في سبيل التاج

by Anthony Hope

رواية تاريخية فذة من نوع جديد

Genres: Historical Fiction, Classics

141 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1906

About the author

Prolific English novelist and playwright Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins especially composed adventure. People remember him best only for the book The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) and its sequel Rupert of Hentzau (1898). These works, "minor classics" of English literature, set in the contemporaneous fictional country of Ruritania, spawned the genre, known as Ruritanian romance. Zenda inspired many adaptations, most notably the Hollywood movie of 1937 of the same name.

Reviews

[Mohammed Youssef · Rating 4 out of 5]

قبل أن تفكر في قراءة هذه الرواية أو هذا الرأي، يجب عليك أن تعرف أنها احدى الروايات الكلاسيكية التي كتبها الإنجليزي أنتوني هوب مؤلف سجين زندا، ليست رواية فرانسوا كوبيه التي عربها المنفلوطي والفروق بين القصتين وهدف الرواية كبير

مبدئيا: الرواية من مطبوعات الدار القومية في ستينيات القرن الماضي والمترجم غير معروف

من بين جدران مطبخ مستر برنلو حاكم القرية ارتحلت صوفي مع الليدي مج لتشاهد ما لم تعرفه من قبل، ونشاهد معها أحداث رواية تاريخية فذة من نوع جديد - كما كتب المترجم على الصفحة اﻷولى -

يا لها من دنيا عجيبة - كما يقول صديقنا ليباك - يصبح فيها المخلصون سجناء والقاتلون سجانين
فهل أنت سجين أم سجان يا كابتن ماركارت؟

لكن السؤال هنا يجب أن يكون: ماذا يحدث يا صديقي في سبيل الحصول على التاج؟!

التيمة اﻷساسية للرواية عن فلسفة العرش أو هي عن الطبيعة الإنسانية عند الوقوف بجانبيها (الخير ，الشر) (الأمانة ，الخيانة) أمام سطوة (الملك ， الحكم ， السلطة)

ما الذي ستفعله يا إنسان إذ تعرضت للموقف؟ هل ستصبح سجين أم سجان؟

بالطبع لن نستطيع الإجابة إلا عند خوض التجربة، لكن عند انتهاءك من الرواية ستنتابك رعشة خفيفة وستفكر مليا في فلسفة العروش، كل تلك العروش في اﻷزمنة القديمة تعرضت لمحن، اعتلاها من لهم الحق في ذلك واعتلاها مغتصبين

ما الدوافع التي أرغمت الخونة على الخيانة؟ ولماذا ظل الأمناء على حالهم ولم يتأثروا بلعنة ذهب السلطة؟

تجربة لذيذة مع أنتوني هوب ومترجمنا الغير معروف!

[Verte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kind of liked it. The shortcomings, in my opinion, is a very elaborate writing style (well, they did write like this back then) and the dialogue: no one ever answers a question but with a parable, another question, a story to elaborate a point or simple "keep your eyes open and you will understand/see/know". Also, in the beginning, when "friends talking" much of their talking seemed offensive but they explained it off as "jokes", and the "victim" laughed together with the "offenders".
What I liked was the suspense. Knew from reading some of his books previously that he did not do happy endings, not that much. So, little hints, innuendoes thrown in here and there, actions, even descriptions made me wonder "What's next, what's next?" till the every end. "Will they, won't they?" Could not go to sleep until I read it to the end. You are always told what's going to happen but the outcome, you can try to guess and hints are given freely. The ending makes the whole story very believable, if it were different, than not so. Such poignant and philosophical musings at the end - made me also think. The whole book reminded me of "Prince Otto" by Robert Louis Stevenson and made me wonder why Hope and not Stevenson were awarded the title of the father of Ruritanian romance and not Stevenson.

[Jonathon Dabell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthony Hope wrote his most celebrated books - The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau - earlier in his career. Sophy Of Krovonia is one of his later entries, and his contemporaries felt he was losing his edge by this stage. There are quite a lot of negative reviews for this book.
I found it better than I thought it would be. The prose is eloquent and clear, the plot is far-fetched but romantic, there are interesting characters in the story (especially the villainous types). It does take a long time to get going and Hope sometimes over-elaborates scenes with his typical classical flourishes.
However I rather enjoyed reading this and think it deserves at least to be better known. Apparently there is a silent movie based on this book, but it's probably lost or locked in a vault somewhere. It might be interesting to compare it to the book.
Overall, it's a worthwhile read. You could do much worse!

[Hannah Cobb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sophy begins life as an orphaned kitchen maid living on the charity of the local gentry, but her dreams call her on to greater things. Through a series of coincidences and her bold ability to snatch at Fate's coattails, she finds herself living in Europe under an assumed (and noble) name before she is twenty years old. When Fate proceeds to deposit Sophy in Kravonia, a fictional kingdom based on the Balkans, Sophy thinks all her dreams have come true--if a war and some complicated political intrigues don't get in the way.
This book is not in any way shape or form an equal to the Prisoner of Zenda. The political conflict is the only really interesting element of the story; Sophy seems a bit too much like an opportunist to be truly likable, and the overall plot isn't terribly believable--though it did remind me strongly in places of Philip Pullman's wonderful novel The Tin Princess.

[Melodee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This tale of a young Englishwoman who rises from obscurity to become the fiancee of a prince is a fun little tale, but a tad shallow. The characters are rather one-dimensional, although that fact does add some humor to the story. There are many better 19th century novels out there. I expected a little better from the author of The Prisoner of Zenda.