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Once Upon a Time
Published in 1910.
280 pages, Hardcover
First published January 28, 2006
9 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
Richard Harding Davis
377 books27 followersRichard Harding Davis (1864–1916) was a journalist and writer of fiction and drama, known foremost as the first American war correspondent to cover the Spanish-American War, the Second Boer War, and the First World War. His writing greatly assisted the political career of Theodore Roosevelt and he also played a major role in the evolution of the American magazine. His influence extended to the world of fashion and he is credited with making the clean-shaven look popular among men at the turn of the 20th century.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 1, 2020
Short stories from featuring his usual cast of handsome yet modest heroes, beautiful and game heroines, impromptu adventures and pleasant surprises.
His heroes are mostly, like himself, either journalists or stenographers. 'A Question of Latitude' follows a muckraking journalist who goes to Africa to expose 'atrocities' and learns that they aren't limited to the natives. Wiser heads try to counsel him, but only the enervating experience of the heat can teach him how his Boston morality means nothing in this continent:
"The first white man came to Sierra Leone five hundred years before Christ," said the Coaster. "And, in twenty-two hundred years, he's got just twenty miles inland. The native didn't need forts, or a navy, to stop him. He had three allies: those waves, the fever, and the sun. Especially the sun.
The journalist in 'The Amateur' considers himself something of a detective and is willingly enlisted by a beautiful young woman to find her absconded husband. It contained this interesting take on the role of the investigative journalist:
'Had you called Austin Ford an amateur detective he would have been greatly annoyed. He argued that his position was similar to that of the dramatic critic. The dramatic critic warned the public against bad plays; Ford warned it against bad men. Having done that, he left it to the public to determine whether the bad man should thrive or perish.'
'A Charmed Life' is again about a journalist, whose fiancé fears for him when he goes off to cover the war in Cuba. As the title suggests she needn't have worried.
As for the stenographers, in 'The Make-Believe Man' a handsome young fellow with that lowly occupation and his fantasist friend have an adventure on a boat with an Irish peer and his beautiful sister. 'A Wasted Day' sees 'the Wisest Man in Wall Street' slum it for the day in the court to put in a good word for his old stenographer.
Another story of note is called 'The Spy' in which the narrator is presumed to be one after his sudden appearance in Valencia where a trio of power brokers are intriguing over the nitrate mines. On the boat home he meets the genuine article, a vain and boastful drunk named Schnitzel who a little later on would have fit nicely within the pages of Graham Greene or John le Carre.
'The Messengers' is a great example of Harding's wry way with romance in which a lovelorn man waits for a signal from the woman he loves to go to her n Egypt. It's a funny and beautiful little story.
Jay Gatsby must have read Harding Davis when he was a child.
His heroes are mostly, like himself, either journalists or stenographers. 'A Question of Latitude' follows a muckraking journalist who goes to Africa to expose 'atrocities' and learns that they aren't limited to the natives. Wiser heads try to counsel him, but only the enervating experience of the heat can teach him how his Boston morality means nothing in this continent:
"The first white man came to Sierra Leone five hundred years before Christ," said the Coaster. "And, in twenty-two hundred years, he's got just twenty miles inland. The native didn't need forts, or a navy, to stop him. He had three allies: those waves, the fever, and the sun. Especially the sun.
The journalist in 'The Amateur' considers himself something of a detective and is willingly enlisted by a beautiful young woman to find her absconded husband. It contained this interesting take on the role of the investigative journalist:
'Had you called Austin Ford an amateur detective he would have been greatly annoyed. He argued that his position was similar to that of the dramatic critic. The dramatic critic warned the public against bad plays; Ford warned it against bad men. Having done that, he left it to the public to determine whether the bad man should thrive or perish.'
'A Charmed Life' is again about a journalist, whose fiancé fears for him when he goes off to cover the war in Cuba. As the title suggests she needn't have worried.
As for the stenographers, in 'The Make-Believe Man' a handsome young fellow with that lowly occupation and his fantasist friend have an adventure on a boat with an Irish peer and his beautiful sister. 'A Wasted Day' sees 'the Wisest Man in Wall Street' slum it for the day in the court to put in a good word for his old stenographer.
Another story of note is called 'The Spy' in which the narrator is presumed to be one after his sudden appearance in Valencia where a trio of power brokers are intriguing over the nitrate mines. On the boat home he meets the genuine article, a vain and boastful drunk named Schnitzel who a little later on would have fit nicely within the pages of Graham Greene or John le Carre.
'The Messengers' is a great example of Harding's wry way with romance in which a lovelorn man waits for a signal from the woman he loves to go to her n Egypt. It's a funny and beautiful little story.
Jay Gatsby must have read Harding Davis when he was a child.
November 29, 2018
I somewhat less-than-seriously picked this book up solely for the title, having just re-watched season four of the TV series Once Upon a Time. It has nothing to do with the show but I still imagined something along the lines of a fairytale. Unicorns came to mind. It was not until I had read the first section of the book that I realised what I was reading was a collection of short stories. It was certainly not what I was expecting nor was it what I wanted, having read quite a few collections of shorter works recently. But I kept reading complacently, feeling that if I hadn't stumbled onto a gem it was an entertaining pastime of a book. My opinion changed decidedly for the better the more stories I read. When the stories borrowed predictable forms such as mix-ups, mistaken identities, unforeseen occurrences, and fate, Davis executes them so well that you've forgiven him for the see-through cliches by the time he springs a last completely unexpected twist on you in the last few sentences. The style is engaging, the characters developed, and it is entertaining light reading done well.
January 9, 2021
I simply LOVED this book. It was one of that amazing surprises and I'm more than happy to be the one who translated it into Brazilian Portuguese FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER. All the short stories are amazingly written, witty, sarcastic, funny and intriguing. I simply loooooved The Charmed Life, The Spy, The Messengers and The Amateur. Simply AMAZING. Highly recommend this book for those who love to be surprised.
July 21, 2016
This was not al all what I thought it was going to be. It had it's moments where it was exciting, but there was a lot of time that, it could not really hold my attention. The writing was great, but I could not get into this book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews