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The 39 Steps (Richard Hannay, #1)

John Buchan

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Sep 19, 2008 Werner rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics, action-adventure, espionage

The above description (which I wrote --it didn't have one before, only an unilluminating, seemingly random quotation from the book) gives you a one-sentence idea of the type of book this is, and the setting/milieu. Like his protagonist, Richard Hannay (who appears in other Buchan works as well), the author had spent considerable time in southern Africa, and led an adventurous life. Novels of espionage in 1915 were in their infancy; but the outbreak of World War I, and the climate of intrigue tha The above description (which I wrote --it didn't have one before, only an unilluminating, seemingly random quotation from the book) gives you a one-sentence idea of the type of book this is, and the setting/milieu. Like his protagonist, Richard Hannay (who appears in other Buchan works as well), the author had spent considerable time in southern Africa, and led an adventurous life. Novels of espionage in 1915 were in their infancy; but the outbreak of World War I, and the climate of intrigue that led up to it, undoubtedly inspired such a tale and lent a creditable context for it. Buchan definitely influenced later practitioners of the genre (which is why not all of his plot devices strike the reader as freshly as they would have in 1915).

Lately returned to England from Africa, and at loose ends, Hannay is appealed to for help and shelter by a fellow lodger, an American ex- journalist who fears for his life, and who spins a tale of an impending assassination of a Balkan political figure which will plunge Europe into war. (Sound familiar? :-)) When the fellow's dead body turns up in Hannay's living room. pinned to the floor by a knife, our hero is forced to flee both from the killers and from the police, who suspect him of the murder. But the victim (whose notebook, written in cipher, is now in Hannay's possession) was lucky in his choice of an ally; a former Boer War intelligence officer and veteran of other African adventures, he's a man with considerable pluck and savvy, and resolved to foil the nefarious plot. But can he? This tale of escape and pursuit, disguises and codes, danger and duplicity will answer that question. :-)

Buchan's characterizations aren't deep here, nor his writing profound philosophically; the book doesn't purport to be anything but a really good, rousing adventure yarn. But it is that. The short length precludes much development of plot, characters, settings, atmosphere, etc; but it does guarantee a quick narrative pace that precludes any boredom. Hannay is really inventive in getting out of his various jeopardies, and the reader easily roots for him. One Goodreads reviewer complained of problems of credibility in virtually all of the plot. In a few places, Buchan does resort to coincidence with more convenience than the laws of probability would probably justify (though not to the degree that his contemporary, Edgar Rice Burroughs, often did.) In the main, though, I didn't find credibility a big problem. I think the other reviewer probably felt the readiness of characters in the book to confide, at times, in total strangers was unrealistic, but I didn't --in the first place, the despair of a life-and-death situation makes anybody pretty willing to grab at a straw; but more importantly, this was written in 1915, in a world that cynical moderns usually can't begin to comprehend. Men of the stamp of Hannay and other characters actually were socialized to hold ideals of patriotism, duty and responsibility, decency and fair play; they took it for granted (and could safely take it for granted) that these were the kinds of attitudes "gentlemen" could be expected to not only believe in, but act on if necessary. (The same goes for the automatic extension of hospitality by Highlanders to strangers, without desire for payment, in 1915 --though I doubt if a similar degree of generosity would be as apt to be shown today.) And the psychology of the climactic hurdle near the end actually rang perfectly true for me.

For the most part, I didn't have a problem with the early 20th-century British colloquial vocabulary; even if I didn't understand some terms, I could usually get a rough idea of what was meant from the context. My biggest complaint --and it wasn't very noticeable here, but cropped up occasionally-- was the ignorant and unconscious racism implied in the use of a phrase like "You're a white man" as a compliment, and the ethnic prejudice that can refer to a Greek as a "Dago" and that lurks in some of the characters' comments about Jews. But in this respect Buchan's characters (and probably Buchan) were children of their time. ...more

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