasons.

With swords in hand, Afghans slice anyone in their way, gore is not unknown, somehow through luck or skill survives his many adventures, Harry showing his true colors, becoming sick; tired of fighting... rather be with the beautiful women nearby, he will try to charm. War or peace his nature doesn't vary an iota , lusting for the unattainable . Wishing to be back in calm England, having pleasurable situations, will anyone disparage his sentiments ? Since the adept George MacDonald Fraser wrote twelve of these diverting books you can guess if our friend lives to experience other adventures and boast about them to his family an acquaintances maybe not too accurate but nevertheless quite entertainingly. A sense of fun and amusement flows all through this lively tale of the unlikely protagonist or antagonist if you prefer, depending how you feel about Lieutenant Flashman he is not perfect far from it, but a more realist view of soldiers. An officer and a gentleman they're not, most are tough fighters doing the dirty work the politicians clamor for but keep their own clothes clean. This unchanging custom continues today for better or worse.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

“They were in a ragged square, back to back on the hilltop, and even as we watched I saw the glitter of bayonets as they levelled their pieces, and a thin volley crashed out across the valley. The Afghans yelled louder than ever, and gave back, but then they surged in again, the Khyber knives rising and falling as they tried to hack their way into the square. Another volley, and they gave back yet again, and I saw one of the figures on the summit flourishing a sword as though in defiance. He looked for all the world like a toy soldier…”
- George MacDonald Fraser, Flashman

Thomas Hughes’s 1857 novel Tom Brown’s School Days follows the travails of a young student at Rugby School, in Warwickshire, England, as he struggles towards gentleman-hood. The novel is credited as being among the first of a robust literary subgenre, that of the boarding school novel. More pertinent for our purposes is the fact that its antagonist is a drunken bully named Flashman, who is eventually expelled from Rugby School.

Utilizing a gloriously ridiculous conceit, George MacDonald Fraser takes this supporting actor from a mid-nineteenth century novel and repurposes him as the title character in The Flashman Papers, a 12-book series of which Flashman is the introductory volume.

First published in 1969, Flashman and its progeny have gained the status of cult classic, following the exploits of British military officer Harry Paget Flashman from 1839 to 1868. It is presented as Flashman’s own account of his exploits, told in the first-person with Fraser acting as a mere “editor” and commenting on certain points by way of endnotes. Though not as clever as it might have once appeared, Fraser’s gambit remains a solid setup, and is executed to near perfection, with Flashman insinuating himself into the historical record so well that you start to forget he is an invention.

The problem, though, as I will get to shortly, is Flashman himself.

***

Flashman begins in 1839, with Flashman’s expulsion from the Rugby School, his return home to his wealthy father, and his purchase of a commission with the 11th Regiment of Light Dragoons. Much of the early going – which can be tedious – is devoted to giving us a glimpse of Flashman’s nature, which is seldom flattering. His drinking and womanizing force him into a duel, into a marriage, and out of the Hussars. With his career prematurely stunted, Flashman sets out for India, where he joins the staff of General William Elphinstone.

From there, the plot follows the markers of the so-called First Anglo-Afghan War, during which Great Britain marched into Kabul to reinstall Shah Shujah as emir, found themselves isolated by the Ghilzai – who the British foolishly refused to pay – then beat a hasty retreat through the dark defiles of the Hindu Kush, losing almost an entire army along the way.

Flashman, of course, is right in the middle of all of it.

***

The First Anglo-Afghan War is one of a series of grand imperial misadventures suffered by the British Empire, and offers more than enough by way of drama to support a book. At its best – and Flashman can be quite good – Fraser ingeniously puts Flashman right in the middle of things, without ever straining credulity. Having read a few nonfiction titles on this period, I found the historical underpinnings to be quite strong. Even when Fraser twists the accepted story a bit, he does so in a way that reminds us that “history” can never be entirely objective, as it is a collection of subjective perspectives.

Still, getting the history right is the easiest thing about historical fiction. Flashman succeeds because it makes the past live again. This starts with the real-life characters – such as Elphinstone, Alexander Burnes, Lady Sale, and a young Queen Victoria – who spend time with Flashman on the stage. Instead of being gaudy cameos, Fraser somehow turns these personages into meaningful presences, which is kind of amazing, since most of them are only briefly drawn with Flashman’s caustic pen. Flashman’s observations about the men and women he meets, and the events he observes, feels contemporary, which is to say, authentic, and this authenticity helps to keep the oft-careening train of this tale from going entirely off the tracks.

The action, too, is marvelous. There is a deadly game of tug-o-war, a doomed escape through narrow mountain passes, a desperate last stand viewed from a distance, and a bloody skirmish that begins with Flashman weeping uncontrollably. With unerring precision, Fraser nails one set piece after another. For a book that is often sold on the basis of its outré leading man and its dark humor, Flashman does an exceptional job of delivering some legitimate thrills and spectacle.

***

But we have to talk about Flashman.

On the back cover, Flashy is described as an “adventurer,” a “cad,” and an “incorrigible scoundrel.” None of these adjectives are necessarily compliments, but they also connote a certain laddish harmlessness.

This is not an accurate representation.

Flashman has also been widely described as politically incorrect in his views of nonwhite races, and of women.

This is putting things too mildly.

Within the first thirty pages, Flashman tries to rape his father’s mistress, which gives him no misgivings. Later on, he rapes an Afghani woman, which he fully acknowledges. It’s one thing to accept Flashman’s racist views and language – which are noxious, yet also accurate to the setting – and quite another to condone his admittedly criminal behavior.

We live in the age of antiheroes, but Flashman isn’t one of them. There is no complexity to the man. Most of his antics can be attributed to the essential cowardliness and selfishness that forms his core. He fails upwards, constantly. Sometimes, this can be bleakly, even jaw-droppingly funny. At other times, his abusive patterns make it really hard to care about his fate. There came a point about midway through Flashman where Flashman was threatened with emasculation, and I wished fervently for it to happen, for such a reward had been richly earned.

***

Flashman is an intentionally offensive novel, featuring an unreflective and seemingly-sociopathic front-man. What kept me going, though, and what made this fascinating to read, is Flashman’s effectiveness as satire. If you look beyond the too-provocative, in-your-face comicality, there is a quietly savage deconstruction of the British Empire at work.

Up until the mid-twentieth century, the British Empire was widely celebrated as a selfless civilizing mission, rather than a vast commercial enterprise. Numerous novels supported this perspective, centering on the fearless British soldier marching off to pacify savage lands. Fraser’s Flashman is an effortless takedown of those earlier efforts. Who is Flashman, after all, but a funhouse-mirror version of Harry Feversham from A.W. Mason’s The Four Feathers? In Flashman’s unearned success, his lofty elevation to hero, we are given a potent demonstration of how disasters are gilded, how the brutal projection of power is masked from the public, and how terrible deeds are rationalized in the name of god, crown, and country.

Typically, a novel’s central character – however conflicted, haunted, or damaged – moves toward redemption. There is nothing redeeming about Harry Flashman, a reality that emerges early, and repeats itself often. In a way, though, this makes perfect sense. Flashman cannot be redeemed because he is part of an irredeemable imperial project.

[Cecily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first book of the Flashman papers, much-loved by many. It purports to be the memoirs of a Victorian officer. In this book, he serves in Afghanistan and India. The cover art encapsulates the plot and tone.

EDIT 2023: I wouldn't ban this book (or any other), but I think it's best left to gather dust at the back of shelves, and be quietly forgotten. The conceit of how the story came about is clever, and the writing isn't awful, but the character is. Worse than that, despite the tongue-in-cheek bravado. (The rest of the review is from 2017.)



A rake’s adventures

Harry Flashman is a self-aware, shameless, shrewd, cowardly opportunist who describes himself as “A scoundrel, a liar, a cheat, a thief, a coward - and, oh yes, a toady.” (Note that he doesn’t mention his treatment of women, including rape - see final quote.)

