From: gregerh@spammersgetbent.net   
      
   Sorry for chiming in so late, I overlooked thsi response the last   
   time, for some reason.   
      
   On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 20:18:08 -0500, Gerald Clough   
    wrote:   
      
   >Greger Hoel wrote:   
      
   >> Jack Crabb himself is a historical figure, ain't he?   
      
   >Nope. But it's high praise for an author that, even given readers' lack   
   >of knowledge of the details and participants in events, that no doubt   
   >any number of people assume the character was real. It no doubt helps   
   >the impression that a prominent Sioux was called Little Big Man. One   
   >movie review even calls Jack Crabb an Indian.   
      
   Right, that was it. I knew Little Big Man was a historical figure, so   
   I assumed at least parts of the this story was too. Like him being a   
   half breed with a Christian name as well...   
      
   >George McDonald Fraser's Harry Flashman is another fictional survivor of   
   >LBH, although starting the battle from the Indian camp side as a   
   >captive. Fraser's "Flashman and the Redskins" is one of a series of   
   >Flashman stories, the only one set mostly in the American West and   
   >filled with historical characters. (It helps to read "Flash for   
   >Freedom", which is before and contiguous with Redskins and set mostly in   
   >the American South.   
   >   
   >Fraser does very detailed research and presents the stories of his   
   >Victorian military hero, rake and secret coward (lifting the character   
   >from the Hughes' Victorian novel, "Tom Brown's School Days") heavily   
   >annotated with a mix of historical sources and sidebar comments about   
   >"errors" and discrepencies between various accounts and the fictional   
   >memoirs. He's very adept at having his character interact with (mostly   
   >doing dirt to or running from) famous scalp hunters (Glanton and   
   >company), Army officers (just about everyone and a few more),   
   >gunfighters (Hichock), Indians (just about any Apache or Sioux worth   
   >mentioning) and other real frontier folks (Carson, Wooton, etc.) in a   
   >way that is entirely plausable and far more difficult to contradict with   
   >historical fact than Jack Crabb's insertion into various affairs.   
   >Flashman, for instance, is made out to be the fourth Sioux who charged   
   >across the creek at the approaching troops, the forth man's identity   
   >being not solidly established; and the enigmatic historical scout, Frank   
   >Grouard, is made out as Flashman's illegitimate son from an earlier   
   >cruel betrayal and his savior at the battle. His portrayal of Custer may   
   >be closer to the real man than any other fictional characterization.   
   >   
   >He's not unlike Jack Crabb, just on a global scale, in that Flashman,   
   >through several books, appears at just about every major event of   
   >Victorian times.   
      
   This sounds truly, truly great! I read Tom Brown's Schooldays when I   
   was like ten, and the only character I can remember, 'cept Brown   
   himself of course, is Flashman. I definitely gotta check this out.   
   BTW, when did Fraser write thses books? I'm not familiar with the   
   name, you see. I also have Watch for Me on the Mountain, by Forrest   
   Carter, on my to read list, so it looks like I'll be soaked in western   
   lit for the next months. Actually, Watch for Me on the Mountain is on   
   my to re-read list, as I read it in my early teens sometime.   
      
   Anyway, thanks for the pointers, much obliged.   
      
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