Raffles

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Art for art's sake is a vile catchword, but I confess it appeals to me'Gentleman by day and thief by night, A. J. Raffles lives a double life. Taking 'Art for art's sake' as his motto, Raffles supports his debonair lifestyle by performing lucrative, artistic, and ingenious burglaries of the wealthy elite of Victorian London. Dedicated to his brother-in-law Arthur Conan Doyle, Hornung's first collection of Raffles stories, The Amateur Cracksman (1899), can be seen as an inverted spin-off of the former's celebrated detective stories. But it is Raffles' outlaw status that has drawn generations of readers to these swift-paced tales of a charismatic and cool-headed thief and his less worldly partner, Bunny. Hornung had Oscar Wilde in mind as much as Sherlock Holmes when he created Raffles, and the account of their double life offers one of the turn of the century's most touching accounts of a same-sex couple. Frequently adapted for stage and screen, Hornung's original stories have never lost their power to captivate readers. Admired by writers like George Orwell, Graham Greene, and Anthony Powell, Hornung's crisp prose evokes a late Victorian London of clubland bachelors, hansom cabs, champagne suppers, Australian heiresses, and South African diamond moguls. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

On June 7, 1866, in Cleveland Villas in Marton, Middlesbrough, Ernest William Hornung was born. He was a poet and writer from England best known for his A. J. Raffles novels about a gentleman burglar in late 19th-century London. In 1898, he published "In the Chains of Crime," which introduced Bunny Manders and Raffles. In 1899, the collection of Raffles' short stories was published as a book for sale. In addition to his Raffles tales, Hornung was a prolific fiction author who produced a large number of works between 1890 and 1914. He wrote a lot when he was in France; his son, Oscar, was killed at the Second Battle of Ypres in July 1915. The strain of his wartime duties significantly deteriorated Hornung's already poor constitution. He and his wife traveled to the south of France in 1921 to help with his recovery. He became ill with influenza while traveling and passed away on March 22, 1921, at the age of 54. Though a large portion of Hornung's output has faded into oblivion, his Raffles tales have remained famous and served as the basis for countless film and television adaptations. In addition to criminality, Hornung's novels also tackled guilt, class, technological and medical advancements, and the uneven treatment of women in society.