DISSERTATIONES PHILOLOGIAE ANGLICAE UNIVERSITATIS TARTUENSIS 3 DISSERTATIONES PHILOLOGIAE ANGLICAE UNIVERSITATIS TARTUENSIS 3 JOHN BUCHAN’S HEROES AND THE CHIVALRIC IDEAL: GENTLEMEN BORN PILVI RAJAMÄE TARTU UNIVERSITY PRESS Institute of Germanic, Romance and Slavonic Languages and Literatures, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Tartu, Estonia The Council of the Institute of Germanic, Romance and Slavonic Languages and Literatures has, on 15 August 2007, accepted this dissertation to be defended for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Language and Literature. Supervisors: Professor Krista Vogelberg, University of Tartu Associate Professor Reet Sool, University of Tartu Reviewer: Professor John McRae, University of Nottingham, UK The thesis will be defended in Room 103, Ülikooli 17 on 28 September 2007. The publication of the dissertation was funded by the Institute of Germanic, Romance and Slavonic Languages and Literatures, University of Tartu. ISSN 1736–4469 ISBN 978–9949–11–697–3 (trükis) ISBN 978–9949–11–698–0 (PDF) Copyright Pilvi Rajamäe, 2007 Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus www.tyk.ee Tellimus nr 327 CONTENTS Abstract ........................................................................................................... 7 Abbreviations .................................................................................................. 8 Dates of publication of John Buchan’s works discussed in the thesis ............ 9 INTRODUCTION: BUCHAN AND ROMANCE ......................................... 13 Buchan’s social background ........................................................................... 14 Buchan as a romancer ..................................................................................... 16 Buchan’s heroes and chivalry ......................................................................... 32 THE VICTORIAN GENTLEMAN AND THE CHIVALRIC IDEAL .......... 36 Origins of chivalry .......................................................................................... 36 The medieval chivalric ideal ........................................................................... 39 Knights into gentlemen ................................................................................... 51 The Victorian Chivalric Revival ..................................................................... 61 Imperial warriors............................................................................................. 77 GENTLEMEN BORN .................................................................................... 84 Mysteries of the blood (The Path of the King)................................................ 88 Jean, Sieur de Rohaine (Sir Quixote of the Moors)......................................... 99 John Burnet of Barns (John Burnet of Barns)................................................. 108 Francis Birkenshaw (A Lost Lady of Old Years)............................................. 121 Salvation Captain (‘A Captain of Salvation’) ................................................. 134 Maitland (‘Fountainblue’)............................................................................... 137 Colin Raden (‘The Far Islands’)...................................................................... 145 Graves (‘No-Man’s Land’) ............................................................................. 148 Lewis Haystoun (The Half-Hearted)............................................................... 150 Francis Carey (A Lodge in the Wilderness)..................................................... 171 Richard Hannay (‘The Green Wildebeest’, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Greenmantle, Mr. Standfast, The Three Hostages, The Island of Sheep)..................................................................................................... 188 Launcelot Wake (Mr. Standfast) ..................................................................... 208 Vernon Milburne (The Dancing Floor) .......................................................... 215 Alastair Maclean (Midwinter) ......................................................................... 220 Peter Pentecost (The Blanket of the Dark) ...................................................... 230 Turnour Wyse (The Free Fishers) .................................................................. 245 Ludovick Gustavus Arbuthnot/Sandy (Greenmantle, The Three Hostages, The Courts of the Morning, The Island of Sheep) ...................................... 254 Adam Melfort (A Prince of the Captivity) ...................................................... 264 Edward Leithen (The Power-House, John Macnab, The Dancing Floor, Sick Heart River)........................................................................................ 