Richard Foreman

Wednesday

Richard Foreman

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s other ‘great’ character

From our UK edition

It is perhaps fitting — given his lack of fame and success — that many of you will have never heard of Pat Hobby. Hobby was a character who featured in a number of F. Scott Fitzgerald short stories towards the end of the author’s life, when he was working in Hollywood. Hobby is a forty-nine year old scriptwriter whose best days are long behind him. Rather than reaching out for a green light at the end of a dock in Long Island, Pat is forever scrabbling around for his next ten dollars in order to buy another drink or pay off his bookie. Regardless of whether he employs honest means to attain his ends, Pat’s adventures invariably end in failure.

Tuesday

Richard Foreman

Stealing Sherlock’s starlight

From our UK edition

A new character emerged in popular fiction in the 1890s. He was intelligent, a master of disguise, accompanied by a faithful assistant and unorthodox in every way. But it wasn’t Sherlock Holmes. It was the cricketer — and amateur cracksman — A.J. Raffles. Indeed, Raffles could be seen as a dashing alter-ego to the sober consulting detective. The connection between the two characters is further enhanced due to fact that the creator of Raffles, E.W. Hornung, was Arthur Conan Doyle's brother-in-law. Yet whereas Holmes has flourished for over a century (and one could argue that his popularity is greater now than ever) Raffles's star has waned, or gone out completely for most people.