![]() ![]() ![]() In 1917 the British government was becoming increasingly concerned with the impact of war-weariness on the home front, the threat of pacifism in its broadest sense and the pressure for a negotiated peace with Germany. However, it is the context within which Buchan wrote Mr Standfast that will really interest students of the Great War. The references to John Bunyan’s (Mr Standfast is one amongst a cast of characters in Bunyan’s work) allude to an archetypal tale – a quest fraught with danger. These include a fast-paced narrative that invites a suspension of belief in the reader a succession of coincidences, although this was not a barrier to the likes of Shakespeare and Dickens and an omniscient enemy named ‘Mr X’. Although Mr Standfast was written during 19 it was published a year later in 1919.Īt one level Mr Standfast is a spy novel featuring many of the tropes of this genre. ![]() Concomitant with undertaking these roles, Buchan wrote Mr Standfast which is the third novel in a trilogy that begins with the well known The Thirty-Nine Steps followed by the less well-known Greenmantle. of Information and subsequently was director of intelligence in the fully-fledged Ministry of Information. In 1917 Buchan was appointed director the newly created Dept. Whilst John Buchan was not a combatant in the Great War, he was a significant figure in the nascent business of propaganda. ![]()
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