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Venetian Blind (novel)
Venetian Blind is a 1959 suspense novel by the British author William Haggard published in England by Cassell and in the United States by Ives Washburn. It was Haggard's second of 21 books involving his urbane protagonist Colonel Charles Russell, the head of the unobtrusive but lethal Security Executive, a government counter-intelligence agency clearly based on the actual MI5 or Security Service, where he moves easily and gracefully along C.P. Snow's Corridors of Power in Whitehall. Like all of Haggard's books it has standard elements of suspense thrillers but in addition there is an almost Henry Jamiesian exposition of British establishment mores and character, in both the government and in the world of upper-class financiers, scientists, industrialists, their families, and hangers-on, making it very much a novel of character. Plot ''Protagonist'' is perhaps too strong a word to describe Colonel Russell. As Haggard himself wrote about his fiction: My novels are chiefly n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Haggard
William Haggard (born Croydon 11 August 1907, died Frinton-on-Sea 27 October 1993) was the pseudonym of Richard Henry Michael Clayton, the son of the Rev. Henry James Clayton and Mabel Sarah Clayton. He was an English writer of fictional spy thrillers set in the 1960s through the 1980s, or, as the writer H. R. F. Keating called them, "action novels of international power." Like C. P. Snow, he was a quintessentially British Establishment figure who had been a civil servant in India, and his books vigorously put forth his perhaps idiosyncratic points of view. The principle character in most of his novels is the urbane Colonel Charles Russell of the fictional Security Executive, (clearly based on the actual MI5 or Security Service), who moves easily and gracefully along Snow's Corridors of Power in Whitehall. During the years of the fictional spy mania initially begun by the James Bond stories, Haggard was considered by most critics to be at the very top of the field. Keating, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cassell (publisher)
Cassell & Co is a British book publishing house, founded in 1848 by John Cassell (1817–1865), which became in the 1890s an international publishing group company. In 1995, Cassell & Co acquired Pinter Publishers. In December 1998, Cassell & Co was bought by the Orion Publishing Group. In January 2002, Cassell imprints, including the Cassell Reference and Cassell Military were joined with the Weidenfeld imprints to form a new division under the name of Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd. Cassell Illustrated survives as an imprint of the Octopus Publishing Group. History John Cassell (1817–1865), who was in turn a carpenter, temperance preacher, tea and coffee merchant, finally turned to publishing. His first publication was on 1 July 1848, a weekly newspaper called ''The Standard of Freedom'' advocating religious, political, and commercial freedom. ''The Working Man's Friend'' became another popular publication. In 1849 Cassell was dividing his time between his publishing and hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ives Washburn
David McKay Publications (also known as David McKay Company) was an American book publisher which also published some of the first comic books, including the long-running titles ''Ace Comics'', ''King Comics'', and ''Magic Comics''; as well as collections of such popular comic strips as '' Blondie'', ''Dick Tracy'', and ''Mandrake the Magician''.Patrick Scott Belk, "King Features Syndicate" in ''Comics through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas'', edited by M. Keith Booker.Santa Barbara, California : Greenwood, 2014. (p.217-219). McKay was also the publisher of the Fodor's travel guides. History David McKay was born in Dysart, Scotland, on June 24, 1860. At the age of 11, he came to the United States with his parents. At the age of 13, he began working for J. B. Lippincott & Co., learning the bookselling trade. By the age of 21, he was placed in charge of the miscellaneous catalog of books by publisher Rees Welsh. One year later, upon hearing McKay had been offered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colonel Charles Russell
William Haggard (born Croydon 11 August 1907, died Frinton-on-Sea 27 October 1993) was the pseudonym of Richard Henry Michael Clayton, the son of the Rev. Henry James Clayton and Mabel Sarah Clayton. He was an English writer of fictional spy thrillers set in the 1960s through the 1980s, or, as the writer H. R. F. Keating called them, "action novels of international power." Like C. P. Snow, he was a quintessentially British Establishment figure who had been a civil servant in India, and his books vigorously put forth his perhaps idiosyncratic points of view. The principle character in most of his novels is the urbane Colonel Charles Russell of the fictional Security Executive, (clearly based on the actual MI5 or Security Service), who moves easily and gracefully along Snow's Corridors of Power in Whitehall. During the years of the fictional spy mania initially begun by the James Bond stories, Haggard was considered by most critics to be at the very top of the field. Keat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corridors Of Power (novel)
