The Amateur Gentleman  ‡

Above: cover and illustrations by C. E. Brock from the 1916 edition

UK Publisher: Sampson Low, Marston and Co. Ltd. (London). First published  1913

eBook at Project Gutenberg

eBook at unz.org

A Romance of the Regency.

"The format of the novel is essentially that of a bildungsroman. It tells the story of Barnabas Barty, the son of John Barty, the former champion boxer of England and landlord of a pub in Kent. At the start of the tale Barnabas comes fortuitously into the possession of a vast fortune - £700,000, an astronomical amount by Regency standards - and determines to use this fortune to become a gentleman. His father objects to this plan and they quarrel, and settle their differences in a round of fisticuffs, which Barnabas wins, beating his father fair and square. Barnabas sets off for London in the furtherance of his ambitions and on the way there contrives to make a number of influential friends and enemies.

Farnol ploughs an uncomfortably dualistic furrow vis-á-vis his protagonist. He ruthlessly exploits the naïvety of the youth to comic effect, for instance the youth is gulled by the chapman who sells him a book on etiquette at an outrageous mark-up, and Farnol makes much play of this. At the other end of the spectrum, Farnol is equally disdainful of Barnabas' sophisticated concealment of his identity." Wikipedia

"This was filmed in the UK in 1936 starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr as Barnabus, scripted by fantasist Clemence Dane; her scenario is deposited in the British Museum. Apart from a couple silent films for which Farnol probably wrote the scenarios himself, but which aren't likely to survive, this is the only one of his novels that was filmed, arguing for his status well below Sabatini in filmmakers' esteem. Yet this one was in all thrice filmed: In 1920 directed by Maurice Elvey; in 1926 directed by Sidney Olcott; besides in 1936 directed by Thornton Freeland.  Swashbuckling thrills set in the same era as his bestselling classic The Broad Highway, within the same Kent landscapes, about a fashionable young man who has come to wealth, & featuring that redoubtable period detective Jasper Shrig." Jessica Amanda Salmonson

"Barnabas Barty, a country-bred youth, son of the retired champion pugilist of England, is left a fortune; he sets forth for London to "become a gentleman," has many adventures, meets people of many different types, and falls in love with a fascinating heroine." Newport Vintage Books