Graustark is a

fictional country A fictional country is a country that is made up for fictional stories, and does not exist in real life, or one that people believe in without proof. Sailors have always mistaken low clouds for land masses, and in later times this was given ...

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

used as a setting for several novels by

George Barr McCutcheon George Barr McCutcheon (July 26, 1866 – October 23, 1928) was an American popular novelist and playwright. His best known works include a series of novels set in Graustark, a fictional East European country, and the novel ''Brewster's Millio ...

. Graustark's neighbors, which also figure in the stories, are Axphain to the north and Dawsbergen to the south.

Description

Graustark is described as a mountainous country with an area of approximately ; there is at least one reference in the books that fixes its location as somewhere in the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...

near

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. On the other hand, in ''Graustark'' it is said to be threatened with reduction to being only 25 miles wide by 150 miles long (3750 square miles) and in ''Truxton King'' is said to provide a shorter rail route to Russian territories in or near

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. Graustark's capital city, Edelweiss, is accessible by train from

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. The mountain town of Ganlook is near the border with Axphain, Graustark's traditional enemy. Graustark is ruled as a

principality A principality (or sometimes princedom) can either be a monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant-monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to fall under ...

and its unit of currency is called the ''gavvo'', worth $1.40 at the time of the novel ''Truxton King''. Graustarkian is the native language of the people, although American English is universally spoken among the educated classes and is the everyday language of the royal family and court.

Novels

The Graustark novels are stories of court intrigue, royal disguise, and romance similar to

Anthony Hope Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, better known as Anthony Hope (9 February 1863 – 8 July 1933), was a British novelist and playwright. He was a prolific writer, especially of adventure novels but he is remembered predominantly for only two books: ''Th ...

's 1894 novel, ''

The Prisoner of Zenda ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' is an 1894 adventure novel by Anthony Hope, in which the King of Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation and thus is unable to attend the ceremony. Political forces within the realm are such that, in order ...

'', and its sequels. They were popular best-sellers at the time they were published and the original editions are still readily available in used book shops. The two authors' novels gave their name to a fictional genre called either

Ruritanian romance Ruritanian romance is a genre of literature, film and theatre comprising novels, stories, plays and films set in a fictional country, usually in Central or Eastern Europe, such as the "Ruritania" that gave the genre its name. Such stories are typ ...

based on ''The Prisoner of Zenda'', or "Graustarkian," from McCutcheon's novels. This genre contains tales of romance and intrigue usually featuring titled characters in small, fictional,

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

an or

East Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

an countries. The novels in McCutcheon's series are: * ''Graustark: The Story of a Love Behind a Throne'' (1901)
Gutenberg text
* ''Beverly of Graustark'' (1904
Gutenberg text
(filmed in 1926 with

Marion Davies Marion Davies (born Marion Cecilia Douras; January 3, 1897 – September 22, 1961) was an American actress, producer, screenwriter, and philanthropist. Educated in a religious convent, Davies fled the school to pursue a career as a chorus girl ...

) * ''Truxton King: A Story of Graustark'' (1909
Gutenberg etext in HTML
* ''The Prince of Graustark'' (1914
Gutenberg text
* ''East of the Setting Sun'' (1924
Hathitrust catalog record
* ''The Inn of the Hawk and Raven'' (1927)

History of Graustark

During the 1870s, Graustark's ruler, Prince Ganlook of Graustark, was killed in a war with neighboring Axphain. As part of the ensuing peace treaty, Graustark agreed to pay a large indemnity to Axphain, to be due, with interest, in fifteen years. Graustark found itself without the resources to pay the indemnity when it was due, and in desperation, Princess Yetive—Ganlook's daughter and now occupying Graustark's throne—was on the verge of contracting a state marriage to Prince Lorenz of Axphain in exchange for more favorable payment terms. But before the marriage could take place, Lorenz was murdered. The princess's true love, the American Grenfall Lorry, whom she had met while travelling in the United States appeared to be the murderer. Lorenz's father insisted on the murderer's punishment, but the execution was prevented by the revelation of the true murderer: the villainous Prince Gabriel, ruler of Dawsbergen, who was another of Yetive's suitors. With Lorenz dead and Gabriel imprisoned, Yetive instead married her true love. During Gabriel's imprisonment, Dawsbergen was ruled by his younger half-brother, Prince Dantan, a popular figure among his own people and a staunch friend of Graustark as well. But after two years, Gabriel escaped from prison and, supported by the Dawsbergen army, returned to the throne. Dantan was forced to go into hiding in disguise in Graustark. For a time it appeared that Graustark might be forced into war with both Dawsbergen and Axphain, but this was averted when Gabriel was recaptured. Meanwhile, the disguised Prince Dantan had fallen in love with Beverly Calhoun, an American guest of the Lorrys; they were married upon his restoration to the throne of Dawsbergen. Yetive and her husband were tragically killed in a railway accident near

