Scan barcode
paul_cornelius's review
5.0
How is it possible to be a reader of adventure fiction and pass by the name of Achmed Abdullah without picking up his work? His life is as mysterious and adventurous as his stories. While almost all his background until emigrating to the United States and becoming an American citizen is clouded in the mist of legend and wild imaginings, even if only a quarter of it is true, then it is a storied life full of amazement. Born in the Crimea to a Russian aristocrat, a Romanoff (he says), raised a muslim (he says), joining the army of the British raj and advancing to officer ranks (he says), spying on the Turks and reconnoitering Tibet, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and many of the other "stans" (he says), Abdullah eventually came to the US and found success in Hollywood. This part is undeniable fact. He scripted at least partly two of my favorite films, Chang and The Lives of a Bengal Lancer.
So I knew of Achmed Abdullah, although I had never read his stories or books. Aware of many other adventure story writers of his era, I had always thought he was among them in contributing to the magazine, Adventure. That pulp magazine was the most influential of its genre, gathering not only a host of landmark writers but supporters for its Adventure clubs, directorships, and advice columns. Theodore Roosevelt was a member. But in looking in this megapack I don't see any of its contents first appearing in Adventure. Most are works from the 1910s and early 1920s and appeared in publications such as Munsey's, Argosy, and Blue Book, all of which were just a notch above Adventure in the pecking order of literary publications at the beginning of the twentieth century.
No matter, really, except that the histories of these publications, especially Adventure, make for a fascinating study of American dreams and fantasies of the period right before and after World War I. The stories in this collection consist of supernatural tales, exotic action pieces set in Tartary or Central Asia, India, China, and in the Chinatowns of large American cities. The protagonists themselves are almost all non-European and non-White Americans, with colonial figures appearing only on the fringes, while Arabs, Chinese, Tartars, and tribesmen from Central Asia take precedence.
What motivated Abdullah's writing? He is a master at stretching and prolonging suspense. Not just his chapters but the sections within his chapters end on cliffhangers. And he creates an unsurpassed sense of urgency, having his heroes and heroines always spin out the tale as long as possible, even detouring to asides to whet appetites. But the biggest statement, I think, comes in a passage early in this volume. Imagine the clerk or young man on a farm who feels the need to escape the overly familiar world closing in on him. And here is Achmed Abdullah, ready to tell a tale to those young men that not only might happen but might happen to them.
So I knew of Achmed Abdullah, although I had never read his stories or books. Aware of many other adventure story writers of his era, I had always thought he was among them in contributing to the magazine, Adventure. That pulp magazine was the most influential of its genre, gathering not only a host of landmark writers but supporters for its Adventure clubs, directorships, and advice columns. Theodore Roosevelt was a member. But in looking in this megapack I don't see any of its contents first appearing in Adventure. Most are works from the 1910s and early 1920s and appeared in publications such as Munsey's, Argosy, and Blue Book, all of which were just a notch above Adventure in the pecking order of literary publications at the beginning of the twentieth century.
No matter, really, except that the histories of these publications, especially Adventure, make for a fascinating study of American dreams and fantasies of the period right before and after World War I. The stories in this collection consist of supernatural tales, exotic action pieces set in Tartary or Central Asia, India, China, and in the Chinatowns of large American cities. The protagonists themselves are almost all non-European and non-White Americans, with colonial figures appearing only on the fringes, while Arabs, Chinese, Tartars, and tribesmen from Central Asia take precedence.
What motivated Abdullah's writing? He is a master at stretching and prolonging suspense. Not just his chapters but the sections within his chapters end on cliffhangers. And he creates an unsurpassed sense of urgency, having his heroes and heroines always spin out the tale as long as possible, even detouring to asides to whet appetites. But the biggest statement, I think, comes in a passage early in this volume. Imagine the clerk or young man on a farm who feels the need to escape the overly familiar world closing in on him. And here is Achmed Abdullah, ready to tell a tale to those young men that not only might happen but might happen to them.
More...