Status
Available
Call number
Series
Collection
Publication
Penguin Classics (2003), Edition: Revised, Paperback, 240 pages
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Short Stories. Thriller. HTML: The cracking debut of A. J. Raffles, proper English gentleman and jewel thief extraordinaire Sometimes the greatest of partnerships are born in the direst of moments. For Bunny Manders and A. J. Raffles, such a moment comes when a bad night at the baccarat tables threatens to end in suicide. Hundreds of pounds in the red, Bunny grows so desperate that he asks Raffles, a former classmate who captained their public school's cricket team, for help. When Raffles hesitates, Bunny pulls a gun out of his coat pocket and puts it to his head. "I never dreamt you had such stuff in you, Bunny!" says Raffles, a gleam in his eye. A few hours later, he and his old school chum break into a jeweler's shop and steal thousands of pounds' worth of diamonds and gemstones. Disaster averted, adventures begun. In these thrilling stories, E. W. Hornung introduced the world to a duo as gifted at burglary as Sherlock Holmes and Watson are at detection. Full of sophisticated banter, hair-raising close calls, and nefarious schemes, Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman is a masterwork of crime fiction and irrefutable proof that there truly is honor among thieves. This ebook features a new introduction by Otto Penzler and has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Redon
Raffles is a series of short stories about a charismatic gentleman thief (narrated by his friend and partner in crime) who steals for the love of the chase as much as for his livelihood. If that sounds a bit familiar, it's worth pointing out that Hornung was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's brother-in-law,
There are several issues with the Raffles stories - for one thing, they're rather short and go by far too quickly; the setup for each story takes so long that you sometimes feel rather gypped on the heist itself. The characterization is also somewhat halfhearted; Raffles is certainly charming enough, but it's in a general sort of way, told more often than shown, and though he expresses strong opinions, they usually seem to be thrown in for the sake of expressing strong opinions, and they frequently contradict each other (for example, while Raffles apparently has a code of honor as a thief, he only cites it when he's breaking one of his own rules). His partner Bunny, meanwhile, has very little personality beyond his conflicted morals; I realize Bunny's struggle was deliberate to avoid glamorizing crime as an alternative lifestyle, but in a series intended to be light entertainment, there's only so much self-loathing you can throw in before it starts to drag things down a bit. For all that, though, the series is still a lot of fun, with all the capers quite varied and high-energy. There's a tension that's missing in Sherlock Holmes; we know Holmes and Watson will come through with no permanent damage and with justice upheld, but things can and do go very wrong for Raffles at times, and he and Bunny stand to lose everything if they get caught. Raffles is also surprisingly ruthless, and you can never tell quite how far he'll be willing to go if he feels threatened. Not my favorite entry into the Victorian/Edwardian "gentleman (insert profession here)" borderline-abusive buddy series genre, but thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless.
Show More
Doyle was the one who suggested that Hornung take a one-shot about a gentleman thief and turn it into a series, and the two proceeded to steal ideas from each other with apparent relish. The similarities between Raffles and Holmes are certainly obvious - while I'd hesitate to classify Raffles as a genius of the same caliber as Holmes, he's undoubtedly quite clever in his capers, and the two series bring the same sense of artistry to their respective professions.There are several issues with the Raffles stories - for one thing, they're rather short and go by far too quickly; the setup for each story takes so long that you sometimes feel rather gypped on the heist itself. The characterization is also somewhat halfhearted; Raffles is certainly charming enough, but it's in a general sort of way, told more often than shown, and though he expresses strong opinions, they usually seem to be thrown in for the sake of expressing strong opinions, and they frequently contradict each other (for example, while Raffles apparently has a code of honor as a thief, he only cites it when he's breaking one of his own rules). His partner Bunny, meanwhile, has very little personality beyond his conflicted morals; I realize Bunny's struggle was deliberate to avoid glamorizing crime as an alternative lifestyle, but in a series intended to be light entertainment, there's only so much self-loathing you can throw in before it starts to drag things down a bit. For all that, though, the series is still a lot of fun, with all the capers quite varied and high-energy. There's a tension that's missing in Sherlock Holmes; we know Holmes and Watson will come through with no permanent damage and with justice upheld, but things can and do go very wrong for Raffles at times, and he and Bunny stand to lose everything if they get caught. Raffles is also surprisingly ruthless, and you can never tell quite how far he'll be willing to go if he feels threatened. Not my favorite entry into the Victorian/Edwardian "gentleman (insert profession here)" borderline-abusive buddy series genre, but thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless.
