7.8 /10 1 Votes
3.7/5 Goodreads Publication date 1898 (written in 1894) Genre Adventure fiction | 4/5 ManyBooks Language English Pages 385 pp Originally published 1898 Country United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Publisher J. W. Arrowsmith, Bristol & London Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback) Adaptations Rupert of Hentzau (1915), Rupert of Hentzau Similar Anthony Hope books, Classical Studies books, Fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rupert of hentzau full audio book by anthony hope full audio book
Rupert of Hentzau is a sequel by Anthony Hope to The Prisoner of Zenda, written in 1895, but not published until 1898.
Contents
Plot summary
The story is set within a framing narrative told by a supporting character from The Prisoner of Zenda. The frame implies that the events related in both books took place in the late 1870s and early 1880s. This story commences three years after the conclusion of Zenda, and deals with the same fictional country somewhere in Germanic Middle Europe, the kingdom of Ruritania. Most of the same characters recur: Rudolf Elphberg, the dissolute absolute monarch of Ruritania; Rudolf Rassendyll, the English gentleman who had acted as his political decoy, being his distant cousin and look alike; Flavia, the princess, now queen; Rupert of Hentzau, the dashing well-born villain; Fritz von Tarlenheim, the loyal courtier.
Queen Flavia, dutifully but unhappily married to her cousin Rudolf V, writes to her true love Rudolf Rassendyll. The letter is carried by von Tarlenheim to be delivered by hand, but it is stolen by the exiled Rupert of Hentzau, who sees in it a chance to return to favour by informing the pathologically jealous and paranoid King. Rassendyll returns to Ruritania to aid the Queen, but is once more forced to impersonate the King after Rupert shoots Rudolf V. In turn, Rassendyll kills Rupert, but is assassinated in the hour of triumph by one of Rupert's henchmen—and thus is spared the crisis of conscience over whether or not to continue the royal deception for years. He is buried as the King in a state funeral, and Flavia reigns on alone, the last of the Elphberg dynasty.
Adaptations
Several adaptations were made, although not as many as for the film career of Zenda. Film versions of Rupert of Hentzau include:
David O. Selznick considered making a film version of the novel, as a follow-up to his hugely successful 1937 film of the The Prisoner of Zenda, using again Douglas Fairbanks Jr. He decided not to because of the tragic subject matter and his commitment to filming Gone with the Wind. The 1923 silent film version had been produced by his father, Lewis J. Selznick, and his brother, Myron Selznick.
On screen, Rupert as a character has been played by matinee idols such as Ramon Novarro (1922), Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (1937), and James Mason (1952).