Stories [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION These stories were published between 1896 and 1932. London's Stock Market and clubland feature in a couple of them, but their true terrain is the Scottish moor - or its analogues in Alpine peak, Afričan savannah and Canadian tundra. John Buchan's primáry concern in them isto examine how individuals end up in such places, and what others say about the space left behind. Why do we actively seek jeopardyľ Why light out forperitlous wilderness, treacher-ous mountain, stormy ocean ľ These are the questions asked by Buchan's short stories. jj If there were such a thing éls a prose of departure, then this book would be its best exemplum. Such a category, however, might obscure with too much fine literary feeling the male principie of-stri ving to escape settled home life which is one of the things going ón in these tales. For yes, it is mostly men round here. Or, more to the point, some-where else. Not here. Doing their duty, maybe, in their own way, but notusualysat the kitchen table. Buchan himself always loved walking, regularly covering thirty miles in one day. He knew the Highlands well, enjoying fishing and stalking. He knew even better the remoter spots of the Border Mik, whose semi-nomadic shepherds made a great impression on him as a young man» But despite the aggressively male environment of his; stories, whether it be club or camp, Buchan took his home life with him. After-his-marriage to SusánGrosvenor iň: 1907, they visited Scotland together nearly every year for a summer holiday.