He joins the army; fights; escapes; sleeps around; betrays honour, friends, fellow officers, and even his country; beats servants “for their own good and my amusement”; beds more women; is tortured; duels; double-crosses; takes hostages; is taken hostage… yada yada… rinse and repeat - not necessarily in that order. I found it a little dull after a while. However, I guess this is what fans enjoy - especially those who wish, perhaps against their true scruples, they could be Flash.

It’s well written, and Flashman is a complex and believable character. He feels authentic for his time and place. I disapprove of him more than intended, but he’s disarmingly honest about his dishonesty, immorality, and other faults. Although I was not charmed and beguiled, I was not always as outraged as I thought I might have been.

The conceit of a real historic record

This book claims to be Flashman’s memoirs, written between 1900 and 1905, and found in 1965. Its supposed authenticity is enhanced by footnotes tying his account to real people and events, plus a glossary. One of the notes even says his account clears up a longstanding historical mystery.

When it was published in 1969, some thought it was what it claimed - despite Flashman explicitly being the same Flashman as the bully in the (fictional) Tom Brown's School Days!

George Macdonald Fraser said he wrote it as entertainment, rooted in history, not as satire. He didn’t disapprove of much his antihero did, and often railed against “political correctness gone mad” in interviews and articles.

Daisy chain

First there was Flashman in Tom Brown's Schooldays, then there was the adult Flashman that Macdonald Fraser wrote.

But there are also two brilliant comedic caricatures from British TV.

Arnold "Ace" Rimmer, played by Chris Barrie, in scifi comedy Red Dwarf:


And Captain Flasheart, played by the late great Rik Mayall, in Blackadder:



Marriage, fidelity, and how gender and money lead to hypocrisy

The final chapter was rather different in tone and content, and by far the most engaging to me, though probably not to fans.

The (unjustly) feted hero returns home, to his devoted, pretty, naïve, and wealthy wife. But it turns out she is not all those things any more, if indeed, she ever was. Flashman is forced to confront uncomfortable truths. The arch-schemer has to find new ways to get what he wants. I was almost (only "almost") tempted to find out what happens next.



Quotes

• “A noisy drunkard is intolerable; a passive one may do at a pinch. At least, if he has money; money will excuse virtually any conduct in the army nowadays.”

• “Some human faults are military virtues, like stupidity, and arrogance and narrow-mindedness.”

• “There isn’t any folly a man won’t contemplate if there’s money or a woman at stake.”

• “Always… be civil to anyone who might ever be of use to me.”

• “If you have money a wife need be no great encumbrance.”

• “There is great pleasure in catastrophe that doesn’t touch you.”

• “It calls for nice judgement, this art of bragging; you must be plain, but not too plain, and you must smile only rarely, letting them guess more than you say is the kernel of it, and looking uncomfortable when they compliment you.”

• “I managed to rape her… I prefer willing women.” He says it’s the only time he raped a woman. Not imo.

[Manny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just been looking at the other reviews, and every guy likes Flashman. Every single one. I'm afraid I do too. What does that say about us? I often wonder why women put up with men at all.

[Daren · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Flashman books are written as satire of the classic Victorian schoolboy / military character. They are presented as the compiled memoir, looking back across his life at the age of around 80, written by Flashman. The original Flashman character is taken from the book 'Tom Brown's Schooldays' by Thomas Hughes, where he was the school bully.

Flashman's story here (and the remainder of the series, I understand), is bedded in accurate history. The main characters and events are all real, just with Flashman embedded in them. It is incredibly clever, and well pulled off.

No getting around it, Flashman - is a horrible character. He is a caricature of all the bad parts of your typical British public schoolboy. He is vain, cowardly (and a bully), manipulative, racist, misogynistic and self-entitled. He is a true anti-hero. And yet, the saving grace of all these character flaws, is that he is completely aware of them, and in his story he does nothing to hide them. He willingly lies to the other characters, but not to the reader, and this makes him, in a strange way, a subject for pity.

This is the first of the Flashman Papers series, and primarily covers the period 1839 to 1842. As the first book, it outlines his expulsion from Rugby School (similar to the story in Hughes' book, but from Flashman's perspective, he irons out some untruths), and his subsequent enlistment in the Eleventh Light Dragoons. There was clear reasoning in his choosing the Dragoons, as they had recently returned from India, and there was little chance of them being sent back in the near future - cowardly Flashman wanted only to draw his salary and look good in his uniform, not engage in any battles!

Events of course transpire such that he must be transferred, and he find himself packed off to India, and henceforth Afghanistan as a herald to Major-General Elphinstone. As we know (me from reading Dalrymple's Return of a King), the first Anglo-Afghan war ended with the entire British garrison be massacred. Flashman, of course, finds a way to survive, and becomes one of only two survivors to make it out of Kabul, and is subsequently invalided back to England, and his young wife.

I thought the weaving of history and fiction masterful, and Flashman despicable, however hugely entertaining. I own another three Flashman books, and will continue the series.

I must also note that the Flashman character almost certainly provided some inspiration for Lord Flashheart in the Blackadder series.

4.5 stars, rounded down.

[Dmitri · Rating 5 out of 5]

“They say at least he was brave, but he was not. He was just stupid, too stupid to ever be afraid. Fear is an emotion, and his emotions were all between his legs. They never touched his reason, and he had little enough of that. For all of this he could never be called a bad soldier. Some human faults are military virtues, like stupidity, arrogance and narrow-mindedness.” - Flashman on his commanding officer

“Afghans murder our people, make off with our wives, order us out of their country, and what does our commander do? He shoots himself in the ass in an attempt to blow his brains out. He couldn’t have missed by much.” - A fellow officer

************

Harry Flashman, a fictional character expelled from Rugby for drinking in the 1857 novel ‘Tom Brown’s Schooldays’, is discovered in a cache of manuscripts following his death in 1915. The papers describe his career in the British military, from the First Afghan War to the Crimean War, the Sepoy Mutiny, Opium War, Taiping Rebellion and also as a drug smuggler, slave trader, cad, coward and cheat. This is the initial 1969 novel out of twelve written by author George MacDonald Fraser.

After his expulsion from secondary school Flash convinces his rich but ill-bred father to buy an officer’s commission for him with the 11th Hussars, a cavalry unit that would go on to be slaughtered during the Charge of the Light Brigade. After a short affair with his father’s mistress he gets caught with a fellow officer’s girlfriend and cheats in the ensuing duel. Many of the characters in the book are historical people and Fraser uses footnotes to explain their nonfictional roles within the context.

Posted in Scotland to ride out the scandal Flash puts down a millworkers protest and dallies with the young daughter of a mill owner he is billeted with. As the truth becomes known he must either duel or wed and chooses the latter. Since the marriage is unbefitting an officer he is transferred to India, leaving his wife behind. Flash lands in 1838 Calcutta after a long sea journey and despises the living conditions endured by British soldiers. He moves into a private residence with a full staff of servants.

Flash has a gift for language and soon speaks Hindi with the help of a dancing girl he purchases. One day he is sticking pariah dogs with his lance and is noticed by a senior officer. He is invited to the Governor’s palace and joins East India Co. service. After meeting Lord Auckland he becomes an aide to Elphinstone and is sent to Afghanistan, which he learns is the ‘hottest, hardest and most dangerous place in the world.’ A puppet king had been installed and the local tribes were close to rebellion.

Through the Khyber Pass to Kabul Flash learns Pashto from his trusty retainer. To keep Shah Shuja enthroned the British bribe local chieftains. Encamped in a low lying position with hills around them soldiers are poorly fortified, discipline is lax and morale low. Flash frequents prostitutes with the spy Alexander Burnes and is chosen as a liaison to the tribesmen. When the protection money is cut and troops transferred to China it would become one of the worst disasters in British military history.

Akbar Khan, son of Dost Mohammed deposed by the British, gathers an alliance of tribesmen to get rid of the infidels. Afghans scale Burnes walls and slice him to pieces. Flash is captured and tortured, to avenge his violation of a favorite concubine, but spared by Akbar. Trapped in a cantonment the British are running out of supplies as mobs roam the city. Akbar offers to let them retreat safely if they help him defeat rival clans and pay a ransom. Flash was to be the bearer of bad news.

