“The Scarlet Primrose” [1] ( eng. The Scarlet Pimpernel, Scarlet Pimpernel ) is a classic adventure novel written by Baroness Emma Orzi in 1905 (based on her play of 1903), about the British aristocrat and royalist operating in France during the era The terror .
| Scarlet Primrose | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Author | |
| Original language | |
| Date of first publication | |
| Publishing house | |
| Previous | |
| Following | |
The main character, Sir Percy Blakeney, in everyday life portrays a pampered dandy , interested only in fashion and styles of tailcoat and at the same time is actively clandestine in the fight against the French Revolution . Scarlet Primrose is the pseudonym of his choice. He saves from the guillotine and smuggles several noble French aristocrats to England, and also rescues from the Jacobin captivity the young heir to the French throne, Louis XVII . The cycle of novels about the Scarlet Primrose included more than 10 books and was created by Baroness Orzi until the 1930s.
This novel and its sequels, written by the Baroness, popularized the figure of the avenger in a mask ( masked avenger ), which later evolved into heroes such as Zorro and even Batman . Despite its naivety and romance for the modern reader, as well as historical errors, in the past the novel was extremely popular in the West. Of the classics of Russian literature, this book was read by young Vladimir Nabokov [2] .
Content
The cycle of novels
Novels
- “Scarlet Primrose” (play 1903, novel 1905)
- I will Repay (1906)
- The Elusive Pimpernel (1908)
- Eldorado (1913)
- Lord Tony's Wife (1917)
- The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1922)
- Sir Percy Hits Back (1927)
- A Child of the Revolution (1932)
- The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1933)
- Sir Percy Leads the Band (1936)
- Mam'zelle Guillotine (1940)
Storybooks
- The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1919) The Red Flower League
- Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1929)
Related Books
- The Laughing Cavalier (1913) (about the ancestor of the hero)
- The First Sir Percy (1920) (similar)
- Pimpernel and Rosemary (1924) (about the hero’s love story)
- The Scarlet Pimpernel looks at the World (1933)
Films and music
- There are about 15 adaptations of the novel, the most famous:
- Scarlet Primrose (film, 1934) - in ch. the roles of Leslie Howard
- Scarlet Primrose (film, 1982) - in ch. the role of Anthony Andrews
- Scarlet Primrose (TV series) - TV series 1999—2000.
- Scarlet Primrose (musical) - 1997 musical.
- "Scarlet Pimpernel" is a song by Black Sabbath .
Followers of the Scarlet Primrose
- During the 2nd World War, the Scottish priest Donald Caskie helped about 2 thousand people flee from occupied France. In 1957 he published an autobiography entitled "Tartan Primrose" (with reference to the national symbol of Scotland - tartan ).
- The Swedish diplomat Harald Edelstam earned the nickname "Black Primrose" for saving Norwegian Jews and underground from the Nazis and Chileans fleeing the Pinochet regime .
- In the wake of the success of the 1934 film adaptation with Leslie Howard in the lead role, the latter directed the Pimpernel Smith movie (1941) based on the novel, the action of which was postponed in the 1940s: the protagonist is a Cambridge archaeologist who rescues prisoners from Nazi concentration camps. It is believed that this painting inspired Raoul Wallenberg to save Jews from the Nazis.
See also
- A Tale of Two Cities
Notes
- ↑ Translation options into Russian: “Crimson Primrose”, “League of the Red Flower”, “Scarlet Pimpernel”, etc.
- ↑ Brian Boyd. Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years