{"product_id":"2940013693333","title":"Portrait of a Man with Red Hair","description":"I wrote this story as a relaxation after a lecture tour.  An\u003cbr\u003eAmerican editor asked me, at that time, for a serial, and I thought\u003cbr\u003ethis would be the very thing for him.  I showed him the synopsis\u003cbr\u003eand he was delighted.  The contract was signed.  Then two months\u003cbr\u003elater I sent him the completed story, and what was my amazement to\u003cbr\u003ereceive a very long cable from him saying that he was in despair,\u003cbr\u003ethat he could not possibly print it in his magazine because of its\u003cbr\u003e\"revolting character\".  He was a good honest man whom I greatly\u003cbr\u003eliked, and I was quite staggered by his judgment!  However, it was\u003cbr\u003esold to somebody else and duly appeared as a book.  I discovered\u003cbr\u003ethat I was supposed to have written a treatise on sadism, and when\u003cbr\u003elater Charles Laughton acted in the play that was made from the\u003cbr\u003ebook, people left the theatre at every performance, too deeply\u003cbr\u003ehorrified to endure it!  This is what comes of attempting light\u003cbr\u003erelaxation after a lecture tour!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI have always felt myself that Crispin, the villain of this highly-\u003cbr\u003ecoloured adventure, was too fantastic to be shocking.  If I wanted\u003cbr\u003eto write about the REAL Crispin, why, then there WOULD be something\u003cbr\u003eto cry out about!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was to me a kind of Jack the Giant-Killer Giant with the pathos\u003cbr\u003ethat attaches to everyone who is seven feet high or has three legs\u003cbr\u003eor an eye in the middle of his forehead!  Then he was also to me a\u003cbr\u003esymbol, making this book one with Maradick at Forty, The Prelude to\u003cbr\u003eAdventure, and Above the Dark Circus.  It was because I felt this\u003cbr\u003ethat I linked the story to Maradick, and even had the audacity to\u003cbr\u003edo over again the incident that had already figured in the earlier\u003cbr\u003ebook, the dance through the town.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd yet in my original preface I stated that there WAS nothing\u003cbr\u003esymbolic about him.  I meant that quite sincerely.  I had written\u003cbr\u003eit as the lightest and simplest of adventures.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI was also afraid of this symbolism of mine with which I was for\u003cbr\u003eever being twitted.  These four books are not perhaps symbolic in\u003cbr\u003eany real sense of the word.  They are, I would rather say,\u003cbr\u003eCANDLELIGHT books.  By that I mean that the scenes are lit by\u003cbr\u003eflickering, uncertain illumination which creates a shadow for\u003cbr\u003eeverything, BEHIND everything, and the shadow is more important\u003cbr\u003ethan the reality.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNot very long ago I saw Crispin at a theatre.  I could not believe\u003cbr\u003emy eyes.  There he was, sitting not far away from me, red hair,\u003cbr\u003ewhite face, pudgy body and all.  I was fascinated and, in the\u003cbr\u003einterval, I stood near him eager to hear what he would say.  All\u003cbr\u003ethat he DID say was that his crop of potatoes was promising very\u003cbr\u003ewell, much better than LAST year.  I was disappointed, but who\u003cbr\u003eknows what sinister secret the potatoes covered?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt has been a very successful book in the popular sense and has\u003cbr\u003eappeared at every possible price from seven and sixpence to\u003cbr\u003esixpence, but after it appeared and I was told of its horrible\u003cbr\u003eatmosphere, I longed to write a REAL book on Crispin's life and\u003cbr\u003eadventures--I offer the suggestion to someone more courageous than\u003cbr\u003emyself!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe town in Maradick and The Red-Haired Man was a faint echo of St.\u003cbr\u003eIves as it used to be--not at all as it now is!  The Dance is, of\u003cbr\u003ecourse, at Helston and is still very vigorous, as I can personally\u003cbr\u003etestify.  If Crispin himself reads this little preface, perhaps he\u003cbr\u003ewill write to me?","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47083152474352,"sku":"2940013693333","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013693333_p0.jpg?v=1763584065","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013693333","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}