In an uncanny folly Elphinstone accepted their peace terms and attempted to evacuate 16,000 troops, their families and followers in the winter of 1842. As Afghans sniped from the cliffs they froze and starved, and all would die except for a few. Elphinstone was captured and killed, his corpse dumped at the gate of Jalalabad, buried in an unmarked grave. Flash survives the ordeal and awarded honors as a hero of the war. He returns home to find his inheritance gone and his wife perhaps unfaithful.

There is a fair amount of racism and sexism portrayed in this book, yet no more than might be expected from a mid-19th century upper class officer. It may be offensive to some, but it’s delivered in good humor and shows Flashman and others in a satirical light. Fraser is an outstanding writer in depicting the people, situations and locations, entertaining to read and often laugh out loud funny. If cynical character sketches are of any interest this book could be an excellent choice. It was for me.

[J.G. Keely · Rating 4 out of 5]

How do we distinguish between the author and the characters he writes? There are readers who assume that if a main character does something racist or sexist, that means the author is, too. But then, characters can also transform into cockroaches, commit interplanetary genocide, and die gloriously in a hail of bullets without the author having to undergo those experiences, himself.

Even in an autobiography, the author still isn't writing himself--he's writing one biased version, crafting coherent stories and meanings out of the messy aggregate of daily life. But even in works of pure, fantastical fiction, some authors reveal more of themselves than others.

For the most inexperienced author, their main character will be a reflection of how they view themselves. They know what the author knows, like what they like, and have the same faults an strengths--or more precisely, the character will have the traits the author imagines they possess (plus a few they wish they had).

On one hand, this is an easy character to write, because all the author has to do is place themselves in the situation and imagine what they would do. Unfortunately, this creates a fundamental problem for the author, since they have to create all the conflicts--how do you create a problem that you don't know how to solve? It becomes a game of tic tac toe against yourself--the only way either side could win is by accident. In such books, you can predict that any problem that crops up will be solved within the same chapter.

In stories like this, it's common for authors to simply put their own opinions into the mouths of the main characters, and to put opposing opinions into the mouths of the 'bad guys', a la Ayn Rand. This is a silly, unconvincing technique, because the implications drawn are completely false. You can't say 'the villain kills babies and is socialst, therefore socialism is evil', because that doesn't actually demonstrate any connection between the two activities.

A slightly more sophisticated author will intentionally create a character who is more naive than them (at least, to start out with). Then they can have the character make the same mistakes the author used to make when they were younger, before they figured things out. Part of the popularity of the bildunsroman ('growing up story') is that it's easy to think up conflicts and solutions for adolescent characters.

Authors who operate on this level can't just put their lengthy monologues in the mouth of the hero, because the hero is too naive to have everything figured out. Instead, they leave the speeches to a wise mentor figure, who stands in for all that is good, and who may be recognized in the unremitting slurry of kindly, ironical wizards in much modern fantasy.

But if a writer is self-aware and pays attention to the world, they will eventually realize that what makes people interesting is that they are flawed, troubled, and struggle through life. They will start exploring different sorts of people, people who are very unlike them, people who might disagree with them fundamentally, but who are still interesting and sympathetic.

But there's still a steep hill to climb for authors who want to write characters unlike themselves. Few authors have the grasp of psychology necessary to write a realistic character who is fundamentally different from them, so most authors just cobble together some strong character cliches and play them up. But even if he is capable of sticking to the personality he chooses, he risks giving himself away in other ways.

An author might create a sexist character, who constantly says and does sexist things, but that isn't damning--authors often explore deeply-flawed characters. The real problem is if the narration and structure begin to support those same conclusions. If a character calls someone a 'slut', that could just be an expression of how real people sometimes speak. If the narration actually refers to a character by that slur, we have a problem--where is that judgment coming from, if not the author?

It's often a problem with genre authors, who try their hardest to make strong female characters, making other characters speak self-consciously about the power and strength of women, but then completely undermining all of that by never actually having the women do anything active or make any important decisions. Narrative descriptions of women are lengthy, in florid, sexualized terms--even when there is no male present in the story to appreciate them. Men, contrarily, may never have their face or eye color mentioned.

In the case of Flashman, we have another complexity at play. Our main character is often despicable, unsympathetic, sexist, racist, and rarely deserves the victories he gets. But the entire story is from his perspective--there is no all-seeing narrator voice to tell us what's going on. All the views, all the descriptions come from Flashman, himself.

Whenever an author completely veils himself behind the character, we must decide what to believe--this technique is called the 'unreliable narrator', for obvious reasons. Sure, Flashy is a selfish coward who beats his servants, but does that mean Fraser is for cowardice? Is he arguing for toadyism and self-promotion over all?

Certainly, Flashman recognizes that, according to social ideals, he is not a good man, nor a deserving one--but then, he is surrounded by important, influential men who are even worse than he is. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that unpleasant people often end up on top of the totem pole, and never get their comeuppance, but that can be a rather depressing message.

Luckily, in this tale of rollicking adventure, the message is delivered with thick humor and irony, not dour nihilism. If money and fame are doled out regularly to the most foolish and detestable of our race, perhaps it is because only the foolish and detestable desire them enough to keep seeking them. Most worthwhile people will end up too distracted by positive human relationships and personal growth to continue self-possessed social climbing for long enough.

Happily, our dear Flashy has no such hangups. Throughout the ceaseless, rousing, ridiculous tale of Victorian colonial mishaps, he rarely fails to disappoint. Yet I kept finding myself sympathizing with him--at times guiltily. I knew he deserved punishment, but I didn't actually want to watch it administered. I didn't want the ol' chap to suffer.

It just goes to show that we'll always feel more attached to the rascal we know well than to the saint we've never met. And while he's not apologetic, at least he doesn't suffer from the terrible mental disability of the average internet commentator, who cannot critique stupidity and hypocrisy without being a stupid hypocrite, himself. Flashman may be many unsavory things, but he's no hypocrite. He not only accepts his cowardice, he clings to it like a lifeline--which in fact it often is. He is not, like all the men he serves under, a fool with grand pretensions--he is merely a fool, and glad enough to remain one as long as life's grip holds.

Fraser's Victorian is meticulously researched, and his footnotes are often funnier than his witty banter--mostly because all the most absurd parts of his stories are completely true. Overall, he reminded me of the experience of reading The Three Musketeers--a nonstop adventure full of odd characters and occurrences, with life and death always at the next shake of the cup.

Yet there was something of Conrad's The Duel, too--with humor and absurdity often rubbing shoulders with dire consequences and the horrors of war. The return march of the army through the snowy crags of Afghanistan brought me back to Conrad's harrowing depiction of the French invasion of Russia--and the dwindling return of that broken army, immortalized starkly in Minard's famous image.

Creating a sympathetic antihero is a difficult task--particularly when they aren't of the violent, ass-kicking variety--but Fraser displays why flawed, unusual characters will always trump a flat romantic hero. Like The Virginian or The Moonstone, this is another exciting, surprisingly touching piece of fun which easily outstrips the limitations of its genre.

[Evan Leach · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not a big historical fiction buff, but I fell head-over-heels in love with this book. The very premise is awesome: in 1857, Thomas Hughes wrote a novel based heavily on his own experiences as a schoolboy. The villain of the book is a boy called Flashman, a bully, drunkard, and general asshole. Naturally, 100 years later George MacDonald Fraser decided to write a series of historical novels starring a grown up Flashman as the “hero.” The result, at least in Fraser’s original book, was pure magic.




Flashman picks up right where Hughes left off, in 1839. The recently expelled Flashman is forced to find an occupation after being expelled from school for drunkenness, and chooses the army in the hopes of landing a cushy post with no real demands. Unfortunately, Flashman ends up getting shuttled off to India and then Afghanistan, just in time to take place in the First Anglo-Afghan War. Flashman is, by his own admission, a coward, scoundrel, and overall crummy human being. He may also be the greatest anti-hero I have ever encountered and is a thoroughly entertaining main character.

