My great-uncle Ernest

It is a testament to his talent as a writer that his works continue to be enjoyed today. Few others have come close to his style of writing.

I can't help but ask if you are aware of any unpublished works of his that might be brought to light, as I am convinced that even his "second-rate" material would have been superior to most of what gets published.

Also, as I'm sure you know, Bramah was considered a recluse, and not much is known of his life. One question that has been debated over the years is whether he ever made the trip to China, and if not, where did he get his ideas from?

---Mike

Author	Comment
fairfield Unregistered User (3/12/00 9:18 am) Reply	My great-uncle Ernest Delighted to just find a web page dedicated to Ernest Bramah, who was my great uncle by marriage, having married my maternal father's sister. I had no idea that his works continue to generate such interest.
Mike Berro Administrator (3/16/00 11:28 pm) Reply	Re: My great-uncle Ernest It is a testament to his talent as a writer that his works continue to be enjoyed today. Few others have come close to his style of writing. I can't help but ask if you are aware of any unpublished works of his that might be brought to light, as I am convinced that even his "second-rate" material would have been superior to most of what gets published. Also, as I'm sure you know, Bramah was considered a recluse, and not much is known of his life. One question that has been debated over the years is whether he ever made the trip to China, and if not, where did he get his ideas from? ---Mike
fairfield Unregistered User (3/19/00 12:13 pm) Reply	My great-uncle Ernest We are fairly certain that he never visited China - his farthest foray Eastwards was supposedly Moscow. I have no idea where he obtained his understanding of the Orient, although I have now started to delve into the family history side of things and this may unearth some new knowledge. I do not think we have any unpublished manuscripts, although we are busy clearing out the loft! By the way, the rationale for his reclusive lifestyle is thought within the family to be due to the somewhat eccentric and unpredicatable behaviour of my aunt.
Walmesley Registered User (10/6/00 8:12 am) Reply	Re: My great-uncle Ernest Ernest Bramah married Maisie Barker, sister of Alan and aunt of John and Rosemary. I am working on Bramah with a go-ahead from the holder of the copyrights, and tried to get in touch with his wife's family some years ago, but had no success. I should be very glad to communicate with anyone who can tell me about his or his wife's family. I can be reached through sadelbia@hotmail.com.
Murphy Unregistered User (10/30/00 4:10 am) Reply	My great-uncle Ernest I began work on a biography of your great-uncle Ernest Bramah in, I think, 1984. I posted a letter to the Spectator announcing my intention, which was printed, and received one suitably mysterious and anonymous letter giving me a strong lead on his schooldays in Manchester. I also informed William White of my work, then the world's leading authority on the author, and received an encouraging reply with many useful leads. It is my intention to continue this work which has yielded significant results including the discovery of the unexpected source of Bramah's China interest, and the source and inspiration of the name Kai Lung.
Mike Berro ezOP (10/31/00 11:20 am) Reply	Re: My great-uncle Ernest As you might guess, I would be very interested in such a biography. I've been reading translations of some of the Chinese classics, and have found the Kai Lung books to be remarkably consistent with the traditional stories. I've just finished The Travels of Lao T'san from 1890, which is very good, although with little of the inventiveness and gravity-removing dialogue of the Kai Lung stories. I don't think a visit to China would have been at all necessary to capture the literary style (really, the style of the translations.) In addition, a visit after 1905 would have been fruitless anyway. ---Mike
Jessica Unregistered User (1/15/01 2:27 pm) Reply	Not so reclusive? What a fascinating thread this is developing to be! I wanted to add my two-cents worth that Bramah may have been less the recluse than some people have made him out to be. Contemporary newspaper articles describe him as a dandy & conversationalist. He frequented literary clubs & thereby won many supporters for his first writings. Though private about his personal life he seems to have cemented solid friendships with his peers & to have been no less a tale-spinner than Kai Lung himself hence a sought-companion at literary affairs & numinist club gatherings. That he did not grant newspaper interviews willynilly the way Jeffery Farnol or Sir Arthur Quiller Couch did made some journalists think of him as furtive, no doubt, but keeping his private life private was quite different from being antisocial or reclusive. His living relations' belief that it was his wife's unpredictability that lent him eventually to become a stay-at-home is quite interesting to me. I should certainly love to see an adequate biography of him. Grant Richards' little remembrance of Ernest asserts that he was a vegetarian, of interest to me since so am I. -Jessica
Mike Berro ezOP (1/15/01 7:34 pm) Reply	Re: Not so reclusive? I've looked, as best I can over the net, for contemporary articles mentioning Bramah. I'd be grateful for some scans of such articles, and/or in which issues they might be found. It is known that he was Jerome K Jerome's personal secretary for about a year just before the turn of the century, but he is not mentioned in the intros or forwards of the books I have seen (a long-shot at best.) ---Mike

Ernest Bramah > Discussion > My great-uncle Ernest
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