AJ Raffles
A. (Arthur) J. Raffles is the name of a fictional character who is particularly popular in the English-speaking world and was developed by the English writer Ernest William Hornung (1866–1921). Hornung, a brother-in-law of Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle , evidently developed the character of Raffles on the model of the great detective, but in contrast to that as an almost infallible gentleman burglar who steals from the rich, albeit differently than about him and again described, not how Robin Hood gives gifts to the poor, but rather himself and his partner Harry "Bunny" Manders , since he feels that 19th century English society has treated himself unfairly.
The original author's stories (numerous pastiches by other authors about AJ Raffles followed) were first published between 1899 and 1909. AJ Raffles is, in terms of his role as a criminal, a forerunner of the French Arsène Lupine , whose inventor, the writer Maurice Leblanc , published the stories about this thief between 1905 and 1935.
Protagonists
AJ Raffles
An exact "date of birth" is not mentioned in the stories; At the time of his death in the Second Boer War (around 1900) he is said to be around 40 years old, i.e. born around 1860. Raffles studied in Cambridge (which course of study is not known), is single and (according to the original author) childless, lives the life of a rich dandy and is an excellent cricketer . He turns around (at least in the first part of the stories) as a party animal among the beautiful and rich and uses receptions specifically to scout out the locales.
He spends his nights on forays, alone or with his adlatus "Bunny" and maintains his camouflage (until he was exposed on a cruise ship in the mid-1890s). Moral scruples are alien to him (unlike his assistant), he considers the deliberate stealing of people who can afford it to be just in order to help him out in his temporary financial distress. In none of the stories does he get the idea of doing a regular job.
As a thief, however, he has a certain code of honor , he expressly describes himself as an amateur who, unlike professional criminals, only steals from very specific people, basically does not carry a weapon with him, except every now and then a manslaughter , and this only very exceptionally and with bad Conscience applies when someone, like a security guard, does his job with penetrating stubbornness instead of the usual sloppiness. He follows the press reports and is happy when no one is seriously harmed as a result of his actions.
In the later part of the story, when he returns to England after an involuntary exile in Italy (in the hands of the Camorra ), he has to spend the day as a supposedly sick old man under a false name under the nursing care of his old companion, and then forays into the night to do as always. On the occasion of Queen Victoria's 60th anniversary of the throne , in 1897, he stole a gold goblet from the British Museum and gave it to the Queen anonymously as a present.
In a fit of patriotic sentiments, he moves to the Second Boer War in South Africa and dies in a hail of bullets when he tries to help his companion, who previously went down from a gunshot wound.
AJ Raffles' late rehabilitation was not carried out by his creator, but only in the mid-1970s by the author Philip José Farmer , who saved him and his companions the earth from an alien invasion and in doing so did Dr. Watson had the unsolved cases mentioned by the master detective Holmes cleared up without, however , coming into direct connection with him, which further avoids the lack of a confrontation between their novel heroes that was actually to be expected during the lifetime of the original authors (this is not the case with Arsène Lupine , the Sherlock Holmes , for reasons of copyrights at the time Titled "Herlock Sholmes", defeated in one of the stories).
Harry "Bunny" Manders
Harry Manders, Raffles' companion, is younger than him and went to the same school (from which his nickname "Bunny" comes), but he did not go to university. He is active as a writer, which Raffles dismisses rather as breadless art. At first he lived on an inheritance, which he gambled away and, when the gambling debts became unbearable, he turned to the supposedly well-off old debt friend AJ Raffles for help. He let him in on the secret of his financial situation and obliged him to help with a raid.
Bunny's gratitude leads to the fact that he becomes more or less the only friend and constant companion. As an accomplice in a jewel robbery on a cruise ship, Bunny is imprisoned for several years, while AJ Raffles is able to save himself from the police in the form of Inspector Mackenzie by jumping into the water. Later, Bunny meets the returned Raffles, who lives incognito under the name "Maturin" as a supposedly seriously ill person and lets himself be engaged as his "nurse". He accompanies AJ Raffles in the Boer War and while the latter dies, he returns to England wounded, where he puts the stories about Raffles on paper with the help of his "literary agent" FW Hornung.
Inspector Mackenzie
Scotland Yard's Inspector Mackenzie , of Scottish descent, is the policeman who is most likely to be on AJ Raffles' heels, but who has been successfully fooled by him in the early years. Apparently he knows more about Raffles than he realizes, because on the cruise described in the short story "The Gift of the Monarch" the inspector turns up to solve the jewel theft and within a very short time suspects AJ Raffles.
More people
An equal opponent of AJ Raffles is (in the 1909 story "Raffles as Judge", but set in 1895), the notorious moneylender Dan "Shylock" Levy. First it is stolen from Raffles on the occasion of a spa stay in Karlsbad . Raffles makes sure that the stolen emerald necklace is found again after he overhears Levy's wife suffer from her husband's accusations.