271 5 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................... 283 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................... 302 SUMMARY IN ESTONIAN .......................................................................... 308 CURRICULUM VITAE ................................................................................. 318 6 ABSTRACT The thesis studies the idea of chivalry as manifest in the behaviour and choices of aristocratic and upper middle class male protagonists, referred to in the thesis as ‘gentlemen born’, in John Buchan’s (1975–1940) novels and a selection of short stories. The method employed is close reading of the texts to ascertain pertinent motifs and patterns of behaviour in order to discuss them in their historical context. This was seen as a viable line of enquiry as both chivalry and many of Buchan’s works were for more than half a century ignored as dated subjects and have only comparatively recently enjoyed a revival of scholarly interest. The thesis is a part of a bigger Buchan Project, comprising also parts called ‘gentlemen made’, ‘nature’s gentlemen’ and ‘failures and villains’ which will be published in book form in the near future. To root the analysis firmly in the historical context Buchan’s class position vis-à-vis the ideals his protagonists hold and his principles of writing his peculiar kind of romance fiction are discussed in the Introduction. In order to define the terms and create a base for further reference, a survey of the evolution of the idea of chivalry and the many forms it took over its thousand-year development into the gentlemanly code of honour was seen as necessary, the more so that Buchan’s historical fiction itself covers nearly five hundred years. Thus the part called The Victorian Gentleman and the Chivalric Ideal looks at how the chivalric ideal came into being and how it metamorphosed into the kind of Victorian and Edwardian chivalry which allows Buchan’s novels to be treated as modern romances of knight errantry. The main body of the thesis looks at Gentlemen Born in Buchan’s shorter and longer fiction – characters that carry nobility in their blood and form a sizeable subgroup of his heroes, their birth setting them apart from other chivalrous gentlemen in his oeuvre and giving their particular brand of chivalry its peculiar character. The characters are treated roughly in the order of their chronological appearance which allows the reader to follow changes in Buchan’s perception of chivalry as a viable code and the code’s own fluctuating fortunes. The Conclusion, besides summing up the findings concerning the characters discussed in the thesis, also provides a short synopsis of the other parts of the Buchan Project which were left out of the thesis for reasons of space. 7 ABBREVIATIONS BD – The Blanket of the Dark CM – The Courts of the Morning CSS/I – The Complete Short Stories Vol. I CSS/II – The Complete Short Stories Vol. II CSS/III – The Complete Short Stories Vol. III DF – The Dancing Floor FF – The Free Fishers G – Greenmantle HH – The Half-Hearted IS – The Island of Sheep JBB – John Burnet of Barns KG – The King’s Grace 1910–1935 LL – A Lost Lady of Old Years LW – A Lodge in the Wilderness M – Midwinter MHD – Memory Hold-the-Door MS – Mr. Standfast PC – The Prince of the Captivity PH – The Power-House PK – The Path of the King SHR – Sick Heart River SQM – Sir Quixote of the Moors TH – The Three Hostages TNS – The Thirty-Nine Steps WR – Sir Walter Raleigh 8 Dates of Publication of John Buchan’s Works Discussed in the Thesis 1895 Sir Quixote of the Moors 1896 ‘A Captain of Salvation’, ‘Afternoon’, ‘An Individualist’ 1898 John Burnet of Barns 1899 A Lost Lady of Old Years, ‘A Journey of Little Profit’, ‘A Reputation’, ‘At the Article of Death’, ‘At the Rising of the Waters’, ‘The Black Fishers’, ‘The Herd of Standlan’, ‘The Moor Song’, ‘The Oasis in the Snow’, ‘Politics and the May-Fly’, ‘Prester John’, ‘Streams of Water in the South’, ‘The Earlier Affection’ 1900 The Half-Hearted 1902 ‘Fountainblue’, ‘No-Man’s Land’, ‘The Far Islands’, ‘The Watcher by the Threshold’ 1903 The African Colony: Studies in Reconstruction 1906 A Lodge in the Wilderness 1910 Prester John, ‘The Lemnian’ 1911 Sir Walter Raleigh 1912 ‘The Grove of Ashtaroth’, ‘The Kings of Orion’, ‘The Riding of Ninemileburn’ 1913 The Marquis of Montrose, ‘’Divus’ Johnston’ 1915 The Thirty-Nine Steps, Salute to Adventurers 1916 The Power-House, Greenmantle 1919 Mr. Standfast 1920 The Path of the King 1922 Huntingtower, Midwinter 1924 The Three Hostages 1925 John Macnab, The Man and the Book: Sir Walter Scott 1926 The Dancing Floor 1927 Witch Wood 1928 The Runagates Club, ‘A Ship to Tarshish’, ‘Fullcircle’, ‘Skule Skerry’, ‘Tendebant