Show Less
LibraryThing member smik
A collection of 8 short stories which feature A.J. Raffles, gentleman, cricketer, and amateur cracksman, and his old school mate Bunny Manders, a bunny in most senses of the word. In the first story The Ides of March Raffles prevents Bunny who is constantly in debt, like Raffles, having no honest
The stories depict Raffles as a master burglar, a gentleman, a sportsman who extends the code of cricket, of "playing fair", to thievery. He is much sought after because he is such a splendid cricketer, both at the bat and as a bowler, and various invitations give him the opportunity to relieve others of their riches. As with Conan Doyle's Holmes and Moriarty, Raffles has his principal opponent in Scotland Yard's Inspector Mackenzie. The Penguin blurb credits Ernest Hornung with creating " a unique form of crime story, where, in stealing, as in sport, it is playing the game that counts, and there is always honour among thieves".
The stories in this collection:
1. The Ides of March.
2. A Costume Piece.
3. Gentlemen and Players.
4. Le Premier Pas.
5. Wilful Murder.
6. Nine Points of the Law.
7. The Return Match.
8. The Gift of the Emperor.
So here we have the forerunner of a style of book that we thought was modern - where the villain is the central character. Although, unlike Jeff Lindsay's Dexter Morgan in DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER, or Simon Kernick's Dennis Milne, Raffles never kills.
I think the text of the stories is a bit dated, the language a bit more formal than we use now, and certainly I noticed the odd word that is no longer part of our regular vocab. But in the late 19th century, these stories must have been a breath of fresh air. Hornung was Conan Doyle's brother in law, and whereas in Holmes vs Moriarty you have good vs evil, in Raffles you really have evil vs. good. Interestingly they both, Homes and Raffles, have rather lame sidekicks in Watson and Bunny.
As you can see, I'm rather taken with the stories although I'm only rating it at 4.2.
They won't be everyone's cup of tea. But they are short quick reads if you want to dabble or listen like I did.
Show More
source of income, from committing suicide. The eight stories are narrated by Bunny, with the plots complicated by the fact that Raffles doesn't always keep him totally informed. At times Raffles uses Bunny as a decoy, and at times Bunny initiates action on his own because he thinks Raffles has failed. Of course Raffles never fails, and in the long run it is Bunny who pays most dearly.The stories depict Raffles as a master burglar, a gentleman, a sportsman who extends the code of cricket, of "playing fair", to thievery. He is much sought after because he is such a splendid cricketer, both at the bat and as a bowler, and various invitations give him the opportunity to relieve others of their riches. As with Conan Doyle's Holmes and Moriarty, Raffles has his principal opponent in Scotland Yard's Inspector Mackenzie. The Penguin blurb credits Ernest Hornung with creating " a unique form of crime story, where, in stealing, as in sport, it is playing the game that counts, and there is always honour among thieves".
The stories in this collection:
1. The Ides of March.
2. A Costume Piece.
3. Gentlemen and Players.
4. Le Premier Pas.
5. Wilful Murder.
6. Nine Points of the Law.
7. The Return Match.
8. The Gift of the Emperor.
So here we have the forerunner of a style of book that we thought was modern - where the villain is the central character. Although, unlike Jeff Lindsay's Dexter Morgan in DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER, or Simon Kernick's Dennis Milne, Raffles never kills.
I think the text of the stories is a bit dated, the language a bit more formal than we use now, and certainly I noticed the odd word that is no longer part of our regular vocab. But in the late 19th century, these stories must have been a breath of fresh air. Hornung was Conan Doyle's brother in law, and whereas in Holmes vs Moriarty you have good vs evil, in Raffles you really have evil vs. good. Interestingly they both, Homes and Raffles, have rather lame sidekicks in Watson and Bunny.
As you can see, I'm rather taken with the stories although I'm only rating it at 4.2.
They won't be everyone's cup of tea. But they are short quick reads if you want to dabble or listen like I did.