Then Raffles learns that Teddy Garland, a young cricketer whom he has taken under his wing (and whose fiancée he secretly loves), and his father also owe enormous debts to the same moneylender. This threatens to expose both of them and rob them of their mortgaged house. Levy has meanwhile also suspected Raffles in the Karlovy Vary case and asks him to steal a compromising letter in return for indulgence towards the Garlands, who wants to bring him into his power immediately after the theft, which is thwarted by the unexpected appearance of Bunny.
In a scuffle with Levy, Levy burns the letter and refuses to keep the promises in favor of the Garlands, rather threatens to reveal the real AJ Raffles. Levy is overwhelmed and locked up until he can redeem a bill in favor of the Garlands. In the meantime, the tied Levy blackmailed his guard Bunny and the maneuver failed by a hair's breadth. Afraid of Levy's revenge, Raffles and Bunny escape and hear of Levy's sudden death caused by another defaulting debtor. Levy found his judge not only in Raffles, but also in this other victim.
Catalog raisonné
The stories about Raffles first appeared (like the Sherlock Holmes stories) in the magazine "The Strand", then later in several anthologies and finally the only novel about Raffles.
English language editions
-
The Amateur Cracksman (1899) aka Raffles (short stories with the following stories, German title in brackets :)
- The Ides of March
- A Costume Piece (A performance in costume)
- Gentlemen and Players (amateurs and people by profession)
- Le premier pas
- Wilful Murder (premeditated murder)
- Nine Points of the Law (A Burglary to Order)
- The Return Match (A Dangerous Visitor)
- The Gift of the Emperor
-
The Black Mask (1901) aka Further Adventures of the Amateur Cracksman (short stories)
- No Sincecure (No easy job)
- A Jubilee Present
- The Fate of Faustina
- The Last Laugh
- To Catch a Thief
- An Old Flame (an old flame)
- The Wrong House
- The Knees of the Gods
-
A Thief in the Night (1905) (short stories)
- Out of Paradise
- The Chest of Silver
- The Rest Cure
- The Criminalist's Club
- The Field of Philippi (The Plains of Philippi)
- A Bad Night
- A Trap to Catch a Cracksman
- The Spoils of Sacrilege
- Raffles 'Relics (Raffles' relics)
- The Last Word (Closing Word)
- Mr. Justice Raffles (1909) (novel)
- The Complete Short Stories of Raffles (1984) (anthology of the aforementioned stories)
- The Collected Raffles (1993) (also)
The English-language original stories since 1972, 50 years after the author's death, according's then copyright the public domain.
German editions
Before World War II:
- A Burglar from Passion , 1903 (The Amateur Cracksman, 1899, Engelhorns Allgemeine Roman-Bibliothek)
- The Black Mask , 1903 (The Black Mask, 1901, Engelhorns Allgemeine Roman-Bibliothek)
- A Thief in the Night , 1908 (A Thief in the Night, 1905, Engelhorns Allgemeine Roman-Bibliothek)
- Raffles as Judge , 1912 (Mr Justice Raffles, 1909, Engelhorn's General Library of Fiction)
Only these editions contain an (almost) complete German translation and are printed in the correct narrative order
After the Second World War:
- Raffles as judge (Mr. Justice Raffles) ; Verlag Das neue Berlin, GDR 1979 = Heyne 1981, publisher number 1976
- Raffles - The Thief in the Night ; Diogenes 1976, publisher number 109/20237, ISBN 3-257-20237-7 = Heyne 1983, publisher number 2032
- Raffles - The Amateur Burglar , Diogenes 1988, publisher number 21579, ISBN 3-257-21579-7
The books are only available as antiquarian books. The stories about Raffles are currently not available in German as an e-book.
Film adaptations
The Raffles stories have been filmed many times and also prepared for television in series. Unfortunately, none of these films were dubbed into German. A detailed list can be found in the English language version of this page.
Pastiches
Numerous authors have written pastiches around Raffles and thus spun the story further. These include: John Kendrick Bangs, Adam Corres, Philip José Farmer , David Fletcher, Richard Foreman, Graham Greene, Barry Perowne and Peter Tremayne. Only Raffles Holmes and Co by Kendrick Bangs were translated into German , a collection in which Raffles Holmes, son of Sherlock Holmes and at the same time grandson of AJ Raffles, plays a double role.
On the other hand, the story The Problem of the Sore Bridge - Among Others was translated into German by Philip Jose Farmer (German title: " The Problem of the Sore Bridge - among others"). It can be found in the science fiction collection "With Sherlock Holmes through space and time (Part 1), edited by Isaak Asimov, and is included here under the list of Sherlock Holmes pastiches . AJ Raffles and Bunny Manders discover few in this story Months after the events described in the novel "Raffles as Judge", unusual star sapphires sold by a mysterious man named James Phillimore , who turns out to be an alien shape shifter , the star sapphires as eggs of the species, whose first victim is that of Sherlock Holmes Isadora Persano , a journalist who has gone mad, is on the run with the disappeared cutter Alicia (according to Dr. Watson, 3rd unsolved case) , and a showdown takes place in which AJ Raffles and Bunny Manders manage to save the whole of humanity from destruction and Always a step ahead of Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Mackenzie, who are also on their heels.
