Ruritarian novel

[Roy Bland]

Has anyone any suggest on this subject?

[pjme]

I had completely forgotten about Ruritania!

"Ruritania is a generic name for any archetypal fictional country located in Central Europe or the Balkans (mostly anywhere east of Germany and west of Russia). This country is characterized by its small size, backward or quirky customs, and forests full of Savage Wolves and bears. It is often the home of the Funny Foreigner."

I will search my books... but never read The prisoner of Zenda.

Kuifje/TinTin was spotted in Ruritanian states. And to my experience, Belgium has strong Ruritanian qualities.

[Jo498]

I read "The prisoner of Zenda" [I had written "Zelda" despite never having played that videogame] but it was many years ago and I don't think I ever read the sequel although I generally like classic adventure novels, incl. some trashy ones (like the Raffles series). I remember it as entertaining but not that great. It's fairly short, though. There is one by Stevenson called "Prince Otto" but I never finished this, it's not up with Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Dr Jekyll etc.
The Tintin comic book fitting best is the one pictured, "The sceptre of King Ottokar". However, there are a few more taking place in Syldavia (and it's hostile neighbor).
I haven't read any of the others mentioned in the wikipedia article (such as "Graustark", Flashman etc.)

Admittedly I only saw the movie, but "The princess bride" should also qualify although it is more of a fairy tale/fantasy romance than a faux-realist Victorian setting.

A fantastic swashbuckling tale (although it has more in common with "Arabian Nights") and it's a full length novel, I'd recommend is "The manuscript found in Saragossa" from the early 19th century by Count Jan Potocki (who, no kidding, committed suicide by shooting himself with a silver bullet because the believed he would turn into a werewolf).

[Florestan]

A fantastic swashbuckling tale (although it has more in common with "Arabian Nights") and it's a full length novel, I'd recommend is "The manuscript found in Saragossa"

It's not Ruritanian, though, as it's explicitly located in Spain. 

And the plot is so convoluted, and the characters and the stories within stories multiply at such a pace as to make War and Peace or The Brothers Karamazov look like comics. 

And after all that hustle and bustle, the denouement is rather anticlimactic.

Honestly, it was a huge disappointment for me.

[Roy Bland]

TNX We have only this,Stevenson wrote before Hope

[Jo498]

It's not Ruritanian, though, as it's explicitly located in Spain. 

And the plot is so convoluted, and the characters and the stories within stories multiply at such a pace as to make War and Peace or The Brothers Karamazov look like comics. 

And after all that hustle and bustle, the denouement is rather anticlimactic.

Honestly, it was a huge disappointment for me.

I think a major point of that book is the convoluted stories within stories, not the "frame story". So the disappointment is "built in"; it's been years I read it but I found it very entertaining.

[ritter]

I think a major point of that book is the convoluted stories within stories, not the "frame story". So the disappointment is "built in"; it's been years I read it but I found it very entertaining.

+1.

I got to know the novel some 20 years through a successful stage adaptation by Francisco Nieva ere in Madrid (it worked much better IMHO than the 1965 Polish film version by Wojciech Has, or the French TV version—La Duchesse d'Avila— from 1973). After seeing the play, I immediately devoured the novel (in English translation). I should revisit the original French text soon, as I found the book quite wonderful.

[pjme]

And the plot is so convoluted, and the characters and the stories within stories multiply at such a pace as to make War and Peace or The Brothers Karamazov look like comics. 

My experience aswell. I bought the book (many  moons ago) after seeing the Polish 1965 film, directed by Wojciech Jerzy Has. I seem to have fond memories of it...

However, could Gerolstein (La grande duchesse de...) be Ruritanian?

[Jo498]

Isn't there a somewhat complex story with the text of "Saragossa" itself as it's French manuscript was lost, early printings were often pirated and unreliable and apparently some portions had to be re-translated from a Polish translation.
I have never seen any of the films, I am even surprised that there are so many, even another recent one "Agadah"
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6074358/

[Roy Bland]

Thanks for all answers i'd like to know if exists a web page devoted to this kind of novels .
Gerolstein is from Eugene Sue and it is before Prisoner of Zenda.

[JBS]

Pontevedro in The Merry Widow has a Ruritanian feel.
In the 1860ish play from which the operetta was adapted, the country involved was a German grand duchy.

[Roy Bland]

It may seems a niggler statement but Hope's novel is of 1894 before Ruritania  didn't exist we have also this but i dislike totally

[Jo498]

Pontevedro in The Merry Widow has a Ruritanian feel.
In the 1860ish play from which the operetta was adapted, the country involved was a German grand duchy.

Yes, Pontevedro is an allusion to Montenegro and clearly has a ruritanian character. It made sense in the early 20th century to adapt the plot for a southeastern European "Ruritania".

In Offenbach's "Grand duchess of Gerolstein", Gerolstein is a real small town in Western Germany, even with a castle ruin, but it never was anything like a duchy, so the one in the operetta is fictious and could also be classified as "ruritanian" (except that typical Ruritanian plots are set at a time when Germany was already unified, so one had to move further East/South).

There are some other examples in (serious, not pulp) literature but some might also be thinly disguised real regions/countries. E.g. the grand duchy in Mann's Royal Highness (Königliche Hoheit) shares apparently many features with Mecklenburg-Schwerin in Northern German.

[Roy Bland]

Now i remember to have seen this placed in a ruritarian city when i was a child it was very amusing the bad character was none other than Bismarck

[Roy Bland]

I forgot this

[Roy Bland]

Pavonia by Chesterton (he said) in Four Faultless Felons.