Show Less
LibraryThing member mmyoung
It is a long time since I have been this disappointed by a book. I had read often of the charms of Raffles and of how it was the forerunner of the very modern villain as protagonist. I had read that with Raffles the reader was allowed to see the other side of crime and find at last how such things
Spoilers ahead.
I found instead a painfully adolescent book which reads like a Pythonesque parody of a homosocial best boys story. At no point did I feel that the author, let alone Raffles, actually knew much about crime. Nor did I believe that the author knew (or perhaps more accurately cared) about the ways in which actual detectives functioned. Indeed the only thing I was convinced that Hornung knew and cared about was cricket.
This first Raffles book is actually a collection of short stories of which the first is by far the most interesting since it sets out the circumstances of how and why Bunny decides to turn to a life of crime. Of course, Bunny does no such thing since he is, with a few exceptions, an reactor rather than an actor in these escapades. He and Raffles are no more and no less less upper middle-class wastrels. They have run through the money they inherited and make no attempt to actually earn any of their own. Indeed they despise and look down on anyone who works for a living. They even refuse to consider themselves working “rogues.” No, Raffles is an amateur rogue just as he is an amateur cricketer. They steal from those they despise and they betray the trust of those whose homes they stay in all the while providing themselves with lame justifications. Raffles lies to Bunny and Raffles betrays Bunny and in the end Raffles breaks Bunny’s heart not by leaving Bunny in lurch when finally the law catches up with them but by daring to find a woman more interesting than Bunny to spend time with.
The last story is apogee of the ridiculous as not a single person aboard the cruise ship is anything but a broadly drawn stereotype. Raffles and Bunny prove their lack of understanding of the law by accepting without question the right of a English police officer to serve an English arrest warrant on them as they sail the Mediterranean aboard a German ship.
In short, a book I found neither charming nor pleasant and one I would not recommend to anyone who enjoys a well crafted or a well written detective story.
Show More
were really done.Spoilers ahead.
I found instead a painfully adolescent book which reads like a Pythonesque parody of a homosocial best boys story. At no point did I feel that the author, let alone Raffles, actually knew much about crime. Nor did I believe that the author knew (or perhaps more accurately cared) about the ways in which actual detectives functioned. Indeed the only thing I was convinced that Hornung knew and cared about was cricket.
This first Raffles book is actually a collection of short stories of which the first is by far the most interesting since it sets out the circumstances of how and why Bunny decides to turn to a life of crime. Of course, Bunny does no such thing since he is, with a few exceptions, an reactor rather than an actor in these escapades. He and Raffles are no more and no less less upper middle-class wastrels. They have run through the money they inherited and make no attempt to actually earn any of their own. Indeed they despise and look down on anyone who works for a living. They even refuse to consider themselves working “rogues.” No, Raffles is an amateur rogue just as he is an amateur cricketer. They steal from those they despise and they betray the trust of those whose homes they stay in all the while providing themselves with lame justifications. Raffles lies to Bunny and Raffles betrays Bunny and in the end Raffles breaks Bunny’s heart not by leaving Bunny in lurch when finally the law catches up with them but by daring to find a woman more interesting than Bunny to spend time with.
The last story is apogee of the ridiculous as not a single person aboard the cruise ship is anything but a broadly drawn stereotype. Raffles and Bunny prove their lack of understanding of the law by accepting without question the right of a English police officer to serve an English arrest warrant on them as they sail the Mediterranean aboard a German ship.
In short, a book I found neither charming nor pleasant and one I would not recommend to anyone who enjoys a well crafted or a well written detective story.
Show Less
LibraryThing member nicholas
Classic crime stories featuring the archetypal gentlemen thief A J Raffles and his assistant Harry "Bunny" Manders, set in a time when a gentleman would rather shoot himself in the head than suffer disgrace and exile from polite society.
