Under Two Flags

Under Two Flags by Ouida [Louise de la Ramee] Ouida (1 January 1839 - 25 January 1908) was the pseudonym of the English novelist Maria Louise Rame (although she preferred to be known as Marie Louise de la Ramee). During her career, Ouida wrote more than 40 novels, children's books and collections of short stories and essays. Her work had several phases. In 1863, when she was 24, she published her first novel, Held in Bondage. (She later claimed to have written her well-received novel Idalia (1867) at the age of 16. It featured a rebellious ingenue heroine who was sympathetic to Italian independence.) In her early period, her novels were considered "racy" and "swashbuckling", a contrast to "the moralistic prose of early Victorian literature" (Tom Steele), and a hybrid of the sensationalism of the 1860s and the proto-adventure novels being published as part of the romanticisation of imperial expansion. Later her work was more typical of historical romance, though she never stopped comment on contemporary society. She also wrote several stories for children. Under Two Flags, one of her most well-known novels, described the British in Algeria. It expressed sympathy for the French colonists (called pieds noirs);with whom Ouida deeply identified--and, to some extent, the Arabs. This book was adapted as dramatic plays, and was adapted six times as a film. The American author Jack London cited her novel Signa, which he read at age eight, as one of the eight reasons for his literary success.