0,49 €
Niedrigster Preis in 30 Tagen: 1,99 €
Niedrigster Preis in 30 Tagen: 1,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: Booksell-Verlag
- Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
- Sprache: Englisch
In "Captain Dieppe," Anthony Hope crafts a thrilling narrative set against the backdrop of World War I, exploring themes of honor, duty, and the complexities of human relationships in wartime. The novel is characterized by Hope's mastery of suspense and character-driven storytelling, utilizing rich, descriptive language that vividly captures the emotional stakes of its protagonists. As the plot unfolds, readers are immersed in a poignant exploration of bravery and sacrifice, ultimately questioning the moral ambiguities of conflict and its toll on the human spirit. Anthony Hope, best known for his adventure novels such as "The Prisoner of Zenda," brings his keen insight into intricate character dynamics and noble ideals to "Captain Dieppe." Having served in the military, Hope's personal experiences during tumultuous times inform his portrayal of soldiers and the ethical dilemmas they confront on and off the battlefield. His passion for storytelling and understanding of the human condition shine through in his characters' trials, as they navigate personal conflict in a world engulfed by war. I highly recommend "Captain Dieppe" to readers seeking a gripping narrative that intertwines historical context with deep psychological exploration. This work not only entertains but also provokes critical thought on the nature of heroism and the sacrifices made in the name of duty. Hope's ability to blend adventure with profound themes ensures that this novel will resonate with those who appreciate literature that challenges the boundaries of genre and engages with the complexities of human emotion. In this enriched edition, we have carefully created added value for your reading experience: - A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes. - The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists. - A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing. - A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings. - Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life. - Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance. - Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
Ähnliche
Captain Dieppe
Table of Contents
Introduction
In a world where charm can be as decisive as a sword, Captain Dieppe traces the perilous dance between personal honor, romantic impulse, and political maneuvering, testing how far a gifted adventurer can go before the very talents that lift him also entangle him in consequences he cannot fully control.
Anthony Hope, celebrated for The Prisoner of Zenda and its signature blend of continental intrigue and urbane wit, turns again to high-stakes adventure in Captain Dieppe, an excursion into the late nineteenth‑century taste for swift plots and polished dialogue. First published around the turn of the twentieth century, the novel belongs to the era’s appetite for romantic escapades that unfold across European borders and drawing rooms. It invites readers into a milieu of strategy and etiquette, where the stakes of reputation and power are negotiated as keenly in conversation as in action, and where the protagonist’s poise is both weapon and vulnerability.
The premise is lean and alluring: a seasoned man of action, traveling for pleasure and opportunity, discovers that chance encounters can open doors to schemes larger than any one person’s intent. In this landscape, whispered allegiances, carefully timed visits, and social obligations press upon a figure who thrives on risk yet understands the cost of miscalculation. Without revealing the plot’s later turns, the novel offers the pleasures of cunning reversals and tightly staged confrontations, heightened by the protagonist’s acute self-possession. Readers can expect a brisk, elegant journey that privileges agility of mind, quicksilver loyalties, and the comedy—and peril—of improvisation.
Hope’s style is notable for its lightness of touch: the sentences have an urbane polish, the dialogue flickers, and the narrative favors movement over brooding. Yet beneath the sparkle is a steady interest in motive and mask. Captain Dieppe, while shaped by caper-like momentum, leaves room for subtle shifts in power and perception, as the hero’s confidence meets situations that require more than bravado. The narrative voice sustains a poised, gently ironic distance, allowing readers to weigh words as carefully as deeds. The result is an adventure that entertains without sacrificing intelligence, and that treats social nuance as a field of strategy.
Key themes emerge with clarity: the ethics of opportunism, the tension between self-fashioning and responsibility, and the thin line separating gallantry from calculation. The book meditates on the appeal and limits of personal charisma, asking whether a talent for entrances and exits can ever substitute for commitment when principles and people are at stake. It also explores how public roles—officer, gentleman, confidant—may conceal private uncertainty, and how reputation can both empower and trap. These questions retain contemporary resonance, speaking to a world that still prizes performance, navigates shifting alliances, and debates what honor means in practice rather than in posture.
