Posted by Peter Ceresole on September 23, 2014 at 09:51:15 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: Interview with Philippa Ryan posted by Roger Wardale on September 23, 2014 at 01:20:28:
We may believe that Mr Jemmerling was based on Fred Bloggs, but since we do not know Fred, we cannot see 'the original'
You're right, of course, but Jemmerling was a one off, more of a sketch and a bit of a lay character, 'a man with money, and obsession and a dearth of scruples'. AR wouldn't need to have anybody in mind- a story in the newspaper would do, maybe not even that.
But his 'long haul' characters were filled out. Within the bounds of AR's imagination and plots, they would need to act almost of their own volition, and there I'm sure he would draw on characters he knew quite well. Not holus bolus, necessarily, but bits and bobs brought together.
I'm no novelist but it seems to me that this may be how some of them work. My favourite 'adult' author is Anthony Powell, who was well known for drawing on 'real people' for his characters. One of them was (in his stories) a notorious and monstrous devourer of men, called Pamella Flitton. She was said to be modeled on Barbara Skelton, who wrote a brutally frank autobiography 'Tears Before Bed Time'. She really, by her own account, doesn't sound like somebody it would have been nice to know but it is fascinating to see which bits Powell used to create his monster- who was really quite unlike the original in some ways, but totally recognisable all the same.
AR didn't deal in monsters of course. Even the GA, who came closest, is partly redeemed at the conclusion of PM, as an earlier incarnation of Nancy- and vice versa. I don't think we can ever know all the sources he drew on, but it's fun to try.