A Requiem for Flashman*

George Macdonald Fraser has died of cancer, aged 82. Fraser, you may or may not know, was the author of the Flashman series.

If the previous sentence has no meaning for you, I pity you and I envy you. The pity is because you have never had the pleasure of reading about the exploits of Harry Flashman, the pre-eminent cad of the Victorian era.

And I envy you because you can, if you are wise and immediately take my advice and seek out the Flashman books, still experience the first thrill of reading about Harry Flashman and laughing until it hurts. AND you can laugh your ass off while simultaneously learning (whether you like it or not) about a great deal of 19th century history.

Fraser was not REMOTELY like his character, Flashman. Fraser was decent and honorable. And that's what makes Flashie so fun - although a cavalry officer in the British army during his long career that covered much of the 19th century, he was no gentleman. He was an incorrigible cad and a bounder. He stole, he lied, he fornicated, he stole, lied, and fornicated some more. And whenever possible, he tried to avoid danger. Which he was very poor at, because inevitably his stealing, lying, and fornicating would get him into greater danger.

But fortunately for him, Flashie had the gift of appearing to be bold, bluff, and sincere and so he was a hero to most everybody he met like Queen Victoria. Only a few suspected his true nature - shrewd types like Abraham Lincoln, Lord Cardigan, and Otto von Bismark, who made Flashie quite uncomfortable. But you are in on the joke. And what makes Flashman tolerable (these books are presented as if they were his memoirs, written in the first person in his extreme old age) is that he knows EXACTLY what he is and he doesn't try to hide it or excuse away his roguish behavior.

I could go on for pages but I won't. Try the Flashman books.

* Yes, I know it was Fraser who died, not Flashman. I do understand the difference, and if I met Jason Alexander on the street I wouldn't call him George.