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Rolfe, Frederick

(1860-1913) UK author and eccentric, known as much for claiming the name Baron Corvo as for his writing. The nine Reviews of Unwritten Books (February-June 1903 The Monthly Review; plus one added piece December 1904 Gentleman's Magazine; coll 1985-1988 4vols each chap) with Sholto Douglas are an early articulation of the concept of Alternate History, if only in a nonfiction format (one of the reviews, for instance, being of "Machiavelli's Despatches from the South African Campaign"). Hubert's Arthur: Being Certain Curious Documents Found among the Literary Remains of Mr N C (written 1908-1912; 1935) with H C H Pirie-Gordon as by Prospero and Caliban, in which King John fails to kill and is overthrown by his nephew Arthur, is an early Alternate-History novel, although its late publication date precludes any influence on that genre. The Weird of the Wanderer (1912), again with Pirie-Gordon as by Prospero and Caliban, is a fantasy involving Timeslips, but Hadrian the Seventh (1904), on which Rolfe's reputation as an author almost solely rests, is a genuine Near-Future sf novel, set in 1910. Dealing with the rise to the Papacy of a frustrated English candidate for priesthood (see Decadence), the novel offers a number of predictions regarding the future of Europe, including a vision of the Russian Revolution. [GF]

Frederick William Rolfe

born London: 22 July 1860

died Venice, Italy: 25 October 1913

works

• Hadrian the Seventh (London: Chatto and Windus, 1904) [hb/Frederick Rolfe]
• Don Tarquinio: A Kataleptic Phantasmatic Romance (London: Chatto and Windus, 1905) [hb/]
• The Weird of the Wanderer (London: Rider and Company, 1912) with H C H Pirie-Gordon as by Prospero and Caliban [hb/nonpictorial descriptive copy]
• Hubert's Arthur: Being Certain Curious Documents Found among the Literary Remains of Mr N C (London: Cassell and Company, 1935) with H C H Pirie-Gordon as by Prospero and Caliban [written 1908-1912: hb/]
• Reviews of Unwritten Books (Edinburgh, Scotland: Tragara Press, 1985-1988) [coll: published in four volumes, each chap: first appeared February-June 1903 The Monthly Review; plus one added piece December 1904 Gentleman's Magazine: edited by Donald Weeks: pb/]

about the author

• A J A Symons. The Quest for Corvo: An Experiment in Biography (London: Cassell, 1934) [nonfiction: hb/]
• Miriam J Benkovitz. Frederick Rolfe: Baron Corvo (New York: G P Putnam's, 1977) [nonfiction: hb/]

links

• Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Picture Gallery

Entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2011-current) edited by John Clute and David Langford.
Accessed 12:11 pm on 1 April 2023.
<https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/rolfe_frederick>