Model For Literature
It is widely believed that Herbert is the inspiration for the character Sandy Arbuthnot, a hero in several John Buchan novels. The series starts with The Thirty-Nine Steps, but Arbuthnot's first appearance is in Greenmantle, hence the title of his granddaughter's biography of him, The Man Who Was Greenmantle. Herbert's Italian family villa is the model for that in the Sword of Honour trilogy by his son-in-law Evelyn Waugh.
The cameo character of the 'Honourable Herbert' in Louis de Bernières's novel Birds Without Wings is clearly based on Herbert. He appears as a British liaison officer with the ANZAC troops serving in the Gallipoli campaign. A polyglot officer able to communicate with both sides, he arranges the burial of the dead of both sides, achieving great popularity with both sides - a description that mirrors his role in the 1915 truce.
Read more about this topic: Aubrey Herbert
Famous quotes containing the words model and/or literature:
“She represents the unavowed aspiration of the male human being, his potential infidelity—and infidelity of a very special kind, which would lead him to the opposite of his wife, to the “woman of wax” whom he could model at will, make and unmake in any way he wished, even unto death.”
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“Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.”
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