Bernard Cornwell had an unusual childhood. He was adopted at birth into a family
belonging to a curious religious sect, the now extinct Peculiar People. The sect had a
puritan fear of anything outside the sect itself and forbade such things as smoking,
drinking, the theatre, dancing and the cinema.
Not surprisingly, this upbringing made Cornwell excessively curious about the
forbidden fruits beyond the well-guarded fence of the family. In his late teens, he
consciously put himself as far from the Peculiar People as he could. The family were
Conscientious Objectors, so the forbidden trade of soldiering seemed attractive
beyond belief. He tried desperately hard to get into the Army, but they wouldn't have him
because his eyesight was so poor. He remembers, at seventeen, pleading with a Recruiting
Sergeant in Southend when his parents thought he was at the dentist. The Army would have
him but there was no way they were going to give him a rifle, and a future in the Pay
Corps didn't seem attractive.
After studying for a degree in theology, which helped him escape from the Peculiars
and their beliefs, he turned to another forbidden area - he went into television. This
proved to be an extremely successful course to take - he quickly became a producer of BBC
TV's Nationwide, then Head of Current Affairs for BBC TV Northern Ireland and later Editor
of Thames TV's Thames at Six. Then, at the age of 35, he gave it all up to write.
During his early twenties, Cornwell realised that the only way he was ever going to
be a soldier was to become one in fiction. Through his childhood reading of the Hornblower
books, his particular interest was the Napoleonic Wars. He also read non-fiction books on
the wars and through these he was introduced to Wellington. He was fascinated by
Wellington's extraordinary series of victories and amazed that no one had ever written a
comparable series to Hornblower, which celebrated Wellington's army. He
vowed therefore that one day he would write them. While pursuing his career in television,
he researched the Penninsula War during his leisure hours and even gave his 'hero' a
working name - Richard Sharpe, after England's greatest fly-half. He really did plan to
write the novels 'one day', but it could all have stayed as vague as that had romance not
forced him to write the first book.
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Cornwell fell in love with an American
when he was working and she was holidaying in Scotland, but the
problem was that Judy couldn't live in Britain because of family ties. Cornwell, however,
didn't have any real ties so he decided to give up his TV career and go to the States. He
couldn't get a work permit and therefore had to do the one job that didn't need the US
government's permission - writing his first Sharpe novel.
HarperCollins were the publishers who received the first completed
Sharpe novel and they were so impressed that they quickly signed up Cornwell for a
ten-book contract - an almost unprecedented event in the history of publishing. They felt
that Sharpe was one of the most exceptional fictional heroes to have been created in
recent years - eminently comparable not only to contemporaries such as Hornblower and
Ramage, but to modern heroes as well. And they have certainly been proved right.
Richard Sharpe marches from strength to strength with the publication of each new
novel and is hailed by many reviewers as the greatest thing to happen to military heroes
since Hornblower. He has also been given high recognition from the British Army by being
made an Honorary Member of the Officer's Mess of the Regimental Depot of the Royal Green
Jackets. This is high praise indeed for he is the first fictional character ever adopted
on their membership.
In 1993 the Sharpe series took a new turn with the appearance of two television
films based on Sharpe's Eagle and Sharpe's Rifles. Made for Central Television and
starring Sean Bean, the programmes were an instant hit and led to three more films being
made in each of the subsequent three years. And, as well as the television, Sharpe
fans will be pleased to hear that Bernard Cornwell has more tales to tell ... |
Life at the Sharpe End An Interview with
Bernard Cornwell
Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe is one of the most memorable characters in
historical fiction. For twenty years now Sharpe has been roaming Europe and the world,
fighting his battles and making history, all in his own inimitable style. Now, in Sharpe's
Fortress, Sharpe is back,and finally his dream of being an officer in Sir Arthur
Wellesley's army has come true. But Ensign Sharpe still has a few old scores to settle,
and a few enemies - on both sides - to vanquish.
(To get the answer click on the number)
1-What can
the armies of Sharpe fans out there expect from Sharpe’s Fortress? What differences
will people who have "discovered" Sharpe through the television adaptations find
when they pick up a Sharpe novel for the first time?
2-Sharpe’s
Fortress finally sees Sharpe becoming an officer, which is what he has always wanted, and
yet in some ways he is disappointed by the results?
3-The story of
Sharpe’s Fortress is told on a very visual level. Do you write with the images in
front of you?
4-The descriptions of the battles and the sieges are pretty
frightening, and yet they are also enormously exciting at the same time. If you had been
born 200 years earlier would you have been a Sharpe yourself?
5-One of the fascinating things is getting to the end of
Sharpe’s Fortress and reading the true story behind it.
6-Sharpe's Fortress is a quest on many different levels
– Sharpe is not only seeking a victory in a military context, he’s also seeking
respect from his fellow officers and on another level entirely he’s constantly trying
to keep his hands on the piles of jewels he has acquired. Do you find it easy to write on
so many different levels at once?
7-The whole book is so focussed on the fortress at
Gawilghur that it almost becomes a character in its own right. Did you go there yourself
to research Sharpe’s Fortress
8-The context of Sharpe’s Fortress is the war in
India, against the Mahrattas, and yet Sharpe’s
greatest enemies are on his own side – How did that come about?
9-For a hero, Sharpe is a pretty brutal character. Do you
think his ruthlessness is a part of his appeal?
10-How do you think the character of Sharpe has developed
over the series?
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