The book is written as a sort of diary penned by Flashman in his old age, later discovered by Fraser (who provides endnotes). The book honestly feels like it was written in the 19th century, and not in a bad way. Fraser is pitch-perfect writing in Flashman’s style, and overall the prose in this book is top notch. The plot is also perfectly paced and Fraser does a great job in knowing where to draw out the suspense and where to cut to the chase, so to speak. I have nothing but praise for MacDonald’s writing and the pages flew by for me. The book is also very funny. I was turned onto this book (in part) because I have been nostalgically re-reading Douglas Adams’ books (for the 3rd-4th time) in order to review them for this site, and have been in the mood for British humor. Flashman is not as goofy as Adams’s Hitchhiker books, but it is extremely clever and has plenty of laugh out loud moments.

The historical aspect of this book is also compelling. While I am a bit of a history buff, I do not read much historical fiction as I can’t help but feel I’d be better served just reading the actual history (truth being stranger than fiction and all that jazz). I am not an expert on the First Anglo-Afghan War, so I cannot speak to Fraser’s accuracy. But he has a reputation for being rock solid regarding his history, and I found that to be completely true. I was continually referring to Wikipedia during Flashman’s exploits, to determine whether this or that crazy historical occurrence was accurate, and it invariably was. While the character Flashman is fictional, the history his adventures take him through is very real and I actually learned a lot in reading this book.

One word of caution. Flashman is supposed to be an asshole. He is also a 19th century asshole, and to some degree a product of his time. Through the course of his book he says and does many things that are racist and/or sexist. If reading about a fictional character doing these sorts of things will upset you, this is not the book for you. However, keep in mind (a) he is supposed to be awful, and (b) he is supposed to be a 19th century Englishman, and if you think all 19th century Englishmen regarded their Indian subjects as their equals it’s probably time to think again. Remember, this book purports to be the journal of a man living in 1839. Many of the men who would fight & die to end slavery in the U.S. Civil War weren’t even born yet. So hand-wringing over the lack of political correctness in this book seems incredibly stupid, but I include this paragraph as fair warning.

There are twelve (12!) Flashman novels and I could not be more excited to tackle the lot. This book featured a thoroughly enjoyable anti-hero, razor-sharp writing, a fine sense of pace and plot, and plenty of laughs. I really can’t recommend this book highly enough. 5 stars.

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

A magnificent read about an appalling man. You get a good feel for Flashman's character early on. With his unflinching and intelligent take on the people and situations surrounding him you feel very much a part of the action. It is extremely well written and a very entertaining book.

Given the current situation in Afghanistan, it's pretty poignant too. I was laughing till I snorted in public at the description of the incompetence of Major-General Elphinstone; then within moments nearly in tears as the full impact of it was realised.

The voices seem appropriate, the writing is excellent and the adventure is extreme; so much better as it accurately follows historical facts and gives credible voice to them in a setting with which we've lately become familiar through the evening news.

I strongly recommend it for anyone who's interested in a good read of historical fiction - just don't expect to like Flashman himself, though his unflinching honesty about his own cowardly, racist, misogonistic, classist, bullying character is extremely refreshing and entertaining.

[Nigeyb · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a recurring theme to the reviews I've read of 'Flashman' which is that whilst, by his own happy admission, he is a racist, scoundrel, bully, cad and coward, Flashman is also an engaging storyteller who has the happy coincidence to be an active participant in the middle of momentous historical events.

George MacDonald Fraser has done a magnificent job of evoking the Britain, India and Afghanistan of 1839 to 1842, and the literary conceit that what we are reading is the first part of a cache of papers, written by Flashman in old age (between 1900 and 1905), is brilliant, as it allows Flashman to add an occasional commentary to events and put them into perspective.

'Flashman' begins with his expulsion from Rugby school, as described in 'Tom Brown's Schooldays' and ends with his unlikely hero's return home to London following a number of memorable adventures during the retreat from Kabul, the Last Stand at the Battle of Gandamak and the Siege of Jalalabad, during the First Anglo-Afghan War. Afghanistan has a history of humbling armies and Empires.

Most of the people Flashman encounters were real people and the history in these books appears to be accurate. 'Flashman' is a wonderful way to learn about history whilst enjoying a ripping yarn that is both funny and gripping.

I was delighted to learn that there are 12 books in the series:

Flashman (1969)
Royal Flash (1970)
Flash for Freedom! (1971)
Flashman at the Charge (1973)
Flashman in the Great Game (1975)
Flashman's Lady (1977)
Flashman and the Redskins (1982)
Flashman and the Dragon (1985)
Flashman and the Mountain of Light (1990)
Flashman and the Angel of the Lord (1994)
Flashman and the Tiger (1999)
Flashman on the March (2005)

I look forward to reading them.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh boy, I’ve got to admit that I did love this one.
The last ‘unputdownable’ novel I read was Irvine Welsh’s ‘The Blade Artist’. Needless to say, 'Flashman' features an equally foul and notorious protagonist, whose depravity, shameless bullying and honourless scheming kept me reading on about his life in acute disbelief.
The fact that Flashman’s justification for his actions is often hilarious and at times insightful does not redeem him in any way. The fact that he is honest enough to openly and constantly admit that he is a cowardly, toadying rake does not redeem him either. After all, this is a character who is capable of carrying out incredible violence against women (and please don’t anyone utter the phrases ‘man of his time’ and / or ‘too much political correctness’).
Flashy's story serves as an unwavering, fascinating and repeated confirmation of the fact that the supposed heroes paraded by the establishment are often not the beacons of shining light which they’re declared to be. And most importantly of all: Flashy’s glaring flaws kept me reading on at a quick pace, for his enthralling magnetism was almost on par with Tolkien’s Gollum or Welsh’s Begbie, i.e. you just have to read on to find out what they’ll do next.
Despite his flaws, Flashy often provided a refreshingly honest account of the incredible events he lived through and his part in them. He was often quick to point out that the likes of Iqbal and Hudson were better men than him, and that he undeservedly profited from their actions. Indeed although I’m reluctant to admit it, Flashy’s self-awareness is the one quality about him that’s endearing (not redeeming). That said, I hardly ever felt sympathy for him whenever he found himself in a funk - I only read on in my impatience to discover how he would overcome his latest setback.
All of which makes Flashy a highly engaging character through which to discover the large-scale Afghan catastrophe which was caused by the likes of Macnaghten and Elfinstone. Their blunders could be considered hilarious had they not inflicted such unimaginable human misery upon their own side. So many great British soldiers were lost for nothing, and it seems incredible to think that the Brits took over Afghanistan only to end up losing it so embarrassingly. Elfinstone must easily rank as the leading commander in military history for vacillating indecisiveness.
Incidentally I did some research on the Afghan puppet king, Shah Shujah, who the Brits installed in Kabul. Although this novel makes no bones about the brutality of the Afghan tribes, the savagery of the puppet King is not referred to. However his brutality was just jaw-dropping: a King power-hungry enough to have his own brother blinded, and who frequently insisted on mutilating (nose, ears, tongues, genitalia) his servants and courtiers for the slightest perceived misdeeds after he fled into exile.
Finally I should also add that Macdonald Fraser’s writing makes for easy reading, so that I never felt bogged down by the first person narrative. It’s amazing to think this novel was written in the sixties, given the author's brisk style which still manages to be literary and (by all accounts) historically accurate.
All in all a highly entertaining yarn but I will try to find something else to read before returning to Flashy’s world.

[Joseph Sciuto]

Satire at its best, is masterful but sadly not many artists have achieved this and many who have tried repeatedly have failed repeatedly. Lord Byron, one of my favorite, if not my favorite, poet of all times was a master of satire and to read his "Don Juan," is like a journey to heaven.

"Flashman (The Flashman Papers, # 1) were discovered during a sale of household furniture at Ashby, Leicestershire in 1965. They are the the personal memoirs of a celebrated Victorian soldier, Harry Flashman, who was born in the early Eighteen twenties and died in 1905.