''Corridors of Power'' is the ninth book in C. P. Snow's '' Strangers and Brothers'' series. Its title had become a household phrase referring to the centres of government and power after Snow coined it in his earlier novel, ''Homecomings''. (A slightly rueful Foreword to ''Corridors of Power'' expresses the hope that he is at least entitled to use his own cliché.) Plot synopsis ''Corridors of Power'' is concerned with the attempts of an English MP to influence the country's policy on nuclear weapons in the 1950s. The central character is Roger Quaife, an ambitious politician and Cabinet Minister. He is widely attacked for his stand on Britain's position in the thermonuclear arms race; at the same time his affair with another woman leads to potential blackmail. Lewis Eliot attempts to assist him in covering up the affair as he supports Quaife's stand on the nuclear question. Reception In a 1964 book review in '' Kirkus Reviews'' called the book "a sound reading of the politic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Square. The street is recognised as the centre of the Government of the United Kingdom and is lined with numerous departments and ministries, including the Ministry of Defence, Horse Guards and the Cabinet Office. Consequently, the name "Whitehall" is used as a metonym for the British civil service and government, and as the geographic name for the surrounding area. The name was taken from the Palace of Whitehall that was the residence of Kings Henry VIII through to William III, before its destruction by fire in 1698; only the Banqueting House has survived. Whitehall was originally a wide road that led to the front of the palace; the route to the south was widened in the 18th century following the destruction of the palace. As well ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry James
Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of Henry James Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James. He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between ''émigré ''Americans, English people, and continental Europeans. Examples of such novels include '' The Portrait of a Lady'', '' The Ambassadors'', and '' The Wings of the Dove''. His later works were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters, James often wrote in a style in which ambiguous or contradictory motives and impressions were overlaid or juxtaposed in the discussion of a character's psyche. For their unique ambiguity, as well as for other aspects of their composition, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Novel Of Character
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself from the la, novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ''novellus'', diminutive of ''novus'', meaning "new". Some novelists, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ann Radcliffe, John Cowper Powys, preferred the term "romance" to describe their novels. According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, in Chivalric romance, and in the tradition of the Italian renaissance novella.Margaret Anne Doody''The True Story of the Novel'' New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, rept. 1997, p. 1. Retrieved 25 April 2014. The ancient romance form was revived by Romanticism, especially th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slow Burner
Slow Burner is a 1958 suspense novel by the British author William Haggard published in England by Cassell and in the United States by Little Brown. It was Haggard's first novel and the first of many involving his protagonist Colonel Charles Russell, the head of the urbane unobtrusive but lethal Security Executive, a government counter-intelligence agency clearly based on the actual MI5 or Security Service, who moves easily and gracefully along C.P. Snow's Corridors of Power in Whitehall. Like most of the other works by Haggard and some by his near contemporaries Victor Canning and Michael Gilbert Michael Francis Gilbert (17 July 1912 – 8 February 2006) was an English solicitor and author of crime fiction. Early life and education Gilbert was born on 17 July 1912 in Billinghay, Lincolnshire, England to Bernard Samuel Gilbert, a writ ..., it is both a standard novel of suspense and a semi-political thriller about the reactions of those in high government positions who s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Parallel universes in fiction, parallel universes, extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial life, sentient artificial intelligence, cybernetics, certain forms of immortality (like mind uploading), and the technological singularity, singularity. Science fiction List of existing technologies predicted in science fiction, predicted several existing inventions, such as the atomic bomb, robots, and borazon, whose names entirely match their fictional predecessors. In addition, science fiction might serve as an outlet to facilitate future scientific and technological innovations. Science fiction can trace its roots to ancient mythology. It is also related to fantasy, Horror fiction, horror, and superhero fiction and contains many #Subgenres, sub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1959 British Novels
Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of Earth's Moon, and was also the first spacecraft to be placed in heliocentric orbit. * January 3 ** The three southernmost atolls of the Maldive archipelago (Addu Atoll, Huvadhu Atoll and Fuvahmulah island) declare independence. ** Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state. * January 4 ** In Cuba, rebel troops led by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos enter the city of Havana. ** Léopoldville riots: At least 49 people are killed during clashes between the police and participants of a meeting of the ABAKO Party in Léopoldville in the Belgian Congo. * January 6 ** Fidel Castro arrives in Havana. ** The International Maritime Organization is inaugurated. * January 7 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