LibraryThing member Figgles
E.W. Hornung's A. J. Raffles is an engaging anti-Holmes, a gentleman thief with a love of cricket and a chronicling side-kick, Bunny Danvers. Raffles and Bunny live the lives of gentlemen and support themselves by burglary. Hornung was Conan Doyle's brother-in-law and just as with Sherlock Holmes
Show More
(and many detective to come) Bunny and Raffles' exploits are told through 16 short stories. Interestingly Hornung had spent some time in Australia and one story, told in flashback, is set entirely in the outskirts of colonial Melbourne. Enjoyable period piece. Show Less
LibraryThing member ClicksClan
My husband got a collection of ‘crime classics’ several months ago and has been working his way through them, in between reading other books. I don’t like to read his books until he’d read them but somehow I overlooked Raffles, by E.W. Hornung, when he finished with it. We can’t even
E.W. Hornung was heavily inspired by his brother-in-law, none other than Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes. And it shows. Raffles and Bunny are really the polar opposites of Holmes and Watson, while Doyle’s creations were solving crimes, Raffles was committing them. It’s really easy to make connections between the characters. Bunny recounts his exploits with Raffles in much the same was as Watson does. Raffles is the brains of the operation, only partially filling Bunny in with the finer points when he deems it necessary.
Raffles and Bunny are nowhere near Moriarty’s league of criminals though. Both are members of the wealthier classes who have fallen on hard times, mostly as a result of their own gambling and enjoying the high life. But there’s an element of the Robin Hood about them. They are happy to help out a friend who is in a similar situation to themselves and in trouble with a bit of a bad character. They don’t seem to get much out of the ventures mentioned in these stories, which I suppose is why they have to keep going back and stealing things again and again.
Despite the fact that they are thieves and you shouldn’t really like them, they are surprisingly likeable. I mean, they’re villains, but they’re very nice villains. And if you think that Holmes and Watson seem a bit close at times, they’ve got nothing on Raffles and Bunny. Probably not helped by the fact that Raffles calls Bunny Bunny. I realise I’m being terribly immature here, but sometimes books written over a hundred years ago can be quite unintentionally funny.
I did quite enjoy it, though some of the cricket references went rather over the top of my head. It was a nice quick read; I’ve come to quite enjoy reading books of short stories recently. In the last few years I’ve tended to choose novels over short story collections but there’s something very practical about short stories. You can read a couple before bed, one in your lunch break, whatever. Mr. Click prefers short story collections so we’ve got at least another five waiting on the bookshelf for him to read… three of which I might not wait for him to get to, they do look rather good.
Show More
remember exactly when it was that he read it, perhaps January/February time. It wasn’t until I was studying his bookshelf that I realised this. So when I’d finished with Inkheart I moved straight onto Raffles before I forgot it again.E.W. Hornung was heavily inspired by his brother-in-law, none other than Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes. And it shows. Raffles and Bunny are really the polar opposites of Holmes and Watson, while Doyle’s creations were solving crimes, Raffles was committing them. It’s really easy to make connections between the characters. Bunny recounts his exploits with Raffles in much the same was as Watson does. Raffles is the brains of the operation, only partially filling Bunny in with the finer points when he deems it necessary.
Raffles and Bunny are nowhere near Moriarty’s league of criminals though. Both are members of the wealthier classes who have fallen on hard times, mostly as a result of their own gambling and enjoying the high life. But there’s an element of the Robin Hood about them. They are happy to help out a friend who is in a similar situation to themselves and in trouble with a bit of a bad character. They don’t seem to get much out of the ventures mentioned in these stories, which I suppose is why they have to keep going back and stealing things again and again.
Despite the fact that they are thieves and you shouldn’t really like them, they are surprisingly likeable. I mean, they’re villains, but they’re very nice villains. And if you think that Holmes and Watson seem a bit close at times, they’ve got nothing on Raffles and Bunny. Probably not helped by the fact that Raffles calls Bunny Bunny. I realise I’m being terribly immature here, but sometimes books written over a hundred years ago can be quite unintentionally funny.
I did quite enjoy it, though some of the cricket references went rather over the top of my head. It was a nice quick read; I’ve come to quite enjoy reading books of short stories recently. In the last few years I’ve tended to choose novels over short story collections but there’s something very practical about short stories. You can read a couple before bed, one in your lunch break, whatever. Mr. Click prefers short story collections so we’ve got at least another five waiting on the bookshelf for him to read… three of which I might not wait for him to get to, they do look rather good.