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, leaving their young son Prince Robin as ruler of Graustark. While still a child, Robin was the target of an assassination plot by anarchists acting under the direction of the exiled Count Marlanx, whose ultimate goal was to establish himself as sole dictator of Graustark. But the assassination attempt was foiled by the intervention of the American Truxton King, and Marlanx was killed in the ensuing attack on the royal palace. Graustark was still in financial difficulties by the time Prince Robin reached adulthood. William W. Blithers, a very rich and very vulgar American, offered to finance the country in the hopes of arranging a marriage between Robin and his own daughter. The two principals, however, had very different ideas of their own about marriage. Robin eventually married Bevra, the Crown Princess of Dawsbergen, daughter of Dantan and Beverly. Graustark's debts eventually ended up being held by

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. In exchange for entering

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as Russia's ally, Graustark negotiated cancellation of this debt. Later, with Russia out of the war, Graustark also negotiated a separate peace. There followed a period of prosperity in the country. Axphain, however, was taken over by

communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...

after the war, and was in a state of much distress and unrest. Its ruler, Prince Hedrik (brother of Lorenz), and his elder son were murdered in the communist revolution, leaving the younger son Prince Hubert in exile in Graustark and an illegitimate son Gregory who lived with his mother in Italy. Hubert was hoping to marry Princess Virginia of Dawsbergen—Bevra's younger sister—but she had previously contracted a

marriage of convenience A marriage of convenience is a marriage contracted for reasons other than that of love and commitment. Instead, such a marriage is entered into for personal gain, or some other sort of strategic purpose, such as a political marriage. There are ...

to Pendennis Yorke, an American journalist, and much to the surprise of everyone it became a genuine love match. The communist regime in Axphain was defeated after an unsuccessful attempt to invade Graustark, and the monarchy in that country was restored with Gregory on the throne rather than the unpopular Hubert, who was himself assassinated in the aftermath. In the 1961 fantasy novel ''

Three Hearts and Three Lions ''Three Hearts and Three Lions'' is a 1961 fantasy novel by American writer Poul Anderson, expanded from a 1953 novella by Anderson which appeared in ''Fantasy & Science Fiction'' magazine. Plot Holger Carlsen is an American-trained Danish engin ...

'' by

Poul Anderson Poul William Anderson (November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American fantasy and science fiction author who was active from the 1940s until the 21st century. Anderson wrote also historical novels. His awards include seven Hugo Awards and ...

, the hero Holger Carlsen gives his hastily constructed alias as 'Sir Rupert of Graustark.'

On film

* ''

Graustark Graustark is a fictional country in Eastern Europe used as a setting for several novels by George Barr McCutcheon. Graustark's neighbors, which also figure in the stories, are Axphain to the north and Dawsbergen to the south. Description Gr ...

'' (1915) * ''

The Prince of Graustark Graustark is a fictional country in Eastern Europe used as a setting for several novels by George Barr McCutcheon. Graustark's neighbors, which also figure in the stories, are Axphain to the north and Dawsbergen to the south. Description Gra ...

'' was made as a film in 1916 at the Chicago

Essanay Studios The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company was an early American motion picture studio. The studio was founded in 1907 in Chicago, and later developed an additional film lot in Niles Canyon, California. Its various stars included Francis X. Bushman, ...

, and is of note because it is claimed that

Colleen Moore Colleen Moore (born Kathleen Morrison; August 19, 1899 – January 25, 1988) was an American film actress who began her career during the silent film era. Moore became one of the most fashionable (and highly-paid) stars of the era and helped po ...

has a quick, uncredited role as a maid in the background of one scene. Some historians, viewing the scene, are convinced the girl is. Others have seen stills of the scene and do not see the resemblance at all. As such, this is not considered to be one of her film roles, though she did spend some summers in Chicago growing up, and could easily have been an extra in this film. * '' Truxton King'' (1923) * ''

'' (1925)Stanford University film entry
/ref> * ''

Beverly of Graustark ''Beverly of Graustark'' is a 1926 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Sidney Franklin and starring Marion Davies, Antonio Moreno, and Creighton Hale. The film's screenplay was written by Agnes Christine Johnston based on the nove ...

'' (1926)

Footnotes

External links