This year, 2019, is the 100th anniversary of the first publication of John Buchan’s spy thriller Mr Standfast.
Mr Standfast is the third book in the series of five Richard Hannay adventures; it follows Greenmantle and precedes The Three Hostages.
I think of Greenmantle and The Three Hostages
as being the best of the Richard Hannay books; I find Mr Standfast and The
Island of Sheep the least enjoyable to read; I put The Thirty-Nine Steps in the
middle of the two groups.
The main problem with Mr Standfast is the
effect that it doesn’t have. I find it less enthralling than other books in the
series. To me, Mr Standfast is more of the same; it is The Thirty-Nine Steps
with World War I scenes added.
Although most of the small amount of inspirational material that Mr Standfast contains has already appeared in two previous articles, there is still a little more to say about the book. I
want to highlight a few quotations and scenes that I particularly like.
An overview of Mr Standfast
Greenmantle is set in the early stages of the Great War; Mr Standfast is set during the last few months.
Greenmantle is set in the early stages of the Great War; Mr Standfast is set during the last few months.
This time around, Richard Hannay’s crucially
important undercover mission is not to find the Germans’ secret weapon but to
help the British Secret Service unmask and deal with a top German agent, an
extremely dangerous mastermind.
In Greenmantle he had to travel through Germany and Turkey with a false identity and enemies on his trail; in Mr Standfast he roams around England and Scotland posing as a pacifist.
He finds this hard to take. When first asked to play the role of a pacifist, he objects:
"There are some things that no one has a right to ask of any white man.”
By ‘white man’, Hannay means a decent and
honourable person!
Garden cities and novelists
Richard Hannay goes to live among pretentious
pacifists in the - fictional - Garden City of Biggleswick. He gives an
unflattering picture of the place and its inhabitants, which are a great
contrast to the beautiful landscapes he describes and the kind, simple people
he later encounters in Scotland.
I learned recently that John Buchan modelled Biggleswick
on Letchworth Garden City, where he went to convalesce in 1915.
I wonder why he went to such an awful place and whether he made it into a fictional nest of high-minded pacifists and unattractive people as a form of revenge!
I wonder why he went to such an awful place and whether he made it into a fictional nest of high-minded pacifists and unattractive people as a form of revenge!
Hannay gives an amusing description of one of
the people he meets in Biggleswick:
“Aronson, the novelist, proved on
acquaintance the worst kind of blighter. He considered himself a genius whom it
was the duty of the country to support, and he sponged on his wretched
relatives and anyone who would lend him money...
He told me that he sought 'reality' and
'life' and 'truth', but it was hard to see how he could know much about them,
for he spent half the day in bed smoking cheap cigarettes, and the rest sunning
himself in the admiration of half-witted girls...”
This man is said to have been based on D. H.
Lawrence, and I can well believe it.
The amusing filming scene
I have noticed that Richard Hannay likes to
display his professional efficiency and expertise. In Greenmantle for example
he replaces a dead river-boat engineer, does his job well and keeps the men
assisting him in the engine room up to their work.
In Mr Standfast Hannay gets another
opportunity to take command and show what he can do.
He is on the run in the Yorkshire moors, with
pursuers closing in on him. By chance, salvation comes in the form of a large
number of soldiers who are being used to make a war film. He soon sees that the
man giving the orders has no idea how to get the men to do what he wants:
“He made his megaphone boom like the swan-song of a dying buffalo. He wanted to change something and didn't know how to do it. He hopped on one leg; he took the megaphone from his mouth to curse; he waved it like a banner and yelled at some opposite number...”
When this man leaves his post in a fury of frustration, Richard Hannay sees his chance.
“He made his megaphone boom like the swan-song of a dying buffalo. He wanted to change something and didn't know how to do it. He hopped on one leg; he took the megaphone from his mouth to curse; he waved it like a banner and yelled at some opposite number...”
When this man leaves his post in a fury of frustration, Richard Hannay sees his chance.
He seizes the megaphone, jumps onto the platform and gives orders
intended to make the men block the path of his enemies:
“...I determined to tangle up that outfit so
that the fellows who were after me would have better things to think about. My
advantage was that I knew how to command men...
So with my megaphone I proceeded to change
the battle order. I brought up the third wave to the front
trenches. In about three minutes the men had recognized the professional touch
and were moving smartly to my orders.”
It is not long before he has created total
chaos and is able to escape.
This operation makes a change from the usual
ploy of opening a farm gate and letting the sheep or cattle out so that they block
the road and delay the pursuers!
