Father Brown — Urth Net

m.driussi14 Jun 1997, 00:01original as archived

Father Brown

Reply: Item #5308829 from WHORL at LISTS.BEST.COM@INET# If I remember right, Father Brown has a criminal sidekick for a few early stories, named Flammbeaux or something like that (a master jewel thief, or something like that). A team of "cloth & crim" just like Silk and Auk. And the commonfolk of Viron live in a 19th century mode of technology and society; by itself a fact of little consequence, but strengthening the "Brownishness" imho. (Or is Brown solidly 20th century? Well, we might argue that the 20th doesn't really start until the horrors of the Great War have destroyed the European aristocracy . . . works for Proust!) =mantis=

Derek Bell17 Jun 1997, 19:16original as archived

↳ follows m.driussi · by subject

In message <199706140018.RAA11640 at lists1.best.com>, m.driussi at genie.com writes:

5 quoted lines

[Posted from WHORL, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun] Reply: Item #5308829 from WHORL at LISTS.BEST.COM@INET# If I remember right, Father Brown has a criminal sidekick for a few early stories, named Flammbeaux or something like that (a master jewel thief, or something like that). A team of "cloth & crim" just like Silk and Auk.

Excellent! That's something that eluded me though I read those stories myself! I think that the collection has roughly the first half of the stories predating Flambeaux's alliance (conversion?) with Father Brown. I don't remember looking up the publication order, so I'm not sure whether the Flambeax & Brown tales were first.

1 quoted line

Well, we might argue that the 20th doesn't really start until the horrors of the Great War have destroyed the European aristocracy . . . works for Proust!)

Perhaps the Trivigaunti/Ayuntiamento war is the first to break Viron's class-ridden society? (I assume Trivigaunt has fought wars with other statelets or even just skirmished with them.) Tercel

Father BrownWhorl