The Scarlet Pimpernel

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Title: The Scarlet Pimpernel
Author: Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Pages: 265
Genre: Fiction
Count for Year: 11

I remember reading this when I was a teenager or maybe in college, but since I didn’t remember the specific details of the plot, when I saw it at the library recently, I decided to check it out. I, of course, also saw the A & E miniseries with Richard Grant and Elizabeth McGovern, which wasn’t as good as the book, because our library had some of the movies on DVD and I watched one shortly after re-reading the book.

The copy of the book that I had was the 100th anniversary edition of the book, which was put out in 2000. Interesting, though, that a brief biography of Orczy at the beginning cites the book was first published after it first opened as a stage play in 1903. Other sources, I have seen, cite the publishing of the novel, which was at first rejected by a dozen publishers, in 1905. Unless something is wrong with my math (after all, I was an English major) that adds up to 95 years.

Also in this edition of the book is an introduction by Gary Hoppenstand, a professor who teaches in the Department of American Thought and Language at Michigan State University (which somewhat begs the question, what is he doing an introduction for a book written by a Hungarian baroness, who lived in Monte Carlo and then England after her husband died?). Regardless, I found his introduction to be pretty good, while my wife, who also read the book, found it to be quite tedious. For example, he explains Orczy’s view of Jews as what was then-the stereotypical “dirty Jew”. My wife was somewhat offended by her portrayal of one of the key characters in the book. However, I believed whether or not Orczy felt that way or not about Jews, the way she used the character worked for the story.

Oh, the story? I thought you might already know it. In 1792, the French Revolution is in full swing with Madame la Guillotine cutting a bloody path through Paris. Enter: the Scarlet Pimpernel, known by the insignia with which he stamps his letters, who leads a group of Englishmen and Frenchmen to rescue men, women and children of the aristocrat class from their most unhappy fate. He is pursued by a French agent, Chauvelin, and along the way, in fact, a good part of the way, we follow the story of a French exile, Lady Marguerite Blakeney, married to an English lord, Sir Percy. Of course, it all ties together in the end, with a twist that I didn’t remember. My wife saw it right away and was like, “Ho hum. I saw that coming.”

However, I did not and I found I couldn’t put the book down, especially for the last 50 to 100 pages. It seemed to roll for me, while my wife found it somewhat slow. Perhaps also it was a revelation to me, because as I was reading the book, I was remembering characters and subplots from the book from reading it previously.

Hoppenstand concludes his introduction by making an argument that the impact of Orczy’s book on twentieth-century popular culture is profound.

Orczy’s invention of a hero who employs a dual identity can be traced from Johnston McCulley’s Zorro to D.C. Comic’s Superman and Batman. Her invention of a hedonistic protagonist who knows his wine and clothes appears again in Ian Fleming’s secret agent, James Bond. Her use of a trickster hero who is able to readily escape any life-and-death trap set became a staple plot device in the adventure fiction of Edgar Rice Burroughs. And the wealthy do-gooder who uses his riches to help those less fortunate than himself echoes in the 1930s pulp pages of The Shadow and Doc Savage magazines. Indeed, the Scarlet Pimpernel continues to charm us to this day because he is an immortal hero, not just locked in the history of 1792 Paris, but very part of our own waking dreams today.

While I think he might be using more than a bit of hyperbole, especially that last part, “but very much part of our own waking dreams” (please, spare me), to some degree, I think he’s right, especially after “growing up” on Doc Savage and James Bond books as a kid. The Scarlet Pimpernel was definitely a pulp fiction hero.

Final analysis: 8/10, mainly because that pulp fiction feel of the book didn’t make me remember it as the classic it was when I was younger.

Others’ reviews:

• Devourer of Books — review of The Scarlet Pimpernel, plus bonus review of Lauren Willig’s Pink Carnation series based on The Scarlet Pimpernel
• BooksPlease

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