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Ruritania is a fictional country in central Europe which forms the setting for three books by Anthony Hope: ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1894), ''The Heart of Princess Osra'' (1896), and ''Rupert of Hentzau'' (1898). Although the first and third are set in the recent past—between the 1850s and 1880s—the second is set in the 1730s, although it refers to subsequent events that happened between that time and the time of writing. The kingdom is also the setting for sequels and variations by other writers. It lent its name to a genre of adventure stories known as Ruritanian romances, and is used in academia to refer to a hypothetical country. ==In literature and creative arts== Hope depicts Ruritania as a German-speaking, Roman Catholic country under an absolute monarchy, with deep social, but not ethnic, divisions reflected in the conflicts of the first novel. However, the names given to some settlements in Ruritania, such as Strelsau and Hentzau, indicate that sometimes Slavic names underlie the German and like the Sorb population of Saxony, a Slavic-speaking population cannot be discounted. Geographically, it is usually considered to be located between Saxony and Bohemia; the author indicates that the capital city, Strelsau, is reached by railway from Dresden. The distance and direction are not clearly stated, but to reach Strelsau from Paris the hero must pass through Dresden then cross the border and travel some 60 miles to the capital. It is probable that Hope had Prague in mind for Strelsau, described in the novel as second only to Paris in terms of desirability for an ambassadorship. Hope's novels give the impression that Ruritania would not be a pleasant place for a modern person to inhabit, with its feckless, autocratic king, police surveillance of suspected subversives and a social structure deeply polarised between the rich and poor. In ''The Heart of Princess Osra'', set in the 18th century, Hope refers to a palace "which stood...where the public gardens now are (for the Palace itself was sacked and burnt by the people in the rising of 1848)". In this novel, it emerges in passing that Jews were not then allowed to hold an interest in land in the capital. Other, more recent authors have created homages set in Ruritania, such as Simon Hawke's science fiction re-working ''The Zenda Vendetta (Time Wars Book 4)'' (1985), John Spurling's ''After Zenda'' (1995) and John Haythorne's ''The Strelsau Dimension'' (1981). Neither Hawke nor Spurling adheres to the Hope canon; their works show influences from the film adaptations. Hawke relocates Ruritania to the Balkans, and makes it smaller and more socially cohesive; Spurling, who places the country in the Carpathians, thus hinting at its being in fact the former Habsburg province of Transylvania—today part of Romania—introduces ethnic and linguistic divisions; Haythorne puts Ruritania on the Northern side of Czechoslovakia to Spurling's setting, in approximately the same location as Hope's original. Hope's novels resulted in "Ruritania" becoming a generic term for any small, imaginary, Victorian or Edwardian Era, European kingdom used as the setting for romance, intrigue and the plots of adventure novels. It lent its name to a whole genre of writing, the Ruritanian romance, including the Graustark novels by George Barr McCutcheon. An early reference in a non-canonical story is the mention in ''The Adventure of the Illustrious Client'', a Sherlock Holmes short story from 1924, of an ocean liner named the ''Ruritania''. In Evelyn Waugh's 1930 comedic novel ''Vile Bodies'', one character is a deposed and maudlin "ex-King of Ruritania"; he is presumably the same figure who appears in several witty P.G. Wodehouse stories, mostly as the doorman of Barribault's Hotel. Later authors develop the idea further. Ruritania inspired other fictional countries, such as ''Ixania'' in Eric Ambler's ''The Dark Frontier'', ''Riechtenburg'' in Dornford Yates' ''Blood Royal'' and ''Fire Below'', and ''Evallonia'' in John Buchan's ''Castle Gay'' and ''The House of the Four Winds'', which share with the original the depiction of complex power struggles in which a visiting protagonist from a real country becomes deeply involved. In 1970 Neiman-Marcus selected Ruritania as the subject of its annual fortnight, in which the arts, culture, and goods of a country are highlighted both in the store and through special events. Previous subjects included real countries including England, France, Italy and Denmark. In the 1974 novel ''Royal Flash'' by George Macdonald Fraser, Ruritania is claimed to be a fictional country based on the (equally fictional) Duchy of Strackenz that borders Germany and Denmark, and the events of ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' were simply imitations of the adventures of Harry Paget Flashman whilst in Strackenz.〔Macdonald Fraser, George. ''Royal Flash'' (1974) London: Pan Macmillan Publishing〕 In 2006, Ignacio Padilla published ''La Gruta del Toscano'' (ISBN 84-204-7072-4), a novel in which Ruritanians discover a cavern in the Himalayas, somewhere on the border between China and Nepal. The cavern seems to be an earthly replica of Dante's inferno, and several expeditions try to reach its ninth circle, including one directed by "La cofradía de Zenda", a group of Ruritanian mountaineers. Part of the action is set in Strelsau, capital of Ruritania. Ruritania is featured in the animated series ''Count Duckula'', in which it is depicted as a popular ski resort, with competitions in winter sports held in the Ruritanian town of Danglegoggle.〔''Count Duckula'' Season 4, Episode 3, "Alps-a-Daisy". First broadcast January 19, 1993〕 The short story "A Shambles in Belgravia" features Professor Moriarty and Irene Adler working to cause a scandal in the Ruritanian government.〔(A Shambles in Belgravia )〕 Warren Ellis used the Ruritania setting as part of his 2008 graphic novella ''Aetheric Mechanics'', in which Britain and Ruritania are fighting a war in the air after Ruritania annexed Grand Fenwick. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ruritania」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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