Mon 7 Dec 2009
JOHN BUCHAN – Greenmantle. Hodder & Stougton, UK, hardcover, 1916. George H. Doran, US, hc, 1917. Reprinted many times in both hardcover and paperback, including: Hodder & Stoughton, UK, hc, 1947; Penguin, UK, pb, 1956; Pocket #94, US, pb, 1941.
I’ve debated whether or not Greenmantle could be classified as a mystery. Set during World War I, it certainly revolves around one: who is Greenmantle and can he be found in time to interfere with German plans to use him in their bid to grab the Middle East?
Richard Hannay, last seen just before the war in The 39 Steps and now a major in the Lennox Highlanders, is recuperating from shrapnel wounds suffered at Loos, as is his friend Sandy Arbuthnot. Anxious to return to the front line, they are instead asked to undertake a secret mission.
Hannay, Arbuthnot, and “sedentary dyspeptic” American John S. Blenkiron, joined later by an old friend from Hannay’s South African days, must find the mysterious Greenmantle and assess the situation so the British can take countermeasures. It is a matter of great urgency and no time can be lost.
However, they must begin the task with no clues except three words scribbled on a piece of paper — Kasredin, cancer, and v.I. In different disguises the men take separate roads to Constantinople where they will meet and begin their search, if they all arrive safely — and it’s a big if.
Along the way they encounter dangerous enemies and life-threatening situations and must use fast thinking and physical daring to even get to Turkey to begin their quest in the first place.
My verdict: This novel mirrors a time and society where fair play, decency, and honour were important and practiced as far as possible even in wartime. Military and intelligence gathering methods have changed since WWI and for the modern reader this gives Greenmantle a poignant air at times.
Even so, it’s a rattling good yarn, with plenty of action, excitement, and suspense, along with a dash of wit. Although I’d read the novel before, I still laughed out loud at the mental picture of Hannay in jammies and dressing gown when, due to circumstances, he is “left to receive my guest in a room littered with broken glass and a senseless man in the cupboard.”
Etext: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext96/gmntl10.txt
December 7th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Since Buchan invented the modern spy novel, according to Graham Greene, with his 1910 novel The Power House it isn’t surprising he is still so readable today.
One aspect of Buchan that may amuse some of his readers is the cult he made of success. Hannay starts as a civilian and by the end of the war is a Brigadier General and has a knighthood. He was based on South African Tiny Ironsides, a real life adventurer who rose to the rank of general and probably is best remembered today for commanding the British Expeditionary forces at Archangel during the Russian Revolution.
Although Hannay only features as the protagonist in five of Buchan’s novels and one short story the characters in his books function in a shared universe so characters from the Hannay books show up in both the Edward Leithen and Dicksun McCunn books and a few of the non series novels such as A Prince of the Captivity.
Buchan was a canny observer of his world and times and in 1910’s The Power House, the first Leithen novel (the character that most resembled Buchan physically and careerwise), predicted the rise of nationalism and fanatacism that would lead first to the rise of Mussolini’s Italy and later to Nazi Germany.
Buchan served as Governor General of Canada and was invaluable in mending relations with the United States and Canada and helping to ensure the full support of both Canada and the US for Britain’s early war effort. He wore himself out doing the job in poor health, but is still honored today in that Canada’s major literary award is named for him. He was knighted and became the first Baron of Tweedsmuir.
Not bad for a poor and sickly Scottish scholar, who rose to become one of the most popular writers of all time (Greene, Ambler, Household, Fleming, Hammond Innes, Alistair Maclean, Le Carre all admit their debt to him), a noted historian, and one of the key political figures of his era. No wonder he had a thing about success.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:45 am
This remains one of my favorite Buchan thrillers. I was trying to find a copy of The 39 Steps at the time, but settled for this and was not disappointed. The first time I read it, winter was just turning to spring and that made me reread it every year at about the same time for several years. I went on to read nearly everything Buchan ever wrote and at one time planned to write a biography of him. Other people provided better biographies than I would have been capable of writing.
December 10th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
There’s a complete list of his stories and novels online at the Buchan Society website:
http://www.johnbuchansociety.co.uk/thewritingsf.htm
(Note that that page has only the fiction. You have to go to a separate page to find his non-fiction.)
With what’s on that site and all of the links that lead elsewhere, I’m sure you’re right in saying that his biography’s been done, Randy, but how about an annotated bibliography, done with your usual finesse and care?
— Steve
December 10th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
As to doing an annotated bibliography, I pass. I put together an annotated bibliography of books and articles ABOUT Buchan for a journal called _English Literature in Transition_ back in the 1960s, but I was a lot younger then. It still shows up in the bibliographies of most of the biographies of Buchan published since then.
December 14th, 2009 at 1:00 am
The American edition of Sick Heart River, here as Mountain Meadow (1940-41), has an excellent essay covering Buchan’s shockers by Howard Swiggett. While not annotated, it runs fifty pages and covers them in depth.
Most of the books on the spy novel give Buchan his due as the father of the modern version, and Richard Usborne’s The Clubland Heroes, a study of Buchan, Sapper, and Dornford Yates, has separate chapters on Buchan and his main characters Richard Hannay and Edward Leithen. Also the collected essays of Graham Greene include the essay where he credits Buchan as the creator of the modern spy novel.
Randy
Much as I would love to see an annotated bibliography of Buchan’s work it would have to be a daunting job. That work ethic of his meant a pretty long list of books, especially if you include the histories.
And for anyone looking for a biography of Buchan the standard is the Janet Adam Smith biography, and Buchan’s own Memory Holds the Door (aka Pilgrim’s Way) is a fascinating read that was one of the books on that famous list of JFK’s ten favorite books.
April 12th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
[…] recently reread Greenmantle (reviewed here ), I’m now rereading some of the other Hannay novels. While some will certainly disagree, I […]