Situated in the broader current of fin‑de‑siècle adventure fiction, Captain Dieppe converses with the Ruritanian tradition without relying on fantasy kingdoms to supply excitement. Hope draws energy from recognizable European settings and a cosmopolitan cast, emphasizing how manners and politics interlock. Readers who admire swift plotting will find satisfying propulsion, while those attuned to social comedy will appreciate the exactness with which a glance, a visit, or a delayed reply can reconfigure the game. The novel’s restraint—its preference for implication over melodrama—makes its reversals feel earned, and underscores how, in Hope’s world, leverage often arrives dressed as civility.
To approach Captain Dieppe today is to discover a refined entertainment that also invites reflection on agency, loyalty, and the stories we tell about ourselves when the stakes rise. It offers the pleasures of classic adventure—surprise, resourcefulness, elegance—while keeping its hero human, limited, and therefore interesting. Without spoiling later developments, it is enough to say that chance opens a door, wit holds it ajar, and character determines who steps through. Readers new to Anthony Hope will find an accessible entry point; admirers will recognize his signature poise. Either way, the novel rewards attention to both movement and motive.
Synopsis
Captain Dieppe opens with a seasoned French soldier of fortune arriving in a quiet, fashionable town whose calm exterior hides political restlessness. Dieppe’s reputation for boldness, courtesy, and quick wit precedes him, and his presence quickly draws attention from those who live by intrigue. Rumors of a disputed succession and of certain documents that could influence it create a charged atmosphere. The novel establishes Dieppe as an outsider with professional pride rather than party loyalties, observant and adaptable, yet governed by a personal code. This foundation sets the stage for an intricate contest of maneuver, where charm and tact prove as valuable as courage.
Dieppe is soon courted by agents who wish to enlist his abilities for a delicate mission: to secure compromising papers believed to decide the fortunes of rival factions. The request is less about ideology than leverage. He accepts, mindful that successful work depends on discretion and timing. The assignment calls for surveillance, patience, and the management of appearances in salons, hotels, and gardens where every greeting may conceal an agenda. Hope frames the task with an emphasis on social nuance and shifting allegiances, placing the hero in an arena where a word or glance can carry the weight of a sword thrust.
As Dieppe moves through drawing rooms and promenades, he meets the key figures who define the contest. A woman of rank and intelligence, guarded yet candid, possesses knowledge central to the affair and a loyalty that is not simply political. A vigilant official, courteous but unyielding, safeguards the existing order and watches Dieppe closely. A rival adventurer, brilliant and volatile, mirrors Dieppe’s talents while testing his patience. An observant English visitor, skeptical and fair-minded, supplies a note of common sense. These encounters map the field of play, revealing how personal bonds and obligations intersect with public aims.
Dieppe’s first probe of the targeted house, a villa whose walls seem designed to absorb secrets, proceeds under the cover of chance visits and polite conversation. He learns the habits of servants and the rhythm of guards, discovering just enough to tempt action without committing himself. In a private exchange with the lady at the center of the papers, he recognizes that honor and prudence do not always align. A cautious mutual understanding forms, complicating his commission but clarifying his own priorities. The scene closes with positions marked, intentions half-declared, and the sense that the slightest misstep could prove decisive.
Security tightens as whispers of a plot multiply. Passports draw more scrutiny, and late callers receive pointed questions. Inside the court and its satellites, minor players shift allegiance, while those in authority project calm and gather information. Dieppe responds by cultivating ambiguity and by keeping promises that restrain him more than threats do. He balances the demands of his employers against his respect for the woman who stands to lose the most if the documents become public. The tone remains light but tense, with witty sparring and formal politeness masking the seriousness of what failure—or success—might mean for the state.
Events crest at a public gathering where appearances matter as much as realities. A challenge is raised—half duel, half performance—testing Dieppe’s nerve and reputation. He declines the obvious path, preferring ingenuity to steel, and maneuvers his counterpart into a pause rather than a clash. In the confusion, a partial gain is made: a clue, a key, or a copy that narrows the problem while widening suspicion. The authorities sense intervention and tighten the ring. A brisk chase through lantern-lit streets follows, punctuated by confidences whispered in doorways and the discreet assistance of the unimpressed Englishman, who weighs motives without taking sides.
