George MacDonald Fraser
My author, George MacDonald-Fraser, was a British writer and World War II veteran. He is most famous for his works Flashman: The Series, however he has many other books including Quartered Safe Out Here, Pyrates, and The Candlemass Road. Fraser wrote fictional stories and historical novels, as well as a few screen plays, all of which are regarded as high caliber work. Unknown to many, Fraser is actually responsible for screenplay of the James Bond thriller, Octopussy. Through his works, Fraser has been quoted and known to have influenced many writers including C.S. Lewis. As a World War II veteran, Fraser uses personal experience and imagination to show both sides of war; the romantic and the actual.
George MacDonald-Fraser was born April 2, 1925 to Scottish parents in Carlisle England. Growing up, he graduated from Glasgow Academy in 1943, and applied to attend law school, as did his father and brothers. Fraser scored to low, and decided to go into journalism. When World War II started, Fraser enlisted in the army, serving four years, assigned with 9 Section, B Company, 9th Battalion The Border Regiment in the Indian 17th Infantry Division in India, more commonly referred to as The Black Cat Division, for the patches they wore. Once out of the army, Fraser married Kathleen Margarette Hetherington, together having two sons and one daughter. Fraser then continued his writing career, landing jobs as editors and eventually settling down and writing his own books.
After his experiences as a soldier, Fraser matured and soon took his experiences to heart. Upon commission, Fraser continued to soldier on until then end of World War II. During the end months and weeks of the war, Fraser realized the truths and gruesomeness realities of war. He was quoted saying, “while headquarters may think the war is winding down, one Jap bullet is as deadly as the next (Fraser Quartered).” “The truth of war,” he said later, “is that one bullet is as deadly as another regardless of who fires the shot and when the commanders declare ‘major action' to be over (Flanagan).” "Burma was a barebones war (Fraser Quartered)", Fraser said, with simple arms and close-range combat.
In Quartered Safe Out Here, Fraser tells his tale of soldier-hood, starting from his first day as an enlistee to his commission to an Officer Position. Fraser was only 19 when he enlisted in the war's final year, and he offers a first-hand glimpse at the camaraderie, danger, and satisfactions of service. Assigned to Burma with the war already winding to a close, (starting first in Europe, then in Asia) but the combat was no less fierce for that -- and, in some cases, more desperate. He uses real experiences and first hand accounts to tell his story of war, from great alliteration to gruesome details, nothing is left out. Using his experience, Fraser can relate to the gruesome reality of war. He tells the tale of the true war and no longer portrays the “school-boy's” dream of a romantic war full of heroine. From his experiences, Fraser writes the “True Harrowing Experiences of World War II (Fraser Quartered).”
By writing from a first hand experience, Fraser is able to relate his tale in great detail, allowing this relation and great imagery gives you a feeling that you are in the front lines with Fraser, fighting side by side against the Japanese. You feel like you are crawling through the rice paddies, that your buddy next to you had just been shot, and that you are all alone, without reinforcements and low on ammo. You get the true feeling of war, the get down and dirty story of war. However one war cannot be told by simply one man; almost every soldier fights a different war, and Burma was very different from the many other battle-fronts, for the lack of technology and the relying on old but proven methods. Fraser does try to give a good idea of the many aspects of an experience at war, from the camaraderie up to and including the horrors to the pains, and most often, the satisfactions.
In his Flashman Papers, Fraser tells the story of Flashman, the great and idolized hero of the early wars. The first story, Flashman tells of the racy and intense adventures of Flashman, while fighting for the British in Kabul, Afghanistan. From fight scenes in which Flashman manages to fight off ten enemies, often by accident, to the romantic nights with women, this book is a page turner. Fraser uses Flashman to create a “romantic war”, with Flashman the victor in all situations. Flashman uses both brains and bribery to work his way up the ladder of leadership, often weaseling out of tough situations.
With his writing in Flashman Fraser showed the exact opposite of the true war. Fraser used imagination to create an account of a “true hero”, a person who saves the day and gets the girl in the end. This series in no way represents the true realities of war, but represents, rather, a fabrication often perceived by the younger generation. These stories are the idealized stories of war, the “school boy” version.
It is said by Fraser that Flashman wrote of his stories when he was in his old age, and that the stories were rediscovered in 1965, and soon after that Fraser was asked to edit them. Fraser decided to release the stories one "packet" of adventures at a time, in no known chronological order. Fraser, through Flashman, takes his readers to many of the battlefields and exotic places in history. The books are all in Flashman's point of view, with Fraser only adding some edited parts which include explanatory historical notes.
Though, in his two different styles of writing we are shown the different perceptions and writing formats of war writing. Through Quartered Safe Out Here, Fraser shows us the true war, the real experience. On the other side of the spectrum, however, the Flashman series opens us up to a fantastical war, one with romance, victories and heroes. As a World War II veteran, Fraser uses personal experience and imagination to show both sides of war; the romantic and the actual. Fraser is known to have influenced and aided other writers, including C.S. Lewis.
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