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Turbulent Tales
Rafael Sabatini's 'Turbulent Tales' is a masterful catalogue of extraordinary stories of bravery, honour, intrigue and adventure. With all the vitality of their colourful backdrops, they are stories to thrill and excite any lover of historical fiction.
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First published January 1, 1946
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June 10, 2016
It may be an opinion shared only with the late George MacDonald Fraser – who ought to know – but Rafael Sabatini was one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century. More than that, if one makes the rather dubious distinction between 'mere' storytellers and writers who are supposed to have a greater depth of understanding, but rarely do, then Sabatini stands second only to Dumas in the former category, possibly with GMF himself in third place.
Yet, despite enormous commercial success in his lifetime, he is all but forgotten today, a name in the opening credits of some Hollywood films of the Golden Age and a brief Monty Python spoof of the same. There was a day when 'From A Novel by Rafael Sabatini' really meant something. The old school of 'romantic' historical fiction reached its peak with him, but after after any peak comes decline and the whole genre was becoming unfashionable even before his death in 1950.
He deserves rediscovery, together with his genre. This collection of short stories provide the perfect introduction.
Although apparently less than ten thousand words apiece, each is a perfectly polished gem, with a beginning, a middle, and an end, with little time wasted on the first and the last. In every case, the twist is fairly predictable, but he builds a delicious sense of anticipation.
His economy of narrative excels even Stevenson at his best. Characters are introduced with few words, but they leap from the page, fully armed. Thereafter they are fleshed out by their words and actions. For all the lack of psychological analysis, there is a depth to them lacking in most 'serious' modern novelists.
The sense of period is conveyed by telling details – an item of clothing or furniture, an unusual title, a line of dialogue – no more than absolutely necessary. If a 'prop' is mentioned, the odds are that it will be used. If the layout of a building is described, it will become relevant to the plot. There is nothing superfluous in Sabatini.
Dialogue is always brisk, advancing the story as much as the action. If it is archaic, sometimes laughably so to modern ears, even that serves a useful purpose in conveying time and place without having to add to description. Although English was his sixth language – he chose to write in it because he loved a challenge – Sabatini has a superb ear for speech.
The stories here include some of his favourite times and places: Renaissance Italy, 17th Century England, and 18th Century and Napoleonic France. His protagonists include Michelangelo, Casanova, and Cagliostro, an old favourite of Dumas,' with Judge Jeffreys, Napoleon, and Fouché in supporting roles. Those who know their Sabatini will appreciate the link to his most famous novel. 'Captain Blood,' and will surely not be so ungrateful as to complain that there is no cameo by Cesare Borgia.
Yet, despite enormous commercial success in his lifetime, he is all but forgotten today, a name in the opening credits of some Hollywood films of the Golden Age and a brief Monty Python spoof of the same. There was a day when 'From A Novel by Rafael Sabatini' really meant something. The old school of 'romantic' historical fiction reached its peak with him, but after after any peak comes decline and the whole genre was becoming unfashionable even before his death in 1950.
He deserves rediscovery, together with his genre. This collection of short stories provide the perfect introduction.
Although apparently less than ten thousand words apiece, each is a perfectly polished gem, with a beginning, a middle, and an end, with little time wasted on the first and the last. In every case, the twist is fairly predictable, but he builds a delicious sense of anticipation.
His economy of narrative excels even Stevenson at his best. Characters are introduced with few words, but they leap from the page, fully armed. Thereafter they are fleshed out by their words and actions. For all the lack of psychological analysis, there is a depth to them lacking in most 'serious' modern novelists.
The sense of period is conveyed by telling details – an item of clothing or furniture, an unusual title, a line of dialogue – no more than absolutely necessary. If a 'prop' is mentioned, the odds are that it will be used. If the layout of a building is described, it will become relevant to the plot. There is nothing superfluous in Sabatini.
Dialogue is always brisk, advancing the story as much as the action. If it is archaic, sometimes laughably so to modern ears, even that serves a useful purpose in conveying time and place without having to add to description. Although English was his sixth language – he chose to write in it because he loved a challenge – Sabatini has a superb ear for speech.
The stories here include some of his favourite times and places: Renaissance Italy, 17th Century England, and 18th Century and Napoleonic France. His protagonists include Michelangelo, Casanova, and Cagliostro, an old favourite of Dumas,' with Judge Jeffreys, Napoleon, and Fouché in supporting roles. Those who know their Sabatini will appreciate the link to his most famous novel. 'Captain Blood,' and will surely not be so ungrateful as to complain that there is no cameo by Cesare Borgia.
Displaying 1 of 1 review