RogerBW's Blog

John Macnab, John Buchan 03 March 2014

Three men find themselves successful, but un-challenged, and bored with their lives. They decide to take on a challenge: they will poach from well-defended estates in Scotland, and warn the owners that they're coming, by sending letters over the name "John Macnab".

I should perhaps mention first that when I'm reading a book from a period or a culture with different sensibilities from my own I tend to take on the sensibilities of that culture for the duration. So while I suspect many modern readers would be aghast at the casual assumption of privilege and class, I'm not going to mention it further. I don't see any point in reading an old book without at least trying to understand the thinking of its intended audience.

This book was published in 1925, and like the society it depicts is very much overshadowed by the Great War. Everybody knows someone who's having a hard time adjusting to peace. There's a sense that the world has changed irrevocably, but it's not yet quite clear how it's changed.

There are fine descriptive passages during the three stalks; I don't know how plausible they may be, but they certainly give the feel of being well-researched.

The politics are progressive but not socialist: the essential theme expounded by the good guys is that having stuff is all very well, but only if you're prepared to go to some trouble to hold onto it. Resting on your laurels and counting on your money or status to keep your stuff safe isn't good for you or for your descendants. (This is played out particularly with the Claybody family: the father is the one who made the money, and the son is the one who's clearly preparing for a life of wasting it.)

There's much clambering among the highlands, a feeling of the Press as a potential power for good that echoes Kipling, the unearthing of the remains of Harald Blacktooth the real discoverer of America, and a bride for Archie Roylance (last seen in 1922's Huntingtower).

In some ways the most subversive part of the book is the ending. The sense of danger has come from the risk of being caught and exposed: the three men who make up Macnab all have considerable reputations. But old Claybody points out that, in fact, they were pretty much safe all along: the three landowners on whose property they've been poaching are sufficiently "people like us", people who can be brought to understand the appeal of the thing even if not to praise it, that although they didn't know it they ran no risk at all. The fact that their ennui is nonetheless cured is simply a trick of the mind.

Which is one in the eye for anyone who thinks this book is encouraging people to go off and do whatever piece of bad behaviour they feel like.

[Buy this at Amazon] and help support the blog. ["As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases."]

Comments on this post are now closed. If you have particular grounds for adding a late comment, comment on a more recent post quoting the URL of this one.

Search
Archive
Tags 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 3d printing action advent of code aeronautics aikakirja anecdote animation anime army astronomy audio audio tech base commerce battletech beer boardgaming book of the week bookmonth chain of command children chris chronicle church of no redeeming virtues cold war comedy computing contemporary cornish smuggler cosmic encounter coup covid-19 crime crystal cthulhu eternal cycling dead of winter doctor who documentary drama driving drone ecchi economics en garde espionage essen 2015 essen 2016 essen 2017 essen 2018 essen 2019 essen 2022 essen 2023 existential risk falklands war fandom fanfic fantasy feminism film firefly first world war flash point flight simulation food garmin drive gazebo genesys geocaching geodata gin gkp gurps gurps 101 gus harpoon historical history horror hugo 2014 hugo 2015 hugo 2016 hugo 2017 hugo 2018 hugo 2019 hugo 2020 hugo 2021 hugo 2022 hugo 2023 hugo 2024 hugo-nebula reread in brief avoid instrumented life javascript julian simpson julie enfield kickstarter kotlin learn to play leaving earth linux liquor lovecraftiana lua mecha men with beards mpd museum music mystery naval noir non-fiction one for the brow opera parody paul temple perl perl weekly challenge photography podcast politics postscript powers prediction privacy project woolsack pyracantha python quantum rail raku ranting raspberry pi reading reading boardgames social real life restaurant reviews romance rpg a day rpgs ruby rust scala science fiction scythe second world war security shipwreck simutrans smartphone south atlantic war squaddies stationery steampunk stuarts suburbia superheroes suspense television the resistance the weekly challenge thirsty meeples thriller tin soldier torg toys trailers travel type 26 type 31 type 45 vietnam war war wargaming weather wives and sweethearts writing about writing x-wing young adult
Special All book reviews, All film reviews
Produced by aikakirja v0.1