Show Less
LibraryThing member otterley
Raffles is one of the archetypes of crime writing - the dilettante with charm, the skilful cricketer, the clever plotter - he is Campion, Wimsey, even Lynley - but with the twist that he bats for the other side. The gentleman thief, with his admiring biographical sidekick (Hastings, etc) carries
Show More
out his burglaries with panache and style (passing naked through a ventilator shaft with chloroform between his teeth; swimming ten miles out of a tight spot, mixing with the highest and the lowest in the land, and paying his bills with the proceeds of crime (no Robin Hood here - his crime is strictly for personal benefits). I imagine this was shocking and tantalising for Victorian audiences with a taste for forbidden fruits... Show Less
LibraryThing member nickdreamsong
Funny, engaging stories that remind me of P.G. Wodehouse. Light, but well worth the time, these "crime" stories are more about awkward social situations and shady misunderstandings than murder or mayhem.
LibraryThing member celerydog
A quick read, through a series of interlinking short stories, which, unfortunately are not equally interesting. Will probably appeal to lovers of Sherlock Holmes. worthwhile example of 19th c literature for Y10+ lit students.
LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
I don't care for this entire body of work. The Gentleman thug is best handled by Leslie Charteris and Simon Templar, in my opinion. But Raffles and his buddy Bunny are referred to by some. His heroic death in South Africa should be used by someone else in a fantasy time travel story. Hmmm....
LibraryThing member stuart10er
A series of short stories told in a continuous narrative about Raffles - the thief who is a great Cricketeer - and his pal, Bunny. Interesting in that they are told from the viewpoint of the thief.
LibraryThing member JVioland
"I say, Bunny. The Count has a stone of incomparable worth, the color of a Peacock's crown. Shall we attempt it tonight?"
"Surely, you must be joking. Won't his man impede us? He will not be attending the Ball at Hamptons with him, after all. I must say, you do take unwarranted risks."
Yeah, yeah. I
"Surely, you must be joking. Won't his man impede us? He will not be attending the Ball at Hamptons with him, after all. I must say, you do take unwarranted risks."
Yeah, yeah. I
Show More
know. Boring yet pretentious. The greatest Cricketer of the age a cat burglar. What nonsense. What rot. Don't bother. Good, it's not. Show Less
LibraryThing member sometimeunderwater
Surprisingly enjoyable. There's an emotional shallowness that comes with pulp stories of this short length, but Bunny's curious devotion to Raffles and the uncanny moral void that they both operate in, manage to be unexpectedly moving. The finale of the collection especially, with Bunny's image of
Show More
Raffles' head bobbing off towards land as he's clapped in irons, is powerful. Show Less
LibraryThing member alanteder
This is more of a historical curiosity now as the stories aren't very exciting or clever.
A.J. Raffles is a gentleman thief in late Victorian England whose main cover story of playing cricket allows him some outside excuse for travel. He has a sidekick named Bunny Manders who is the one documenting
The stories however usually involve simply quick and bold grabs without any particularly clever scheme, so in comparison to modern day heist thrillers this is pretty tame stuff. Still, it is interesting to see the anti-hero precedents being set here.
For another early (c. 1900) gentleman thief series of books I'd recommend Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin series where the lead character is also quite charming and witty.
A.J. Raffles is a gentleman thief in late Victorian England whose main cover story of playing cricket allows him some outside excuse for travel. He has a sidekick named Bunny Manders who is the one documenting
Show More
the stories. There is a main adversary as well in Inspector MacKenzie of Scotland Yard. If these parallels to Sherlock Holmes aren't enough for you, then you should also know that author E.W. Hornung was the brother-in-law of Arthur Conan Doyle.The stories however usually involve simply quick and bold grabs without any particularly clever scheme, so in comparison to modern day heist thrillers this is pretty tame stuff. Still, it is interesting to see the anti-hero precedents being set here.
For another early (c. 1900) gentleman thief series of books I'd recommend Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin series where the lead character is also quite charming and witty.
Show Less
LibraryThing member asxz
Well that was a rum little thing. Holmes and Watson as thieves written by Conan Doyle's brother-in-law. Only they're not terribly good. Raffles is far from perfect. He's a bit of a lunatic. Bunny contributes almost nothing. It's all a bit of a mess.
And yet... the stories contain the bare-bones
And yet... the stories contain the bare-bones
Show More
tropes if every heist movie and anti-hero thief story ever told. Show Less
LibraryThing member jwhenderson
Raffles is a unique depiction of a rogue burglar. The novel is one of style plus substance that succeeds in what Graham Greene would call "entertainment."
