Balkan Hope
Sir: John Zametica, in his spirited attack on British amateurs who write 'unbeliev- able rubbish' on central and south-eastern Europe (Letters, 5 November) is surely wrong to blame Anthony Hope for leading them astray with his Prisoner of Zenda and similar fantasies?
While it must be admitted that the later Sophy of Kravonia is an obvious attempt to depict a Balkan country, the earlier Ruritanian novels are another matter. The late and greatly missed Ian Moncreiffe of that Ilk once pointed out to me that in fact their whole ethos and atmosphere is En- glish; far from being a sentimental por- trayal of some part of the Habsburg Empire, they were Anthony Hope's attempt to depict how the inhabitants of central Europe should behave. The three books celebrate honour, steadfastness, courage and nobility; a far cry from such as the sordid affair at Mayerling some five years earlier when another Rudolf began to slide the indefensible Hapsburg Empire to its end.
Incidentally, Ian Moncreiffe also con- vinced me that a love of fun and romance is not incompatible with a respect for truth and historical accuracy; I hope some other factor has misled those whom John Zame- tica berates for both misunderstanding and misrepresenting post-1919 Europe.
Ian Olson
20 Bums Road, Aberdeen
Previous page
