Carreleur Series (Literature)

A series of Liotainian adventure novels written primarily for youths, but also very popular among adults. Part of the author's purpose was to use fiction to show foreign cultures, and thus all of the books take place outside of Liotain.

The novels starred the Liotainian teenagers Rokas and Roze Carreleur.

The series would eventually swell to a total of eighteen canonical novels, with twelve 'pirate' novels published after the author's death by other writers.

### Overview

#### Characters

* **Rokas Carraleur**: the older of the two Carraleur twins. He is slightly shorter than his sister, and prefers reading and self-education to the athletic pursuits favored by his sister. Although somewhat introverted, Rokas is able to easily talk to girls. He has an innate grasp of languages. He has a number of occasional girlfriends over the course of the original eighteen books, but Zemaitis always showed him drawn back to Kayrina, the Valduchacian girl he befriended in the original book.
* **Roze Carraleur**: the younger of the two Carraleur twins. She is active and athletic, being a better equestrian and gymnast. She is sometimes portrayed as the better marksman. Although extroverted and outgoing, Roze gets nervous and has a lot of difficulty talking to boys. However, from *The Reman Column* onward, she has a steady boyfriend in the form of Aedhan Falto, who sometimes accompanies the duo on their adventures.

### Authors

* **Adomas Zemaitis**: the author of the eighteen original novels.
* **Simonas** **Launius**: wrote three of the "pirate" novels.

### Controversies

Although Zemaitis always strove to maintain an even-handed attitude in his writings, the novels generated controversy from the very beginning. *The Harem of Valduchac* drew criticism from the Liotainian Orthodox Church due to its slightly theme and setting, which was critiqued for being too mature for the target audience of children. Zemaitis published a second edition in 1866 which toned down some of these themes, and steered clear of them in future novels.

The three non-canonical novels written by Simonas Launius, and published in 1892 (*In the Mines of Laotaosia*, *In the Slums of Firocco*, and *In the Wilderness of Montserraria*) were the subject of a major slander lawsuit brought by the Firoccan government. All three of the novels had the characters remark extensively on Firocco's exploitive and "barbaric" colonial practices. Launius defended himself against the charge of slander by noting that all of the exploitation he described was factual. As a result, the lawsuit was thrown out by Liotainian courts in 1896. However, long before the case went to court, the publishers fired Launius, citing that his writing was "not within the educational spirit of the original works." Launius went on to write other novels which espoused sympathy for anti-colonialist movements.

On a smaller scale, Zemaitis's own 1872 novel *Among the Exiles of Arkadyetsiya* drew commentary for its favorable portrayal of Pictish refugees fleeing ethnic persecution in Arkadyetsiya. Although criticized by the Arkadyetsiyan government, the novel was credited with raising awareness for the exiles, sparking a movement to help resettle many of them in metropolitan Liotain or in the nation's colonies.

### Canonical Novels

1. *The Harem of Valduchac* (1864)
2. *The Silver Mask of Minfeng* (1865)
3. *Across the Astyrian Desert* (1865)
4. *Five Veils of Fusou* (1866)
5. *In the Court of Ji* (1867)
6. *Journey to the Great Circle of Pictfearr* (1868)
7. *The Dhows of Granadine* (1868)
8. *The Reman Column* (1869)
9. *The Black Stone of Prem-Bol* (1870)
10. *The Syrellian Coin* (1871)
11. *Among the Exiles of Arkadyetsiya* (1872)
12. *The Inoltran Sword* (1873)
13. *The Draken Museum* (1874)
14. *Adventure on the Trans-Celtican Express* (1875)
15. *Voyage to Orsetto* (1876)
16. *A L'acquan Pilgrimage* (1877)
17. *A Summons from Joseon* (1879)
18. *The Vissentian Opera* (1880)

### 'Pirate' Additions

1. *The Forbidden House of Kustyria* (1885)
2. *Jando!* or *A Tale of the Famine in Dengfeng* (1886)
3. *Through the Yuez Country* (1889)
4. *The Temple Cats of Tokkaido* (1890)
5. *The Silk Smugglers of Kislev* (1890)
6. *In the Mines of Laotaosia* (1892)
7. *In the Slums of Firocco* (1892)
8. *In the Wilderness of Montserraria* (1892)
9. *Out of Ostrony* (1895)
10. *The Octavian Statue* (1899)
11. *A Visit to Hokuland* (1900)
12. *Race to Balbina* (1901)