Today brings the sad news that George MacDonald Fraser OBE has died. Author of the MacAuslan books a range of histories and of course the incomparable Flashman series, the world and Britain has lost an individual voice.He was also the holder of trenchant views... maybe best described in his memoir, The Light's on at Signpost a remarkably similar to my own.
A classic example of Fraser's breadth is his coverage of the assault on Magdala by Napier. Only last year a new history, "The barefoot Emperor" came out. This was reviewed extensively in the broadshets, most mentioningthat this was a hidden part of both African and British colonial history. It tells of the traji-comdey of Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia.
But of course it wasn't hidden, Flashman had been there, and his version of the history as ever missed very little of the truth, but was a hell of a lot more fun.
So I shall raise a bumper in your memory Mr Fraser.
3 comments:
Didn't he write The Golden Bough as well?
Tragi-comedy.
That'll be James Georges Frazer
Quite a different sort of book. A comparative treatise on religion and mythology. Are you not confusing with Doris Lessing's Golden Notebook, Aunty?
I thought Flashman was based on you, Eliab!
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