Ernest William Hornung

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Ernest William Hornung

Ernest William Hornung (born June 7, 1866 in Marton , Middlesbrough , † March 22, 1921 in Saint-Jean-de-Luz , France ) was an English writer .

Life

After spending two years in Australia, Hornung worked as a journalist in London in the early 1890s, where he met Arthur Conan Doyle's sister and married in 1893. Inspired by his brother-in-law's success, he began writing crime stories himself .

Works

Hornung created a counterpart to Doyle's master detective Sherlock Holmes : the respected cricketer A. J. Raffles , who is secretly on the road as a burglar and thief. In Robin Hood fashion, he skilfully steals from the rich in the society in which he goes, and he always succeeds in cheating the police while keeping his identity a secret. The adventures are told from the perspective of his loyal friend and accomplice Bunny Manders.

Like Doyle's stories, EW Hornung's stories appeared in Strand Magazine and gradually all 26 stories were published in three volumes in book form. The series ends with the - unlike Holmes - the final death of Raffles in the Boer War . The belatedly written novel Raffles als Richter is set at an earlier time.

The master thief Raffles has a special meaning in England comparable to that of Arsène Lupine in France. It has been successfully implemented many times for the stage, film and television and served as an inspiration for many other gentleman burglars in literature and film.

Completely overshadowed by Raffles, on the other hand, is Hornung's other literary work, some of which refers to his experiences in Australia and his experiences in France during the First World War. Other works were rarely translated into German.

Books

  • A Burglar from Passion , 1903 ( The Amateur Cracksman , 1899) filmed in 1930 with Ronald Colman .
  • The Black Mask , 1903 ( The Black Mask , 1901)
  • A thief in the night , 1908 ( A Thief in the Night , 1905)
  • Raffles as judge , 1912 ( Mr Justice Raffles , 1909)
  • Aus dem Busch , 1903 ( A Bride from the Bush , 1890)
  • The shadow of the rope , 1906 ( The Shadow of the Rope , 1902)
  • No Hero , 1906 ( No Hero , 1903)
  • One woman among a thousand , 1922 ( The Thousandth Woman , 1913)

See also

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hornung, Ernest William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hornung, EW
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English crime novelist
DATE OF BIRTH June 7, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Marton , Middlesbrough , England
DATE OF DEATH March 22, 1921
Place of death Saint-Jean-de-Luz , France