![]() ![]() Like his latter-day literary child Ciaphas Cain, there is the occasional indication that Flashy doth protest too much and is braver than he thinks he is - but unlike Cain, even if this is the case, cowardice is only one aspect of the bullying, self-centered, and misogynistic Flashy's awfulness. In fact, these last two are the only categories of people in the world he's prepared to risk his own life for. ![]() ![]() He has almost no redeeming qualities in Fraser's books either, except for crystal-clear powers of observation and real affection for his wife Elspeth and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The character Flashman is taken from the Victorian novel Tom Brown's Schooldays, where he is presented without any redeeming qualities. The author had a fondness for Refuge in Audacity and strove to make his stories - narrated by the eponymous rogue from the perspective of his comfortable retired life - as deliciously offensive as possible. They are presented as the memoirs of an infamous Victorian war hero who describes his adventures as a bully, rapist, lecher, backstabber, and coward. The Flashman novels by George MacDonald Fraser are a Picaresque series of adventures, starring Harry Flashman. ![]() Sir Harry Paget Flashman VC, KCB, KCIE, From the Flashman Papers 1839-1842 ![]()
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