Friday, June 26, 2020

Derring-Do

Michael Dirda reviews Ruritania: A Cultural History, a book about a book and its genre. The book is The Prisoner of Zenda.
Anthony Hope’s “The Prisoner of Zenda” is set in a small imaginary country called Ruritania, just a train ride from Dresden, where the capital is Strelsau, the people speak German, society remains semi-feudal and affairs of honor are settled with swords. First published in 1894, this romantic swashbuckler turns on the striking resemblance between a likable, slightly feckless young Englishman named Rudolf Rassendyll and the utterly boorish heir to Ruritania’s throne. When the latter is secretly kidnapped and imprisoned in Zenda Castle, Rudolf is persuaded to temporarily take the place of his Ruritanian look-a-like. Only a small handful of people know the truth about the switch, and these don’t include the Princess Flavia, who, to her surprise, begins to feel attracted to a man she had hitherto found markedly repugnant.

Hope’s novel deservedly became a bestseller, partly because it goes like a shot and partly because it has, well, everything: political intrigue, derring-do, sparkling prose, dastardly villains and a great love story. More broadly, the book established a vogue—in plays, operettas and films, as well as popular fiction—for romantic adventure at the courts of colorful make-believe kingdoms. .... (more, perhaps behind a subscription wall)

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