Those collection of papers have been turned into eight novels by writer/ editor George MacDonald Fraser. Harry Flashman, the main character in all the novels, is a cowardly, lying, thief, and womanize and the real Harry Flashman is a master of satire, not Byron, but still a master.

The first novel takes place mostly in Afghanistan during the British invasion and occupation of the country in the middle eighteen century. Flashman survives his military incompetence, ambushes, snake pits, vengeful women, torture, warlords, and cowardly behavior and somehow survives and becomes, against all odds, a bona fide hero.

Naturally, the main character is fictionalized, and he is hilariously funny, but the actual events during the British occupation of Afghanistan as described by Harry (Flashy) Flashman rank right up there with the best biographies I have read on this period of British history and the incompetence of their military leadership in Afghanistan.

This series of books were recommended to me by my friend Dmitri, and I can't wait to read more about Flashy Flashman in book 2. I highly recommend.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are a lot of these...one was enough for me. Flashman is in a way the primary example of an anti-hero. The books are comedies about a cowardly, bullying,thief who always comes out looking like a hero through a combination of cunning and luck. I thought the idea sounded funny but I found the actual book rather annoying. All I can suggest is try it and see, I didn't care for them.

I wrote that review a long while back, I thought I'd give a short example from "early on". Flashman in facing a duel offers to bribe the second/loader to give his opponent a blank load. (At least he doesn't kill the other duelist). He then welshes on the bribe... The guys' a prince.

The books are funny and many like them. I don't care for them.

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

REREAD UPDATE: So just (finally!) finished Peter Hopkirk's The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia, and thought I'd like to read basically the same story as told through George Fraser's "Flashman" books. So it seemed like an obvious place to start would be with (duh) Flashman In The Great Game...except that it's not; the REAL place to start is here, with Flashy's first adventure in Afghanistan, (and then after that, it's really Flashman at the Charge which for the most part is about the Crimean War, and so not really part of the Great Game, but then the last section is Yakub Beg who is totally Great Game; and then we finally complete the trilogy with Flashman in the Great Game — whew!).

I first read this book about six years ago, but had forgotten much of the actual plot. However, reading this on the heels of Hopkirk was a great choice — it really brought his more historical telling to life. As usual, Fraser does a masterly job of manipulating his plot to place Flashy in the middle of all the critical events — the murder of Burnes, the betrayal (and murder) of Macnaghten, the retreat from Kabul, the last stand at Gandamak, and finally the Siege of Jalalabad. And so while it may not necessarily be the best "Flashman" — Fraser (and to a lesser degree, Flashy himself) improves and matures in later books — it is definitely the place to start.

Only drawback in reading this book right now was the unfortunate synchronicity with America's own "retreat from Kabul," which — while less of a disaster for the Americans than the original was for the Brits (though not by much) — will be an even greater humanitarian catastrophe for the Afghan people. Not that I think we should have stayed there longer...no one's ever been able to conquer or "fix" Afghanistan, and if we couldn't accomplish anything lasting after 20 years, I don't see how another two or three would make a difference, but...well, I don't really know what I think, other than that it is just going to be brutal and tragic and yet another distraction from all the other problems in the world that require our immediate attention. Sigh...

ORIGINAL REVIEW: My good friend (and Goodreads buddy) Jim has been trying to get me to read Flashman for years, but somehow I never got around to it. However, finally picked this up and was totally hooked — there's a reason he's become such an iconic figure. He's like a 19th Century Forrest Gump — if Forrest was British, way smarter, and a total (yet for some reason, still likeable) asshole.

It probably helps to have at least a basic knowledge of the British Empire and its colonial skeletons, but there are so many events from that period that I've heard of but don't really understand — the Khyber Pass, the Light Brigade, Balaclava, etc. — and these books look like a really enjoyable way to learn a little history. As I'm currently sitting in a really lame Sheraton in Borneo, I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of Flashman's Lady, which is about Flash's adventures with James Brooke, the "White Rajah" of Sarawak.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Flashman was picked as the February book for the NeoGAF bookclub. I thought I would like the adventures of Flashy based on the first few pages. Who wouldn't like a story that starts off with being expelled from Rugby school for drunkenness?

Unfortunately, after reading 1/3 of the book, I can't continue. Flashy is an unapologetic ass! I'm usually fine with antiheros, but this one takes it too far. Flashy's treatment of women is awful and while this could be the norm for his time and his class, it doesn't seem realistic that women would just throw themselves at his feet like that.

My main gripe with Flashman is not that he's a liar, a coward, a cheat, and misogynist. It's that he never gets his comeuppance. Things always seem to go for the worse, but then turn for the better for him. Considering this is only one book in a series of his exploits, my wish that he gets beaten to a pulp and dies will never come true.

My low opinion of the book isn't that it's written poorly. The prose is wonderful and I have to admit the first couple of mini-adventures gave me a chuckle or two, but I'm afraid the subject matter just isn't to my tastes. It reads more like male-fantasy. It reminds me of that asshole you always meet at parties who's always loudly bragging about his last lay.

[Olethros · Rating 4 out of 5]

-De bellacos, pero los graciosos, los que no tienen poder sobre muchos otros.-

Género. Novela (y en cierto sentido, hasta Novela histórica).

Lo que nos cuenta. Tras el hallazgo por parte de un familiar de un grueso manuscrito con las memorias del gran militar Harry Flashman a mediados del siglo XX, se hace entrega de las mismas al autor para que las edite y éste comienza ofreciéndonos el autorretrato del protagonista y del desarrollo de su juventud durante el segundo tercio del siglo XIX, que por diferentes avatares del destino acabará llevándole desde Inglaterra a los confines más alejados (y peligrosos) del Imperio Británico. Primer libro de la Serie de Harry Flashman.

¿Quiere saber más del libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first book in what is almost certainly the finest series of historical comic novels ever written. Over the series, written over a 30 year period, Harry Flashman becomes one of Victorian England's most decorated military heros while in actuality he's its most craven coward. There's scarcely anyone of importance in history that he doesn't eventually meet. The books heavily satirize Victorian society and morality. Flashman himself is not only a coward, but is also a bully, a scoundrel, a cheat, and a lecher, and only those things on his good days. While he revels in wallowing in the Garden of Earthly Delight, he invaribly pays heavily for his sins by winding up at virtually every British military disaster, and a few American ones as well, of the 19th Century, and it appears there were an astonishing number. "Flashman" and the rest of the books are highly accurate historically and heavily footnoted.

This book introduces Mr. Flashman, a character, borrowed or stolen perhaps, from one of Victorian England's most famous boy hero novels, "Tom Brown's School Days" where Flashman appears as one of Rugby's worst villians and greatest bullies of young stalwarts like Tom Brown and projects what he must have become after being tossed out of Rugby for drunkeness in "School Days". After convincing his father to pay for a commission in the calvary, he bounces from one problem to another before winding up in India and eventually in Afghanistan, where he is swept up in Britain's first Afghan war.

In the 1830's, England decided to indulge in a little regime change and set up a new king in Kabul, propping him up with British troops and English gold, before sending out one of its worst generals, Lord Elphinstone, to take command. Eventually, everything crumbles around them and the army decides to retreat out, on foot, in the winter, leading to one of England's greatest disasters, as only one man managed to return to India on his own, while thousands died in the snowy passes. In "Flashman", it turns out there were two. How he survives is a comic delight.

There are legions of Flashman fans across the world, particulary in expat communities. I've never been in a country where I failed to find them. However, be warned that these are among the least PC novels around in many respects, even by current standards, much less Victorian ones.

[Ms.pegasus · Rating 4 out of 5]

A braggart, bully, liar, cheat, lecher, racist, cad, wastrel and coward — how does author George MacDonald Fraser make a riveting and even sympathetic character out of such material? He pulls it off with deceptive ease. First, there is the backdrop of Victorian hypocrisy. Behind a public show of prudery and self-satisfied morality flourished a robust traffic in prostitution and indifference to social injustice. Abroad, diplomats cynically formed duplicitous alliances while jockeying for power and pursuing a policy of destabilizing local regimes. A caste of blue-bloods promoted incompetence in government. In the military the combination of class preferment and the practice of purchasing commissions produced some of the greatest military debacles in history. Finally, Flashman labors toward the modest and quite modern aspiration of self-preservation. The lengths his “betters” go to endanger him in the name of Victorian brio create a series of humorous predicaments. The reader experiences a certain satisfaction seeing Flashman's quick wit and pragmatism emerge time after time triumphant.

