The literary device being used is that each book is in the form of some papers found after Flashman’s death, and the books are published in the order in which the papers are found, so the timeline jumps around. They certainly did not come out in a chronological order.
Naw, I just mistook the context.
On the side-subject, some series are written (and published) in internal chronological order…but others aren’t. The Horatio Hornblower books were written in a scattershot, over various periods of HH’s life and career. In contrast, the Alan Lewrie, Nicholas Ramage, and Thomas Kydd books appear to be written in chronological order. (And I love all three series!)
Bernard Cornwell’s “Sharpe” books started out being in chronological order, until he went back and stuck in a handful of prequels. You can sort of think of it as being two separate series.
In Sci Fi, Poul Anderson wrote the “Dominic Flandry” series in scattershot order.
For the Flandry and Hornblower series, it makes decent sense to sort them by chronological order and read them that way. (In contrast, C.S. Lewis’ “Narnia” series probably should be read in the canonical order, not chronologically.)
I get the impression that Flashman should be read in publication order, and not sorted to be read in chronological order.
Fleeing on a gun carriage, kicking some poor bastard off in order that the horses could run faster. A coward after my own heart!
The first five books are chronological, but after that they jump around all over the place.
I’d read Flashman at the Charge first myself, the Crimean War, then jumped around after that so I’d forgotten the first few were in order. But diving in at any point is okay.
Quartered… is a good read with the caveat that Fraser’s casual prejudice against Indians is on display (notably at Officer Training where he mocks the Indian officer who is pro independence). He’s very happy with the Indian officers who appear t be in favour of British rule.
I admit that it’s a fair representation of the likely attitudes of a young British officer cadet of the period (darkies are jolly good chaps when led by white officers) but it can be a bit jarring.
I was always amused by the additional conceit that Flashy’s sister in law had got her hands on some of the middle volumes of his memoirs and censored all the (rather mild) expletives he uses but left the sex unexpurgated because she didn’t actually understand what he was talking about b
To be fair to old Flashy, in Flashman And the Redskins he does forgo the opportunity to rape a captive Apache maiden - he seduces her, instead - which is why he’s the only survivor when the Apaches overrun and slaughter the group of scalphunters he’s fallen in with.
Flashman is unquestionably a vile man, but not unremittingly so. He’s inclined to give Indians, Afghans, Zulus, Sikhs, and other “lesser” races that he encounters exactly as much respect as he gives Europeans. Which is, sometimes, not a lot. But he understands, for example, the grievances of the sepoys who rebelled in India, and describes the Chiricahua Apaches that he briefly marries into as “clubbable” - a high compliment, from him.
Really, the charm of the Flashman novels is Fraser’s meticulous research into Flashy’s time and place, and the skill with which he is able to insert his protagonist into all manner of historic occasions.
If you enjoy that aspect, but still can’t stomach Flashy, Fraser did write one work of straight history that he tells in the same breathless, I-know-it-sounds-ridiculous-but-it-really-did-happen style: The Steel Bonnets, about the Anglo-Scottish Border reivers of the Tudor and Jacobean eras. It’s a fascinating look at a period of British history that often gets overlooked.
He and his associates went to great length to keep the pro independence guy from killing someone. If you don’t need a big white brother at times like that, I don’t know when you do.
I seem to have safely quartered the thread elsewhere.