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Alfred Duggan (1903–1964)

Autor(a) de Winter quarters

30+ Works 1,393 Membros 45 Reviews 6 Favorited

About the Author

Obras de Alfred Duggan

Winter quarters (1956) 114 cópias
Knight with Armour (1950) 96 cópias
Family Favourites (1960) 84 cópias
Conscience of the King (1951) 79 cópias
Count Bohemond (1964) 78 cópias
The Cunning of the Dove (1960) 74 cópias
The Little Emperors (1951) 73 cópias
Three's Company (1958) 68 cópias
The King of Athelney (1961) 61 cópias
Lord Geoffrey's Fancy (1962) 57 cópias
Elephants and Castles (1963) 52 cópias
God and My Right (1955) 51 cópias
The lady for ransom (1953) 48 cópias
Children of the Wolf (1959) 44 cópias
He Died Old (1958) 42 cópias
Leopards and Lilies (1954) 36 cópias
Julius Caesar (1955) 29 cópias
Devil's Brood (1957) 25 cópias
The Romans (1963) 24 cópias
The castle book (1960) — Autor — 15 cópias
Thomas Becket of Canterbury (1952) 4 cópias
Look at Castles (1969) 2 cópias
Richard and Saladin (2016) 2 cópias
Look at churches (1970) 1 exemplar(es)

Associated Works

Callista: A Tale of the Third Century (1855) — Introdução, algumas edições122 cópias
The Undying Past (1961) — Contribuinte — 2 cópias

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Conhecimento Comum

Membros

Discussions

Alfred Duggan! em Ancient History (Agosto 2013)

Resenhas

The story of the founding of Rome down to the choosing of Numa as the second king, told successively by a Latin, a Sabine, an Etruscan, and a Greek. It kept fairly close to the legendary account but I didn't find it very engaging
 
Marcado
Robertgreaves | outras 2 resenhas | Sep 19, 2023 |
this not so much a novel as a collection of episodic short stories relating, mostly, to Livy and Vergil's description of the early years of the Roman city-state. They are often humourous. It reads, as with all Duggan, quite well.
½
 
Marcado
DinadansFriend | outras 2 resenhas | Sep 13, 2023 |
 
Marcado
Mustygusher | Dec 19, 2022 |
An historical novel from 1951 and Alfred Duggan's second novel is a good one. He tells the story of Cerdic Elesing who was said to be the founder of the Kingdom of Wessex. It is told in the first person as Cerdic now in his eighties looks back on his life and times. The title stems from the fact that Cerdic had no conscience. Born in 451 AD; the third son of a Roman Briton his only path to glory was to murder his elder brother and then plot to overthrow his father whose stronghold was in Canterbury England. Cerdic had to make his own way in the world and apart from having no conscience his other advantages were that being born a Roman he had an education which enabled him to read and write, and being wet-nursed by a Saxon woman, he learned to speak `german and was fully conversant with Saxon culture. He could therefore make his way in either world at a time in England when Roman educated Britons were being harried by Saxon adventurers and settlers on the East side of the Country. The Romans had effectively abandoned England some fifty years earlier and the civilisation that they had founded was rapidly unwinding.

Cerdic remains a shadowy figure in English history and Duggan has plenty of scope to invent a likely personage. As an historian and archeologist he is able to paint a credible picture of England during its transition from Roman rule to a darker age when warring factions struggled to maintain a semblance of civilisation. Allowing Cerdic to tell his own story places the reader inside the head of a successful adventurer. Cerdic achieves his aspiration to become an independent king, through cunning, feats of arms and letting nothing stand in the way of his ambition. He suffers some reverses, but his ability to transfer allegiance from Roman Briton to Saxon Briton and to outthink his opponents enables him to achieve his objective. Duggan's Cedric is not weighed down by later day morals and it is this portrait that convinced this reader that somebody like Cedric could be successful and even perhaps admirable.

The description of fifth century England is convincing, Roman towns have largely been abandoned, agriculture is carried out when and where people find or clear an area and can gain protection from raiders. The taking of oaths, the fear of the unknown, superstition, rituals are all part of the culture that Duggan describes. He also comes into his own when describing military action, for example the battle of Badon Hill where he envisages Cerdic's saxon army suffering a reversal at the hands of Artorious heavy cavalry. Legends and scraps of history are fitted together to give a convincing picture and characters are brought to life. An entertaining four star read.
… (mais)
 
Marcado
baswood | outras 3 resenhas | Sep 25, 2022 |

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Estatísticas

Obras
30
Also by
2
Membros
1,393
Popularidade
#18,451
Avaliação
3.8
Resenhas
45
ISBNs
129
Idiomas
2
Favorito
6

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