This is the first of the Flashman books. The 80 year old Flashman, having been showered with medals and honors is writing his memoirs, — confiding to the reader the true history of his time. That, at least, is the conceit of the books. Fraser resurrects the bully in Thomas Hughes' TOM BROWN'S SCHOOL DAYS. The school is Rugby, ruled by headmaster Thomas Arnold, rod in one hand and Bible in the other. (Although Arnold had passed on by then, this was the same Rugby that Charles Dodgson attended and forever looked back on as a formative trauma of childhood). Flashman is expelled for, of all things, drunkeness. While Arnold upbraids him with sanctimonious reproaches, Flashman reflects: “...he was a hypocrite I think, like most of his generation. Either that or he was more foolish than he looked, for he was wasting his piety on me.”

Expelled from Rugby, Flashman persuades his father to purchase his commission in a regiment just returned from India, and therefore not likely to be posted to active duty any time soon. The commander is Lord Cardigan whom Fraser has animated with a speech impediment reminiscent of Elmer Fudd. Cardigan, of course, is famed for leading the charge of the light brigade. This is still well before that fateful debacle. Flashman offers his assessment: “He was God's own original fool, there's no doubt about that — although he was not to blame for the fiasco at Balaclava; that was Raglan and Airey between them....He was just stupid, too stupid ever to be afraid....For all that, he could never be called a bad soldier. Some human faults are military virtues, like stupidity, and arrogance, and narrow-mindedness....”

Fraser is at his best when he mingles thrilling fictional episodes with real historic events. For this reason, the early sections of the book felt a bit slow to me. The writing becomes vivid when Flashman is plucked from his cozy billeting and tumbles into Afghanistan. Historical authenticity is enhanced by Fraser's use of footnotes citing authoritative sources to argue controversial points in Flashman's narrative. Fraser brings history to life. Rather than feeling bewildered by the historical details, my interest was piqued. I eagerly consulted online sources for more details about the first Anglo-Afghan War, an event of which I was totally ignorant. Flashman introduces the military commander Lord Elphinstone at the center of this disaster as follows: “Elphy ably assisted by McNaghten, was about to reach the peak of his career; he was going to produce the most shameful, ridiculous disaster in British military history.” That event in 1842 was the annihilation of some 16,000 British soldiers, family members and camp followers in an attempted retreat from Kabul.

I highly recommend these books to anyone interested in a combination of history and great writing.

NOTES:
Peter Hitchens writes an excellent commentary on the series in his blog:
http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.u...

[Mr. Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harry Flashman, despite every effort to stay out of harm's way, finds himself propelled into one life threatening event after another. Eventually he winds up in Afghanistan for the start of the first Anglo-Afghan war. And despite all this, I can't help but love the bastard.

Harry Flashman is the nineteenth century version of Archer. He is a bumbling buffoon with a knack for being in the right place at the right time. Time after time he winds up in trouble, but somehow he always winds up smelling like roses. A desperate ride from Afghan horsemen, for example, makes him seem heroic rather than a coward, and he winds up serving as unofficial courier for the British commanders. His attempt to surrender himself, the flag and the fort outside Jallalabad is seen, in light of the fortunate last minute rescue, as a heroic last stand for flag and country. Throughout it all, I can't help but chuckle. It all reminds me of Archer.

Of course, like Archer, Flashman is, well, kind of a dick. He sleeps with other officer's women. He lies to friends and he cheats to win a duel against a far better man. He swears like a sailor, and is contemptuous of those beneath his station and, of course, the natives. And so on. And, perhaps because the book is so deliciously un-PC, it all works. The book is funny and, at times, edge of your seat intense.

I even appreciated the focus of the book: Afghanistan in the 1840s. I knew absolutely nothing about the time period and part of the reason I read historical fiction is to learn more about a new time period. This was a good opportunity to learn about what an unmitigated disaster the British occupation of Afghanistan was. Wishful thinking and well-meaning politicians continually misinterpreted events of the ground - despite Flashman's desperate (and truthful) warnings - and the situation spiraled out of control. In the end, a British army was annihilated on its retreat from Kabul. (Of course Flashman survives, winding up getting decorated by the Queen for valor - despite his abandoning the army in the passes.)

Four out of five stars. These are fun books if you enjoy a little dark humor, historical fiction, and a good anti-hero.

[Lena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me begin this review by saying that my star rating has less to do with the quality of the book and more with the fact that it was a bad match for my reading tastes.

I became interested in the Flashman books after hearing them described as a much-loved series of historically accurate, comic fiction. Though title character Harry Flashman is a self-described coward and cad, he does have a certain charm as he describes how he repeatedly finds himself in the middle of one British military disaster after another. But my sympathy for him was undermined early on by his ugly racism and appalling attitudes towards women, though I suspect these attitudes also historically accurate for their time.

I kept going, however, because the story is very well written and I remained engaged enough that I wanted to see how it ended. I ultimately learned a great deal about the first Anglo-Afghan war in the process, but I won’t be continuing with this series. Reading about the brutal massacre of the departing British forces and the repeated capturing and torturing of our hero is really not my idea of entertainment.

[Algernon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This myth called bravery, which is half-panic, half-lunacy (in my case, all panic), pays for all; in England you can’t be a hero and bad. There’s practically a law against it.

In times of nationalistic hubris, claims of manifest destiny and monuments to professional killers, satire remains our best tool to maintain sanity and to cut down to size wannabe dictators. George MacDonald Fraser joins now a select club of authors, like Jaroslav Hasek and Joseph Heller, who had the courage to laugh at the fabricated military heroes and to point out that the emperor has no clothes.
It is not easy to laugh at serial rapes, blatant racism and wholesale slaughter narrated by an obvious narcissist. I’ve read my first Flashman novel more than thirty years ago, ‘Flashman and the Mountain of Light’, and I only remember the laughs at his antics and not the colonial context and the horrible way he treats women.
My return to the series was a challenge to read something fun in April and, while I definitely had my laughs, the true story here is the incredibly savage lampooning of the Imperial ambitions of Britain. I find the style of MacDonald Fraser exactly what I needed, after finishing last year the twenty novels long Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell – a celebration of the ‘perfect’ British soldier, of the stuff that empires are built on. Harry Flashman is for me the exact opposite of everything Cornwell’s creation stands for. As a bonus, it is also a natural continuation of the historical progression from the Napoleonic campaigns to the colonial wars that define the Victorian period.
Harry Flashman shaking hands with Cornwell’s idol, Lord Wellington, is the cherry on the cake in this dark satirical farce.

>>><<<>>><<<

The Flashman Papers are introduced to the reader with a cover story of recently discovered documents belonging to a celebrated officer of the British Empire, writing down in his old age the events of a long and decorated military career. The old age perspective is allowing the author to be candid about the less known and less savoury details of what really happened. In his own word, this ... is the portrait of a scoundrel, a liar, a cheat, a thief, a coward – and, oh yes, a toady.

The fictional memoirs start with Harry Flashman’s school days, the character and the events borrowed by MacDonald Fraser from a very popular Victorian novel [‘Tom Brown’s School Days’ by Thomas Hughes]. A bully and a drunkard in the original novel, Flashman gets expelled from Rugby in 1839. His father, a wealthy speculator at the stock market, buys a military commission for his son in a cavalry regiment.
The true nature of Flashman is revealed right from the start in the way he tries to ingratiate himself to his commanding officer, his skirt chasing and his cowardice. Also revealed is his extraordinary luck, a feature of all his future exploits. Flashman’s self-serving acts are misinterpreted by observers and hailed as acts of heroism. There is a duel with a fellow officer in the opening chapters that best illustrates the feature, but I’m not going to spoil the scene here.

