# Writer Fixations on Historical Figures/Other Writers' characters **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 10, 2014, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writer-fixations-on-historical-figures-other-writers-characters/678436 "2014-01-10T13:49:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writer-fixations-on-historical-figures-other-writers-characters/678436/1 "2014-01-10T13:49:59Z")
I observed in This thread ([Who ELSE has Jack the Ripper killed, in fiction? - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=712691) ) that Robert Bloch seems to have had a serious Jack the Ripper fixation. He wrote several stories about him, most notably his classic _yours Truly, Jack the Ripper_, but enough other ones for someone to assemble an anthology of Robert Bloch Jack the Ripper Stories ( [Subterranean Press](http://subterraneanpress.com/store/product_detail/yours_truly_jack_the_ripper) ) I’ve also noticed that Philip Jose Farmer had a severe “Tarzan” jones. It went beyond his whole “Wold Newton” nonsense - he had more Tarzan-related stuff than any other character in the universe: **Tarzan Alive!** – the biography of Lord Greystoke **the Adventure of the Peerless Peer** – Tarzan meets Sherlock Holmes (written at the peak of the Sherlock Holmes meets \_\_\_\_ craze sparked by Nicholas Meyer’s “Seven per Cent Solution” **A feast Unknown** – essentially “Tarzan Meets Doc Savage” in a pornographic thriller. Names changed to protect the guilty. this sparked: **Lord of the Trees/The Mad Goblin** – the G-rated sequel to his X-rated original, originally published as an Ace double. \*\* Mother was a Lovely Beast\*\* – essays on Tarzan **Lord Tyger** – millionaire tries to recreate Tarzan by having a child raised in the jungle by “apes”. Any other examples of such writerly obsession with characters not their own? I don’t count things like Robert Goldsborough extending the series of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe novels, or John Gardner (and others) writing new James Bond novels. Extending an existing series with new entries I can understand. But the two above cases are certainly NOT instances of a writer simply adding to a series. They’re variations, generally not part of a series at all, and use the character in different ways. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writer-fixations-on-historical-figures-other-writers-characters/678436/2 "2014-01-10T14:30:17Z")
Fred Saberhagen did a series of novels about Dracula – the same one in Stoker’s book, but from a different point of view. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writer-fixations-on-historical-figures-other-writers-characters/678436/3 "2014-01-10T16:40:41Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Fred Saberhagen did a series of novels about Dracula – the same one in Stoker’s book, but from a different point of view. That’s still pretty much a series, though. I agree that **the Dracula Tapes** is excellent, and I read **the Holmes/Dracula File** because I’m a Holmes fan (and I wanted to see how someone besides Estleman handled it), but the works are clearly set in the same “universe”. I think there are others in the set, which I haven’t read. But it’s not like Bloch’s multiple revisits of Jack the Ripper. And Farmer’s different Tarzan treatments don’t all work in the same universe. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writer-fixations-on-historical-figures-other-writers-characters/678436/4 "2014-01-10T17:44:13Z")
Barry N. Malzberg has written a number of stories about John F. Kennedy. Obviously he’s not a fictional character. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writer-fixations-on-historical-figures-other-writers-characters/678436/5 "2014-01-11T12:35:28Z")
George MacDonald Fraser took the antagonist character from [Tom Brown’s School Days](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Brown%27s_School_Days) and made him the (anti-)hero of [the greatest series of historical novels ever written](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flashman_Papers). ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writer-fixations-on-historical-figures-other-writers-characters/678436/6 "2014-01-11T22:09:34Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ve also noticed that Philip Jose Farmer had a severe “Tarzan” jones. It went beyond his whole “Wold Newton” nonsense - he had more Tarzan-related stuff than any other character in the universe: Other posters may know more details, but… Farmer was also a bit gaga over Kurt Vonnegut’s character Kilgore Trout. He secured Vonnegut’s permission to use the name for one novel, used it for more and was asked by Vonnegut to knock it off.