LibraryThing member page.fault
The Raffles stories are basically the British version of Arsene Lupin: they feature a hyperintelligent Sherlock Holmes-like character who uses his skills to transgress the law rather than defend it. Raffles' adventures are rather more serious and straightforward than the often spoofy escapades of
I love both Sherlock Holmes and Poirot, and quite enjoyed the Arsene Lupin stories, and the close similarities between the stories may perhaps make me more critical of Raffles. Unless the stories are total spoofs, I have real issues sympathizing with amoral protagonists, and I simply couldn't adopt the point of view of the rather villainous Raffles and Bunny. At least initially, Raffles becomes a thief for the joy of the challenge, but at some point, his motivations shift into monetary gain and simple hubris. To me at least, this gave the stories an unpleasant taint that I was unable to shake. I also found the Bunny-Raffles relationship far more problematic than the others mentioned above. Bunny is too adoring, too uncritical, and too stupid for my taste, and Raffles mixes sneering contempt with a tendency to take advantage of Bunny's affection. It left me feeling that Raffles was even more cold and emotionless than Holmes, but without the latter's saving moral code and eccentricity.
Overall, the Raffles stories are classics and worth reading if you are exploring the genre. If you are just interested in a taste of British sleuth stories, you can't do better than to return to The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. If you want a crime-solving upperclass twit, try A Man Lay Dead; if you want an upperclass cricket-playing twit, there's always Lord Peter Wimsey: Whose Body?. If you want to read about a charming thief, try some stories from the other side of the channel, namely, Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief.
Show More
Lupin and his nemesis "Holmlock Shears" (I am not making that up--after Doyle threatened a lawsuit, Lupin's nemesis got this entertaining monniker instead.) Like the Holmes stories, Raffles' adventures are narrated by a loyal and rather less intelligent sidekick. However, narrator Bunny Manders strikes me as a "low-budget" version of Watson: Bunny's intelligence is closer to that of Poirot's Hastings than that of the clever Watson, and his affections for Raffles more reminiscent of Holmes/Watson slash fiction than the canon Holmes/Watson friendship. (Seriously, Bunny/Raffles goes rather farther than Holmes/Watson, intentional or no. Just note Bunny's rather sensual descriptions of Raffles' appearance, then swap over to a point where there is any physical interaction between the two, and the way Raffles keeps calling him "my Bunny" and "my dearest Bunny." Not to mention that Bunny makes it quite clear that Raffles is all that gives his life meaning. Oh, and in the next book, they'll end up living together. Why is this a problem? Because Raffles repeatedly abuses Bunny's trust and devotion. And Bunny lets him. Over and over and over. Grr.)I love both Sherlock Holmes and Poirot, and quite enjoyed the Arsene Lupin stories, and the close similarities between the stories may perhaps make me more critical of Raffles. Unless the stories are total spoofs, I have real issues sympathizing with amoral protagonists, and I simply couldn't adopt the point of view of the rather villainous Raffles and Bunny. At least initially, Raffles becomes a thief for the joy of the challenge, but at some point, his motivations shift into monetary gain and simple hubris. To me at least, this gave the stories an unpleasant taint that I was unable to shake. I also found the Bunny-Raffles relationship far more problematic than the others mentioned above. Bunny is too adoring, too uncritical, and too stupid for my taste, and Raffles mixes sneering contempt with a tendency to take advantage of Bunny's affection. It left me feeling that Raffles was even more cold and emotionless than Holmes, but without the latter's saving moral code and eccentricity.
Overall, the Raffles stories are classics and worth reading if you are exploring the genre. If you are just interested in a taste of British sleuth stories, you can't do better than to return to The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. If you want a crime-solving upperclass twit, try A Man Lay Dead; if you want an upperclass cricket-playing twit, there's always Lord Peter Wimsey: Whose Body?. If you want to read about a charming thief, try some stories from the other side of the channel, namely, Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief.
Show Less
LibraryThing member AliceAnna
I read this previously and found the tales of Raffles and his sidekick Bunny entertaining in a quaint, old-fashioned kind of way. Nothing groundbreaking, but likeable characters. The fact that they are gentlemen burglars makes it even more fun.
LibraryThing member AliceAnna
Further adventures of gentlemen burglars Raffles and Bunny.