... I’ve lived long enough to discover that there isn’t any folly a man won’t contemplate if there’s money or a woman at stake. confesses old Flashman in his memoir, and his past actions bear witness to the accuracy of his statement. Dismissed from his famous regiment in the aftermath of the inglorious duel, Harry Flashman is exiled to a Scotland outpost, where he quickly lands in a different sort of trouble.
Pro-tip for future hosts of the young officer: don’t trust your pretty and innocent fifteen year old daughter to the company of this officer and gentleman!

“Tak’ care o’ my poor wee lamb, Mr Flashman,” he wailed.
“To be sure I will, sir,” I replied. And I did.

In order to make a long story short, and to get to the meat of the story, let’s just say that a shotgun wedding is hastily arranged and that Harry Flashman is once again transferred, not for the shame of rape, but for marrying beneath his station. The British caste system was every bit as savage as that of colonial India. Which is where our soldier is sent next.

>>><<<>>><<<

Harry Flashman describes the First Afghan War as the most shameful, ridiculous disaster in British military history. He should know what he is talking about, he was right there in Kabul, in the Khyber Pass and in Jallalabad when the campaign turned into a rout.

This is my second major take from the series, after the sharpness of the satire. MacDonald Fraser has done his research extremely well, at least on a par with the celebrated Bernard Cornwell or with my personal favorite M M Kaye, who wrote about the same period in more lurid detail in The Far Pavilions .
I believe the author takes far fewer liberties with the source material that the other two writers I mentioned. One of the main attractions, as I contemplate reading the next episodes in the series, is the way MacDonald Fraser includes real historical characters in his fiction. I was tempted to fact-check him, and I still haven’t found any major discrepancies in his accounts.

Third, but not last reason to read the series, is that the author is a damn good storyteller, not only with a wicked sense of humour, but with a fine flair for swashbuckling adventure. Harry Flashman having to fight for his life, despite his best efforts to talk his way out of a tight corner, will produce one of the most memorable scenes in the whole novel a tug-of war above a snake pit filled with poisonous cobras

I’ve read though the account of the First Afghan War with a lot more engagement that I could have got from a non-fiction book. Flashman has one true admirable talent to balance his less commendable acts: a talent for foreign languages. It will help him when his luck eventually runs out. He is also fortunate to have some real soldiers under his command, like Sergeant Hudson, men he will eventually betray in order to claim the glory of their courage.

Without going into details, Flashman is one of the very few survivors of the retreat from Kabul in 1842 and of the Battle of Jellalabad, and will be transformed into a national hero by generals in search of news to distract from their own incompetency. He will return to England to shake hands with Wellington and to be decorated by Queen Victoria.

It was a common custom at that time, in the more romantic females, to see their soldier husbands and sweethearts as Greek heroes, instead of the whoremongering, drunken clowns most of them were. However, the Greek heroes were probably no better, so it was not so far off the mark.

Some of you will hold up your hands in horror that a Queen’s officer could behave like this, and before his soldiers, too. To which I would reply that I do not claim, as I’ve said already, to be anything but a coward and a scoundrel, and I’ve never play-acted when it seemed pointless.

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By far the most egregious aspect of the novel to our modern eyes is the serial raping by the hero of almost every female that crosses his path (spoiler alert: Queen Victoria is spared, for now)

To these critics, I would answer that MacDonald Fraser knows what he is doing, applying the same satirical brush to Victorian prudishness and woman rights suppression as he did to military values.
Flashman will eventually get a taste of his own medicine when he comes back from the war, eager to reunite with his nubile and innocent Elspeth, only to be landed in a quagmire of jealousy.

Suspicion doesn’t come gradually; it springs up suddenly, and grows with every breath it takes. If you have a foul mind, as I have, you think foul thoughts readier than clean ones, so that even as I told myself that Judy was a lying bitch trying to frighten me with implications, and that Elspeth was incapable of being false, at the same time I had a vision of her rolling naked in bed with her arms round Watney’s neck.

I look forward to the next book in the series, both for the historical detail and for the undermining of the Imperial mythology.

[J.J. Garza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Algunas veces me he preguntado por qué la tradición de la gran novela de aventuras está como trunca. Es decir, que de aquella gran edad de oro de la aventura (1870 a 1930 aproximadamente) no quedan muchos sucesores que den homenaje y continuidad a esta venerable tradición. Una de mis sospechas principales siempre estuvo en que al tratarse de literatura colonial, poco a poco muchos aspectos de este género se irían volviendo problemáticos a la luz de las discusiones contemporáneas.

Lo que no sabía era hasta qué punto alguien había utilizado de forma relativamente reciente el molde de la gran novela de aventuras para arrojar una sátira mordelona y taimada a la sociedad que facultó este tipo de novelas.

Entra Flashman. Creado por Thomas Hughes como el antecesor más claro de un Draco Malfoy (aunque con la fisonomía de Goyle) en el inicio de la gran novela británica escolar: Los Días Escolares de Tom Brown. Fraser desarrolló lo que le ocurrió posteriormente a este bully de campeonato en una serie de novelas que han sido las delicias de un público amplio. Flashman es (no hay forma de suavizar esto) un hijo de puta: uno de los antihéroes que representan todos los anatemas de la sociedad cortés de hoy en día. Un individuo tramposo, chapucero, misógino, racista, sicofante y cobarde que por azares del destino escapa de sus predicamentos. En esta primera novela, se trata del desastre de la primera Guerra Afgana.

Es lógico y obvio que Fraser no glorifica su héroe, con el que uno termina simpatizando. Más bien lo utiliza como voz en una novela histórica perfectamente documentada para denunciar y satirizar la tremenda imbecilidad e incompetencia de algunos de los fiascos más grandes de la época en la que Gran Bretaña aún dominaba los mares. A veces peca de falta de delicadeza y a veces se deja entrever la voz del autor en la voz del personaje, pero por lo general está bien diferenciada y camuflada detrás de los episodios graciosos. Es curioso que estas novelas, escritas durante el periodo más pronunciado del declive del Reino Unido estén contrapuestas a las de James Bond: un tipo que no es muy distinto a Flashman, pero que simboliza una fantasía glamorosa de que este Imperio aún era importante.

Por otro lado, me encanta encontrar novelas "puente". Es decir, novelas cuya tradición cae en el tiempo exacto para poner lazos bien identificados entre dos obras más separadas. Así como MacDonald y Dunsany son el puente entre el Romanticismo y Tolkien, así como Flash Gordon es el puente entre John Carter y Superman, las novelas de Flashman son el puente entre Wodehouse y Pratchett. No es un secreto que Rincewind está parcialmente basado en Flashman y que la actitud de los magos de la Universidad Invisible es exactamente la misma de los Elphinstones y los Cardigans que pululan en estos libros.

[Kirsten Mortensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I'll admit it. Perhaps because I'm a gal, a couple chapters into this book I wondered if I was going to have to force myself to keep going.

Because -- as you know if you know anything about the Flashman series -- the narrator of these books is *not* a nice guy.

But something happened as I reached a quarter mark or so of the novel: I found myself hooked.

And by the time Flashy found himself in Afghanistan (the series' conceit is that Flashman was an eyewitness to a number of significant 19th century military events, including in this book the British army's 1842 Retreat from Kabul, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1842_ret...) my opinion of him had shifted. Yes, he's a despicable man: a coward, a misogynist, a liar. But all the same, I was rooting for him. I wanted him to somehow get out alive . . .

You couldn't ask for a better example of how to make an unappealing character sympathetic, in fact.

One last point. Someone in a Goodreads group thread (who hasn't read the book) speculated that Flashman might be considered "post-modern" -- a reasonable assumption given that the narrator is an anti-hero. But to my eye, the book transcends any neat categories. Yes, it can be read as a blistering critique of 19th century British imperialism, but it's dealing with historical facts -- a refreshing change from contemporary polemics that are out to score political points at the expense of everything else.

