49 years is even better. (Hint: see post #96)
Vlad Taltos (Steven Brust) makes 31 years so far from Jhereg (1983) to Hawk (2014). With five more books projected he should make 40 something.
The Nanso Satomi Hakkenden was published between 1814 and 1842 (28 years). I’m not sure which of the eight brothers first appeared nor which make it through to the end of the thing, but it’s highly likely that one of them lasted the whole 28 years.
I might suggest going through this list to see if any of them have single long-lasting characters:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prolific_writers
I found Billy Bunter by hunting through there (mentioned on page 1 of this thread, though it looks like the character could arguably be said to have a lifespan of 59 years not 53 if we’re going by publication dates). Others may be findable.
To Rayne Man’s point, Maigret remained 52, or three years away from retirement, for about 20 years or more.
I’m reading all 75 novels (some are so short as to be really novelettes) in order, after having read all the short stories. If sheer number of works were also a criterion for this list, surely Maigret would be right up there.
I’m currently on #67, Maigret in Vichy. Simenon is being slightly cagy about Maigret’s age, “52 or 53” someone guesses, and Maigret does not comment. He’s in Vichy taking the waters, although he is not in the least sick. He just needed a break from the rich food, beer, wine and aperitifs that he is forced to consume when he is on the job.
I’m going to miss him when I’m done reading the series. Perhaps I will start over from the beginning, and this time interpolate the stories at the appropriate places when they were written.
I don’t think Bertie and Jeeves are the longest-lived characters created by Wodehouse. Lord Emsworth from the Blandings Castle series appeared first in 1915 (in Something New, also known as Something Fresh) and Wodehouse was working on another novel featuring him when he died 60 years later (Sunset at Blandings, published posthumously in 1977).
Pfft. That’s at most a million years or so, nothing compared to Scott Adams’s miserable robot mentioned above.
Dr. Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer, 56 years, plus posthumous publication 14 years later for a total of 70 years.
Can’t believe no one’s mentioned this:
E E Smith’s Skylark of Space, first published in 1928; Skylark DuQuesne published in 1966. 38 years.
Scott Adams? :dubious:
I suppose I should have mentioned there’s at least 5 characters in all four of the Skylark books: the Seatons, the Cranes, and Blackie DuQuesne. Possibly 6; can’t remember if Dunark is in all of them too, but I think he is.
Another longish one:
Dominic Flandry of Poul Anderson’s Technic future history. First published in Tiger by the Tail in 1951; last in The Game of Empire in 1985. 34 years. If reprints in omnibuses count, it would be longer, but that seems to go against the spirit of the question.
Wow, bibliophage, I hadn’t even considered other Wodehouse characters. I don’t have time to research this further at the moment, but thanks for bringing it to our attention.
Okay, I went and did some research, despite having other things I am supposed to be doing now.
According to Wikipedia,
[QUOTE=Wikipedia]
“The name “Lord Emsworth” first appears in Wodehouse’s works as a passing mention in a short called “The Matrimonial Sweepstakes”, a version of “The Good Angel” printed in Cosmopolitan in the US in February 1910. “The Good Angel” as it appears in the 1914 collection The Man Upstairs contains no such mention, although there is a “Lord Stockleigh” involved.”
[/QUOTE]
That reference could conceivably give Lord Emsworth a “lifetime” of 65 years, but I’m going to disallow it, since it appears to be little more than a mention of the name, and not an appearance of the actual character.
So in accordance with the criteria I established in post #27, Lord Emsworth’s dates are 1915 (publication of “Something New”) to 1975 (Wodehouse’s death), 60 years, the new record holder. Thanks, bibliophage!
Here is the updated list, including only those over 40 years.
[ol]
[li]60 years: Lord Emsworth (Wodehouse)[/li][li]58 years: Jeeves and Wooster (Wodehouse)[/li][li]57 years: Ross Poldark (Graham)[/li][li]55 years: Hercule Poirot (Christie)[/li][li]55 years: The Saint (Charteris)[/li][li]53 years: Eliots (Bradbury)[/li][li]53 years: Billy Bunter (Richards)[/li][li]51 years: Tommy and Tuppence (Christie)[/li][li]51 years: Eddie Wilson (Haywood)[/li][li]51 years: Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom (Updike)[/li][li]49 years: Ramona Quimby (Cleary)[/li][li]49 years: Stainless Steel Rat (Harrison) [/li][li]49 years: Det. Steve Carella, et al – 87th Precinct (McBain)[/li][li]49 years: Reginald Wexford (Rendell)[/li][li]49 years: Mike Hammer (Spillane)[/li][li]49 years: Parker (Westlake)[/li][li]49 years: Giles Habibula (Williamson)[/li][li]47 years: Elric of Melnibone (Moorcock)[/li][li]47 years: Tarl Cabot (Norman)[/li][li]46 years: Woodrow Wilson Smith (Heinlein)[/li][li]46 years: Fu Manchu (Rohmer)[/li][li]44 years: Louis Wu (Niven)*[/li][li]43 years: Nero Wolfe (Stout)[/li][li]41 years: Hari Seldon (Asimov)[/li][li]41 years: Adam Dalgleish (James) [/li][li]41 years: Inspector Jules Maigret (Simenon)[/li][li]40 years: Sherlock Holmes (Conan Doyle)[/li][li]40 years: Perry Mason (Gardner)[/li][li]40 years: Gandalf (Tolkein)[/li][/ol]
- Author still alive, “lifespan” could increase.
Thanks to all who have contributed to the list.
New posters are urged to remember that in the case of posthumous works, the author’s death establishes the end date, and that comic book and comic strip characters are not allowed under the OP’s conditions (as modified in post #27).
Dick Francis’s four Sid Halley books span 1965 to 2006, so 41 years.
Jim Qwilleran (mentioned upthread) made it to 41 years as well: 1966 to 2007.
Amelia Peabody made it to 35 years: 1975 to 2010.
I feel like there’s another obvious long-timer that I just can’t remember.
Dr. Gideon Fell is a contender. He was introduced in 1933 and apparently a new book of short stories was published in 1991 that included him. (I think it was not just a repackaging of previously published stories. I could be wrong.) That makes 58.
Didn’t see that. Sorry! Ignore Gideon Fell.
OK, You got me. I pulled out William L. DeAndrea’s Encyclopedia Mysteriosa, which has dates for books from famous writers, helpfully giving the characters their separate entries. It’s possible that some books are posthumous, but mostly the dates are continuous.
These are some early (in the alphabet) long careers:
Roderick Alleyn, by Ngaio March 1934-1982
John Appleby, by Michael Innes 1936-1987
The Baron, John Creasey 1937-1979
Napoleon Bonaparte (not the French one), by Arthur W. Upfield 1929-1963
Dame Beatrice Bradley, by Gladys Mitchell 1929-1984
Perry Rhodan has been in continuous publication since 1961…54 years.
It breaks the one-author rule.
Tommy and Tuppence should get some kind of special recognition just because, unlike most of these other series characters, they age in pretty close to real time. They’re in their early twenties, just starting out and falling in love, when we first meet them in 1922, and a comfortable old married couple in their seventies by the time of their final appearance in 1973.
One that’s likely to climb the list in the future is Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt. First appeared in The Mediterranean Caper in 1973, most recent appearance Havana Storm in 2014 for a range of 41 years. Only quibble could be that recent novels were written with his son Dirk as co-author.