LibraryThing member gpower61
Gentleman thief A. J. Raffles and his accomplice Harry ‘Bunny’ Masters are the criminal mirror images of Holmes and Watson. Any resemblance is entirely intentional: the book bears the dedication ‘To A.C.D., This Form of Flattery’ and Hornung was married to Constance Doyle, Conan Doyle’s
Raffles and Bunny met at their public school and are very close friends. Their relationship carries a delicious homoerotic subtext. At first I thought this was my fevered imagination but Hornung knew Oscar Wilde and it seems that echoes of the Wilde/Bosie dalliance were also entirely intentional. Raffles and Bunny inhabit a Wildean world of paradox, moral relativism and aestheticism. Raffles is criminal as artist relishing the conception, plotting and realisation of his crimes. He steals partly to maintain his lifestyle but also for the sheer creative fun of it. And there’s a whiff of socialism in the privileged air: challenged by Bunny about his depredations Raffles avers that crime is wrong but the distribution of wealth is wrong as well.
He has a talent for cricket and plays for England - ‘a dangerous bat, a brilliant field, and perhaps the very finest slow bowler of his decade’. His fame on the field provides cover for his secret life of larceny as well as allowing Hornung to spin parallels between the game of cricket and the game of crime. George Orwell had a talent for writing perceptive essays and he wrote one about Raffles. Orwell points out that cricket is the perfect sport for Raffles as it is bound up, in England at least, with notions of style and fair play; the phrase ‘it’s not cricket’ to express ethical disapproval is not entirely obsolete even in the 21st century. By making his burglar a cricketer, observes Orwell, Hornung was ‘drawing the sharpest moral contrast that he was able to imagine’.
Raffles is an amateur cricketer, just as he is an amateur cracksman, and he regards with condescension the professionals in both occupations. Raffles, you understand, is a Gentleman and most emphatically not a Player. Which brings us to the essence of these delightfully absurd adventures: snobbery. By making his hero a toff Hornung catered to his readers fantasies about upper crust society but making his toff a criminal also enabled him to playfully subvert Victorian values. Raffles has it both ways with great panache and so does Hornung. These interrelated stories are awash with period charm, cleverly plotted and a rattling good read.
Show More
sister. Raffles is a dandy about town, a handsome, well-heeled member of late Victorian society who is also a diamond thief and burglar. He has a bachelor pad at the Albany, belongs to the best West End clubs and dines in grand houses as a guest before breaking into them and cracking the safe.Raffles and Bunny met at their public school and are very close friends. Their relationship carries a delicious homoerotic subtext. At first I thought this was my fevered imagination but Hornung knew Oscar Wilde and it seems that echoes of the Wilde/Bosie dalliance were also entirely intentional. Raffles and Bunny inhabit a Wildean world of paradox, moral relativism and aestheticism. Raffles is criminal as artist relishing the conception, plotting and realisation of his crimes. He steals partly to maintain his lifestyle but also for the sheer creative fun of it. And there’s a whiff of socialism in the privileged air: challenged by Bunny about his depredations Raffles avers that crime is wrong but the distribution of wealth is wrong as well.
He has a talent for cricket and plays for England - ‘a dangerous bat, a brilliant field, and perhaps the very finest slow bowler of his decade’. His fame on the field provides cover for his secret life of larceny as well as allowing Hornung to spin parallels between the game of cricket and the game of crime. George Orwell had a talent for writing perceptive essays and he wrote one about Raffles. Orwell points out that cricket is the perfect sport for Raffles as it is bound up, in England at least, with notions of style and fair play; the phrase ‘it’s not cricket’ to express ethical disapproval is not entirely obsolete even in the 21st century. By making his burglar a cricketer, observes Orwell, Hornung was ‘drawing the sharpest moral contrast that he was able to imagine’.
Raffles is an amateur cricketer, just as he is an amateur cracksman, and he regards with condescension the professionals in both occupations. Raffles, you understand, is a Gentleman and most emphatically not a Player. Which brings us to the essence of these delightfully absurd adventures: snobbery. By making his hero a toff Hornung catered to his readers fantasies about upper crust society but making his toff a criminal also enabled him to playfully subvert Victorian values. Raffles has it both ways with great panache and so does Hornung. These interrelated stories are awash with period charm, cleverly plotted and a rattling good read.
Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Language
Original publication date
1898
Physical description
240 p.; 7.56 inches
ISBN
0141439335 / 9780141439334