And while the book (consistent with post-modernist writing) eschews any pretense to moral elevation, technically the writing and structure is both original and virtually flawless. So there's plenty of aesthetic pleasure to be had in the reading.

I've also seen Flashman called a historical novel. I suppose that's as good a category as any. But there's something not quite right about that characterization, either. Or maybe I think of historical novels as more atmospheric. Flashman is set in the mid-1900s, but it reads like a contemporary.

Recommend to anyone who likes terrific story-telling & can overlook very un-P.C. characters.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sexually incontinent, self-centred, spineless and shameless - what's not to like about Harry Flashman, George McDonald Fraser's timeless comic character? This is the first book, originally published in 1969, and it began one of the greatest series of historical fiction in the English language. The Hornblowers and Sharpes have their place, but heroic types can be dreadful bores at times. Give me a promiscuous, drunken coward nine times out ten; the tenth time being when it was my hide or Flashman's and I can be sure he'd sell me into slavery to protect his own skin.

This first novel in the series begins where the fictional caddish bully of "Tom Brown's Schooldays" is left by Thomas Hughes - expelled from Rugby School for drunkenness. It takes him to a commission in the army, unwanted marriage to the pretty and faux-naïf daughter of a Scottish cotton magnate, a passage to India, and from there involvement in the last official war Britain lost - the First Afghan War of 1839-42. History records only one survivor from the party that retreated from Kabul, but we have Fraser to thank for the tale of the otherwise unrecorded second who left many better men and several wronged women behind.

The Flashman novels demonstrate that serious history does not have to be po-faced; and that there is no need for light fiction to be poorly researched. Fraser is meticulous about the historical detail, with Flashman inserted effortlessly and entertainingly into the gaps that exist in any account of real events. This book and its sequels are great examples of how to research and write historical fiction, and shame on lazy writers who are simply "inspired" by a period and then change established characters and events to suit their own purposes.

A phenomenal achievement from a writer who was serious about his history while equally serious about his mission to entertain.

[Christopher Saunders · Rating 5 out of 5]

For years I've been a massive fan of George Macdonald Fraser's Flashman books, a long-running series about a ne'er-do-well British officer who leches and lies his way through an assortment of 19th Century conflicts. This first volume, if not the best in the series, brilliantly sets the tone for the eleven sequels to follow. Harry Flashman, the villain of Tom Brown's Schooldays, washes out of Rugby School and winds up in the British Army. After a rigged duel (shades of Thackeray's Luck of Barry Lyndon) and a shotgun wedding to a Scottish girl, Harry finds himself dispatched to India. From there he becomes an aide to the hapless General Elphinstone during the disastrous British invasion of Afghanistan, evading Afghan warriors, vengeful women and suspicious comrades on the long road back to India. Fraser's brilliant conceit is to pair his swashbuckling set up, which wouldn't be alien to Kipling or G.A. Henty, with a protagonist that's an utter cad and bounder; an inveterate womanizer, a shameless coward, a racial chauvinist (as one might expect) and a blackguard in all conceivable ways, who nonetheless blunders his way into becoming a Hero of the Empire. In later volumes Flashman's devilry would tranish, but here he's such a villain (at one point he unapologetically rapes an Afghanistan woman) that it's hard to root for him - except that his bracing candor, told through the framework of his memoirs, comes off much more agreeably than the blubbering, self-righteous hypocrisy of his Empire-building colleagues. The book is a dastardly treat, full of black humor and coarse wit, sex, swordfights and enough vivid battle scenes (including a graphic depiction of Elphistone's massacre at the hands of the Afghan Akbar Khan) to fill a dozen action movies. Playful picaresque of the highest order.

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read and re-read a long time ago. Overdue another read.

Flashman is a wonderful steal from GMF - taking the bully from Tom Browns schooldays and telling his story as he helped Victoria spread some red white and blue across the globe (we "owned" a quarter of the world don't you know)

Flashy is a bluff cove, a cowardly womaniser with an eye for the main chance - exactly the opposite of the Victorian ideal of a noble Brit out to civilise the natives, armed with nothing more than a stiff upper lip and an attitude of entitlement. Of course the legend was bullshit, and the lazy hypocrite Flashman rises almost effortlessly to the top of a rotten system.

The first episode takes us through the disgrace of being kicked out of Rugby and into the Army and a campaign in Afghanistan. Then as now it was a difficult place to rule. Perhaps the natives didn't want to be civilised.

With Flashy, GMF gently mocks the ideals of the British Empire, and shows the unsightly underbelly of the White Mans Burden. Of course this is all just fiction, and just as well it is too.

The idea that we would let a posh, womanising, lazy, cowardly, lying hypocrite into a position of power in this great country is just preposterous.

[S.J. Arnott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poor old Flash.

What would he say to all these one star reviewers? Actually, he’d probably damn their eyes, then nip round the corner to pay a couple of toughs to knock them down, de-bag them and blacken their backsides with boot-polish...

I can see why some people might take against Flash after reading the first book in the series. Although I think it’s excellent, it has slightly rougher edges than the ones that follow and portrays our protagonist more as the vicious schoolboy he was, rather than the reluctant pseudo-hero he becomes. His less than gallant treatment of his de facto step-mother is probably the best example of this, which is something of a shock I’ll admit, but I have less sympathy with those who make accusations of racism, most of which appear to be based solely on the language used in the book. These criticisms miss the point that this is exactly the type of language that would have been used at the time, and it wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow in most company. This unabashed attention to detail is one of the author’s great strengths. Too many historical novels feature characters who have the sensibilities of 20th-century liberal arts teachers, whereas Fraser really gets under the skin of Flashman, the archetypal Victorian scoundrel.

So please don’t let overly-sensitive reviews put you off Flashman. This first book sets up Flash’s dilemma for the rest of the series; namely, that once he’s mistaken for a dashing hero, various ghastly people (Prime Ministers, generals, unspeakable foreigners, and even members of the Royal family) insist on sending him to dangerous places (mostly hot and dusty) to do horribly dangerous heroic things, while all Flash wants is a peaceful life, dividing his time between fashionable London society and the fleshpots of the East End.

Unfortunately, the next book Royal Flash is one of the weaker in the series (being little more of a reworking of The Prisoner of Zenda) but after that, it’s all gravy.

(Note on covers. I love the original Arthur Barbosa book covers. I think they capture the essence of Flashman perfectly: handsome, manly, fresh-faced, so obviously trustworthy (!). In contrast, the more recent covers offer us a boozy, sly, caricature of a cad that completely miss the mark: Flashman doesn’t proper because he looks like a pantomime villain; he prospers because he doesn’t.)

[Maru Kun · Rating 4 out of 5]

"...There is a painting of the scene at Gandamack, which I saw a few years ago, and it is like enough the real thing as a I remember it. No doubt it is very fine and stirs martial thoughts in the glory-blown asses who look at it; my only thought when I saw it was, 'You poor bloody fools!' and I said so, to the disgust of other viewers. But I was there, you see, shivering with horror as I watched, unlike the good Londoners, who let the roughnecks and jailbirds keep their empire for them; they are good enough for getting cut up at the Gandamacks which fools like Elphy and McNagthen bring 'em to, and no great loss to anybody..."

*'Elphy' and 'McNagthen' refers to the military commander and political appointee respectively in charge of the campaign during the First Anglo-Afghan War

[Olethros · Rating 4 out of 5]

-De bellacos, pero los graciosos, los que no tienen poder sobre muchos otros.-

Género. Novela (y en cierto sentido, hasta Novela histórica).

Lo que nos cuenta. Tras el hallazgo por parte de un familiar de un grueso manuscrito con las memorias del gran militar Harry Flashman a mediados del siglo XX, se hace entrega de las mismas al autor para que las edite y éste comienza ofreciéndonos el autorretrato del protagonista y del desarrollo de su juventud durante el segundo tercio del siglo XIX, que por diferentes avatares del destino acabará llevándole desde Inglaterra a los confines más alejados (y peligrosos) del Imperio Británico. Primer libro de la Serie de Harry Flashman.

¿Quiere saber más del libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...