Five extracts from Ralph's journal

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Fanfiction
Title: Five extracts from Ralph's journal
Author(s): queen_ypolita
Date(s): 12 June 2009
Length: 745 words
Genre(s): backstory, journal
Fandom(s): Mary Renault
Relationship(s):
External Links: archived on MRF (offline)
archived version on archive.today

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Five extracts from Ralph's journal is a short story by queen_ypolita based on Mary Renault's 1953 novel The Charioteer. It takes the form of five passages abstracted from a journal kept by Ralph Lanyon, one of the principal characters. All passages expand on events taken from canon.

In the first passage Ralph comments on the loss of his ship at Dunkirk. In the second, he talks about the return of the letter he had sent to Laurie, and how, in distress, he had told Alec everything. In the third, he briefly describes meeting Bunny. In the fourth, he provides his perspective on the party in Chapter Six and the discovery that Laurie is, in fact, alive. In the fifth, which is very brief, he describes breaking up with Bunny.

The story elicited a number of comments, including:

  • "Love the journal format. Absolutely caught at "new notebook, thanks to A." Perfect. Everything there between them right in that one sentence. [...] "my_cnnr
  • "Utterly perfect. This sounds exactly like what Ralph would right (sic) in a journal for his own private use."mysid