The central attempt unfolds on a night chosen for its distractions. Dieppe enters the guarded premises by turns of timing rather than force, finding that the obstacle is not merely watchfulness but conscience. A calculated betrayal surfaces, forcing him to reassess the map of loyalties. He stands at a crossroads between securing the papers as contracted and preventing an outcome that would inflict needless harm. Improvisation replaces plan: exits change, signals are reversed, and allies reveal limits. The episode balances suspense with restraint, emphasizing that the most difficult choices arise not from danger but from the costs of victory.
Dawn brings negotiation instead of triumphal display. The guardians of order seek to avert scandal, and Dieppe frames a solution that preserves stability without publicly humiliating the vulnerable. The resolution respects face and form, letting consequences be understood rather than announced. Rewards are offered, and lines are drawn for future peace, but Dieppe accepts only what sits easily with his code. Relationships shift into a new equilibrium: grudges tempered by mutual recognition, admiration unspoken, and a rivalry recast into wary esteem. The political question settles enough for daily life to resume, while the personal debts and promises remain precisely balanced.
Captain Dieppe closes by reaffirming its central concerns: honor under pressure, the uses of tact in a world of force, and the negotiation between private loyalty and public necessity. The plot’s elegance lies less in revelation than in alignment, bringing characters to positions that suit their natures and the state’s needs without melodrama. Dieppe departs as he arrived—self-possessed, courteous, and ready for the next commission—having shown that finesse can outmatch fury when stakes are high. The book conveys an overarching message that courage includes restraint, and that the gentler arts of diplomacy can be the sharpest weapons of all.
Historical Context
Captain Dieppe unfolds in a late nineteenth-century Continental milieu, recognizable as the Belle Époque but shadowed by lingering revolutionary aftershocks and brittle dynastic politics. The atmosphere is that of borderlands linking France and the Italian and Central European spheres, where Alpine passes, Riviera ports, and small courts enable swift movement of couriers, soldiers of fortune, and police agents. Railways, the telegraph, and evolving passport regimes frame a world in which clandestine meetings in grand hotels and cafés coexist with fortified frontiers. The titular French captain operates across jurisdictions, reflecting a setting in which national lines are firm on maps yet porous in practice for diplomats, conspirators, and exiles.
The protracted making of modern Italy (1815–1870) most powerfully shapes the novel’s background, because it produced a landscape of contested legitimacies, exiled nobles, and secret committees that persisted into the 1890s. The Revolutions of 1848–49 saw uprisings in Milan and Venice against Habsburg rule; Giuseppe Mazzini’s republican vision and Giuseppe Garibaldi’s volunteer corps pointed toward unification. Decisive statecraft came when Piedmont-Sardinia under Count Camillo di Cavour allied with Napoleon III in the Second Italian War of Independence (1859), defeating Austria at Magenta and Solferino and precipitating the annexation of Lombardy. Garibaldi’s Expedition of the Thousand (1860) toppled the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, paving the way for the Kingdom of Italy (1861) under the House of Savoy. Venetia was ceded after the Austro-Prussian War (1866), and Rome was seized in 1870 once French troops withdrew amid the Franco-Prussian War, completing unification. Yet the settlement left irredentist claims (Trieste, Trentino) and a patchwork of loyalties to fallen courts and clerical interests. Networks derived from the Carbonari and later societies maintained clandestine habits—false passports, cross-border funds, and coded correspondence—that colored political life well into the fin de siècle. Captain Dieppe mirrors this post-Risorgimento world: plots hinge on disputed titles, fragile ministries, and the opportunism of professional adventurers whose fortunes depend on palace currents as much as on battlefields, recalling dozens of real intrigues that followed the new kingdom’s consolidation.
