The Prisoner of Zenda (1894), by Anthony Hope, is an adventure novel in which the King of Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation and thus is unable to attend the ceremony. Political forces within the realm are such that, in order for the king to retain the crown, his coronation must proceed. Fortuitously, an English gentleman on holiday in Ruritania who resembles the monarch is persuaded to act as his political decoy in an effort to save the unstable political situation of the interregnum.
Queen Flavia, dutifully but unhappily married to her cousin Rudolf V, writes to her true love Rudolf Rassendyll. The letter is carried by von Tarlenheim and his servant Bauer to be delivered by hand, but Fritz is betrayed by Bauer and it is stolen by the exiled Rupert of Hentzau and his loyal cousin the Count of Luzau-Rischenheim. Hentzau sees in it a chance to return to favor by informing the pathologically jealous and paranoid King.
Continuing his efforts to protect the former ruler Jason Cullianane, the adventurer Kethol, accompanied by the loyal Pirojil and the fledgling wizard Erenor, sets a complicated plan into action in order to save the kingdom.
Jasper Detchard is a disgraced British officer, now selling his blade to the highest bidder. Currently that's Michael Elphberg, half-brother to the King of Ruritania. Michael wants the throne for himself, and Jasper is one of the scoundrels he hires to help him take it. But when Michael makes his move, things don't go entirely to plan-and the penalty for treason is death. Rupert of Hentzau is Michael's newest addition to his sinister band of henchmen. Charming, lethal, and intolerably handsome, Rupert is out for his own ends-which seem to include getting Jasper into bed. But Jasper needs to work out what Rupert's really up to amid a maelstrom of plots, swordfights, scheming, impersonation, desire, betrayal, and murder. Nobody can be trusted. Everyone has a secret. And love is the worst mistake you can make. A retelling of the swashbuckling classic The Prisoner of Zenda from a very different point of view.
This is a book about the long cultural shadow cast by a single bestselling novel, Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda (1894), which introduced Ruritania, a colourful pocket kingdom. In this swashbuckling tale, Englishman Rudolf Rassendyll impersonates the king of Ruritania to foil a coup, but faces a dilemma when he falls for the lovely Princess Flavia. Hope's novel inspired stage and screen adaptations, place names, and even a board game, but it also launched a whole new subgenre, the "Ruritanian romance". The new form offered swordplay, royal romance, and splendid uniforms and gowns in such settings as Alasia, Balaria, and Cadonia. This study explores both the original appeal of The Prisoner of Zenda, and the extraordinary longevity and adaptability of the Ruritanian formula, which, it is argued, has been rooted in a lingering fascination with royalty, and the pocket kingdom's capacity to hold a looking glass up to Britain and later the United States. Individual chapters look at Hope's novel and its stage and film adaptations; at the forgotten American versions of Ruritania; at the chocolate-box principalities of the musical stage; at Cold War reworkings of the formula; and at Ruritania's recent reappearance in young adult fiction and made-for-television Christmas movies. The adventures of Ruritania have involved a diverse list of contributors, including John Buchan, P.G Wodehouse, Agatha Christie, Vladimir Nabokov, and Ian Fleming among the writers; Sigmund Romberg and Ivor Novello among the composers; Erich Von Stroheim and David O. Selznick among the film-makers; and Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Peter Ustinov, Peter Sellers, and Anne Hathaway among the performers.
Five times made into film versions since its original publication in 1894, The Prisoner of Zenda is a perennially popular adventure and romance story. Hope's swashbuckling romance transports his English gentleman hero, Rudolf Rassendyll, from a comfortable life in London to fast-paced adventures in Ruritania, a mythical land steeped in political intrigue. Rassendyll must impersonate the rightful king in order to rescue him from the castle Zenda, all the while facing tests of honor with the beautiful Princess Flavia, and enduring tests of strength in his encounters with the villainous Black Michael and his handsome, debonair bodyguard, Rupert of Hentzau.
The Ebbsfleet Valley in north-west Kent is just 2.5 km long, with Springhead at its head and Northfleet near its confluence with the Thames, and contains many important sites of many periods. Construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link provided a unique opportunity to undertake large-scale investigations of Late Iron Age and Roman settlements, religious complexes, cemeteries, roads, a 'processional way' and a villa site, as well as three small Saxon settlements, two cemeteries and a watermill. The results are published in four separate volumes. This volume describes the archaeological results of the excavations. A Roman 'small town' or roadside settlement (Vagniacis) developed into an almost unique religious centre within Roman Britain, probably attracting pilgrims from throughout the Empire. In addition to temples, a major mid-2nd century AD sanctuary complex has been discovered, focused on the springs. Another temple, close to Watling Street may have remained in use until the late 4th or early 5th centuries while a range of timber buildings lay within properties lining the road including an aisled barn, a blacksmith's forge, a bakery, and a brewing complex. Three small cemeteries were recorded. At Northfleet villa, the waterfront and much of the agricultural surroundings were investigated. A detached bath-house and a multi-phased timber barn, the latter representing part of a brewing complex, were excavated. Also excavated were sunken-featured buildings belonging to possibly three separate Saxon settlements and two cemeteries and the waterlogged remains of a Saxon watermill.
"Nothing more strangely indicates an enormous and silent evil of modern society than the extraordinary use which is made nowadays of the word 'orthodox.'" These are the introductory words of one of the best writers of the early twentieth century. Compared to Dickens, Chesterton gained great praise for debating with the giants like Shaw, Wells, and Russell. "A 1905 collection of twenty Victorian journalistic essays and articles still worth reading." Amazon.com
