In Hospital
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | In Hospital |
| Author(s): | Laura Mason |
| Date(s): | 30 June 2004 |
| Length: | 4307 words |
| Genre: | backstory |
| Fandom: | Mary Renault |
| External Links: | archived on MRF |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
"In Hospital" is a short story by Laura Mason based on Mary Renault's 1953 novel The Charioteer. It is set shortly before Chapter Three, at a time when Ralph Lanyon is in hospital after being wounded at Dunkirk.
Synopsis
Ralph recalls the evacuation efforts before his ship was blown up and sunk. His memory lingers longest on his encounter with Laurie Odell, which is here described from Ralph's perspective. The story concludes with the (canonical) return of the letter that Ralph sent to Laurie, erroneously marked "died of wounds".
Background
It should be noted that, in "In Hospital", the author dubs Ralph's ship the Vimy.
The story was beta'ed by tehta.
Comments
A very early piece of fiction for this fandom, "In Hospital" elicited much comment relating to The Charioteer, a book that several respondents had not yet read. Other comments included the following:
- "I've always wanted to see someone write from Ralph's perspective, particularly when he was in the hospital after his injury. I really like the way this shows Ralph's idealism and his refusal to accept his idealism. Love the way the closing line just cuts it all away sharply, too."—comment by thorne_scratch
- "[...] Very interesting to see a story from Ralph's POV. I really liked this bit "There'd be time enough for amateur dramatics when the war was won." It seems like something Ralph would say."—comment by maggiehoneybite