The collapse of the Second French Empire and the trauma of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) reshaped French military identity and republican politics, providing the professional backdrop for a French officer-hero. Napoleon III’s defeat at Sedan (1–2 September 1870) and the siege of Paris ended imperial rule and inaugurated the Third Republic. Demobilization, purges, and reforms produced a class of veterans and displaced officers who navigated honor, careerism, and partisanship. Border defenses in Alsace-Lorraine and attention to intelligence expanded. The figure of Captain Dieppe evokes this milieu: a cultivated tactician whose loyalty is national, yet whose livelihood and expertise travel, reflecting France’s post-1871 blend of pride, grievance, and professional cosmopolitanism.
The Dreyfus Affair (1894–1906) defined the political culture of the 1890s with ferocious debates about justice, secrecy, and the army. Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer, was accused in 1894 of spying for Germany, convicted on a secret dossier, and sent to Devil’s Island; the real culprit, Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy, remained free until exposure. Colonel Hubert-Joseph Henry’s forged evidence unraveled in 1898; Émile Zola’s "J’accuse…!" (13 January 1898) intensified the crisis. A partial retrial at Rennes (1899) ended in a pardon; full exoneration came in 1906. Captain Dieppe reflects this climate by dramatizing coded documents, forged loyalties, and the precarious standing of officers entangled in politics and intelligence.
The fin-de-siècle wave of anarchist violence and the state’s countermeasures set the era’s tenor of surveillance and sudden upheaval. Notorious incidents included Ravachol’s bombings (1892), Auguste Vaillant’s attack in the French Chamber of Deputies (1893), President Sadi Carnot’s assassination in Lyon by Sante Geronimo Caserio (24 June 1894), and Empress Elisabeth’s murder in Geneva by Luigi Lucheni (1898). France enacted the lois scélérates (1893–94) to suppress anarchist propaganda; police modernized with Alphonse Bertillon’s anthropometry. An international conference in Rome (1898) coordinated monitoring of radicals. The novel channels this atmosphere: clandestine meetings, coded identities, and tense border crossings resonate with the period’s choreography of conspirators and vigilant police.
Shifting alliance systems heightened cross-border intrigue central to the book’s ambiance. The Triple Alliance (Italy, Germany, Austria-Hungary) formed in 1882 and was periodically renewed, while France countered with the Franco-Russian Alliance (1894). Franco-Italian relations had been strained since France proclaimed a protectorate over Tunisia (1881), spurring Italian resentment and emigration; a gradual rapprochement only gathered pace around 1902. In practice, Alpine fortifications, military attachés, and railway timetables became strategic tools. Such conditions favored informal brokers—fixers, couriers, and multilingual officers—whose careers depended on accessing ministries and sidestepping customs posts. Captain Dieppe’s transnational maneuvers exemplify how personal networks could outpace official diplomacy in a tightly wired Europe.
The late nineteenth century witnessed dynastic volatility in smaller Balkan and Central European states, offering concrete analogues for palace-centered plots. In Bulgaria, a coup forced Prince Alexander of Battenberg’s abdication (1886), prompting regencies and great-power mediation under Stefan Stambolov. Serbia experienced oscillations between the Obrenović and Karađorđević houses, culminating in the May Coup (1903), but earlier saw King Milan’s abdication in favor of Alexander (1889). Romania proclaimed a kingdom under Carol I (1881), balancing Ottoman legacies and Austro-Hungarian pressure. Such episodes normalized regimental conspiracies, disputed successions, and cabinet intrigues. Captain Dieppe mirrors these patterns by staging conflicts where a signature, a marriage, or a courier’s capture can tip a throne’s fate.
As social and political critique, the book exposes how legality and constitutionalism were often façades for personalized power, secret files, and transactional loyalty. It indicts the thinness of aristocratic legitimacy in an age of ministries made and unmade by telegram, and it highlights the market for violence and information that employed professional adventurers. Class divides appear in the contrast between court opulence and the precariousness of those who labor in its shadows; national honor is shown as rhetoric masking expedience. By dramatizing porous borders, corruptible officials, and the moral ambiguity of service, Captain Dieppe questions whether the Belle Époque’s stability rested on justice or merely on well-managed intrigue.
