Peter CostelloThe Thirty Nine Steps was inspired by the events of 1914
Those first weeks of the Great War are much on the mind of everyone these days. They deeply affected those immediately involved too. In the winter of 1914-15, as grim news came in from the British Expeditionary Force in France, John Buchan (pictured) was ill in bed. Having exhausted his supply of what the Americans call 'dime novels' and the British called 'shockers', he was forced to write one of his own.
The result was The Thirty Nine Steps, which was published in book form in October 1915. It was inspired in the events of the summer of 1914. This tale of espionage and thrilling chases through the moorlands of Galloway has never been out of print since. It is the one book of Buchan's that everyone has heard of.
Today, we may read it in a different mood to our 12-year-old selves. The suspicions of the Germans, the tinge of anti-Semitism, the notion of world events being directed by sinister individuals out of sight of us all and the imperial ideal taken for granted were all easily ignored then. We were thrilled to follow after Hannay in further adventures down the years, along with a cast of repeating characters that included Sir Edward Leithen, solicitor-general of England.
Graham Greene
When Buchan died in 1940, Graham Greene, a writer who owed Buchan a great deal in some way if one substitutes Catholicism for Calvinism, reviewed the last Buchan book, Sick Heart River (Polygon, £5.59), which was set in Canada and featured Leithen, rather than Hannay. It was his tribute to the dead author. He still admired ìthe old admirable dry ease of styleî, but ìit is the intellectual content which repels us nowî.
However, there has come to hand, through the courtesy of a friend, a study of John Buchan by J. William Galbraith, John Buchan: Model Governor General (Toronto: Dundurn, €34.50/£26.99). This will be read with interest by all fans of Buchan, who must have wondered over the years about the inner man in the last important post he held.
It is a most interesting book showing Buchan as a man contentiously attempting to create a new kind of office, not so much for the fading empire perhaps, but the emerging Commonwealth. John Redmond had hoped that Ireland would have remained part of that Commonwealth, but thanks to de Valera and J.A. Costello, this was not to be. Indeed, it was when he felt snubbed at a Commonwealth conference in Canada that Costello peremptorily announced that Ireland would become a republic (which it was not, by definition, under the Constitution). On the eve of Indian and Pakistan independence, this was a foolish move, with Ireland losing influence in a great world organisation.
Lessons
Though Ireland is not mentioned by Galbraith, an Irish reader cannot help but cast his mind back over our history in contrast to Canadaís. There are many lessons to be learnt from her developing role in the world, and her relations with the USA and Britain ñ and France.
What Buchan attempted to do was to make his last office relevant to Canadian life. There is a parallel here with the role of the Governor General in Ireland which never really functioned well. Aside from Douglas Hyde, the first presidents of Ireland were relaxed enough to do little with the office. These days the office has been transformed. The President of Ireland row fills a role in public very like that which John Buchan created as Governor-General of Canada. ìThe only way in which we can pay our debt to the past is by putting the future in debt to ourselves,î he remarked at the time.
One thing he created was a tribute to Canadian culture. He instituted the Governor Generalís awards. One for literature was later awarded to Brian Moore. It would be a grand thing if Michael D. Higgins could mark his term in office by the creation of Presidential awards, not just for literature, but other areas as well. That would, indeed, put the future in his debt.
