The Thirty-nine Steps

infobox Book |
name = The Thirty-nine Steps
orig title =
translator =


author = John Buchan
cover_artist =
country = Scotland
language = English
series = Richard Hannay
genre = Thriller, Novel
publisher = William Blackwood & Sons
release_date = 1915
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages =
isbn = NA
preceded_by =
followed_by = Greenmantle

"The Thirty-nine Steps" is an adventure novel by the Scottish author (and future Governor General of Canada) John Buchan, first published in 1915 by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh. It is the first of five novels featuring Richard Hannay, an all-action hero with a stiff upper lip and a miraculous habit of getting himself out of sticky situations.

The novel formed the basis for a number of film adaptations, notably Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 adaptation "The 39 Steps", a 1959 colour remake and a more faithful 1978 version.

Background

John Buchan wrote "The Thirty-nine Steps" while hewas ill in bed with a duodenal ulcer, an illness which remained with him all his life. The novel was his first "shocker", as he called it — a story combining personal and political dramas. The novel marked a turning point in Buchan’s literary career and introduced his famous adventuring hero, Richard Hannay. He described a "shocker" as an adventure where the events in the story are unlikely and the reader is only just able to believe that they really happened.

Plot introduction

In May 1914, Europe is close to war and spies are everywhere. Richard Hannay has just returned to London from Rhodesia in order to begin a new life, when a freelance spy called Franklin P. Scudder calls on him to ask for help. Scudder reveals to Hannay that he has uncovered a German plot to murder the Greek Prime Minister and steal British plans for the outbreak of war. Scudder claims to be following a ring of German spies called the Black Stone.

A few days later, Hannay returns to his flat to find Scudder murdered. If Hannay goes to the police, he will be arrested for Scudder’s murder. Hannay decides to continue Scudder’s work and his adventure begins. He escapes from the German spies watching the house and makes his way to Scotland, pursued both by the spies and by the police.

The mysterious phrase "Thirty-nine Steps" first mentioned by Scudder becomes the title of the novel and the solution to its meaning is a thread that runs through the whole story.

Plot summary

Richard Hannay, the protagonist and narrator, an expatriated Scot, returns from a long stay in Southern Africa to his new home, a flat in London. One night he is buttonholed by a stranger, a well-travelled American, who claims to be in fear for his life. The man appears to know of an anarchist plot to destabilise Europe, beginning with a plan to assassinate the Greek Premier, Karolides, during his forthcoming visit to London. He reveals his name to be Franklin P. Scudder. Hannay lets Scudder hide in his flat, and returns later the next day to find that another man has been found shot dead in the same building, apparently a suicide. Four days later Hannay returns home to find Scudder dead with a knife through his heart.

Hannay fears that the murderers will come for him next, but cannot ask the police for help because he is the most likely suspect for the murders. Not only does he want to avoid imprisonment, but he also feels a duty to take up Scudder's cause and save Karolides from the assassination, planned in three weeks' time. He decides to go into hiding in Scotland and then to contact the authorities at the last minute. In order to escape from his flat unseen, he bribes the milkman to lend him his uniform and exits wearing it. Carrying Scudder's pocket-book, he catches a train to Scotland.

Arriving at the countryside somewhere near Galloway, Hannay lodges in a shepherd's cottage. The next morning he reads in a newspaper that the police are looking for him in Scotland. He boards a local train and jumps off between stations. He is seen but escapes, finding an inn where he stays the night. He tells the innkeeper a modified version of his story, and the man is persuaded to shelter him. While staying at the inn, Hannay cracks the substitution cipher used in Scudder's pocket-book. The next day two men arrive at the inn looking for Hannay, but the innkeeper sends them away. When they return later, Hannay steals their car and escapes.

On his way, Hannay reflects on what he has learnt from Scudder's notes. They contradict the story that Scudder first told to him, and mention an enemy group called the "Black Stone" and the mysterious "Thirty-nine Steps". The United Kingdom appears to be in danger of an invasion by Germany and its allies. By this time, Hannay is being pursued by an aeroplane, and a policeman in a remote village has tried to stop him. Trying to avoid an oncoming car, Hannay crashes his own, but the other driver offers to take him home. The man is Sir Harry, a local politician, and when he learns of Hannay's experience of South Africa, he invites him to address a meeting that afternoon. Hannay's speech impresses Sir Harry, and Hannay feels able to trust him with his story. Sir Harry writes an introductory letter about Hannay to a relation in the Foreign Office.

Hannay leaves Sir Harry and tries to hide in the countryside, but is spotted by the aeroplane. Soon he spots a group of men on the ground searching for him. Miraculously, he meets a road mender out on the moor, and swaps places with him, sending the workman home. His disguise fools his pursuers, who pass him by. On the same road he meets a rich motorist, whom he recognises from London, and whom he forces to exchange clothes with him and drive him off the moor.

The next day, Hannay manages to stay ahead of the pursuers, and hides in a cottage occupied by an old man. Unfortunately, the man turns out to be one of the enemy, and with his accomplices he imprisons Hannay. Fortunately, the room in which Hannay is locked is full of bomb-making materials, which he uses to break out of the cottage, injuring himself in the process.

A day later, Hannay retrieves his possessions from the helpful roadmender and stays for a few days to recover from the explosion, and catches a train to England, to meet Sir Harry's relative at the Foreign Office, Sir Walter, at his home in Berkshire. As they discuss Scudder's notes, Sir Walter receives a phone call to tell him that Karolides has been assassinated.

Sir Walter, now at his house in London, lets Hannay in on some military secrets before releasing him to go home. Hannay is unable to shake off his sense of involvement in important events, and returns to Sir Walter's house. He is just in time to see a man, whom he recognises as one of his former pursuers in Scotland, leaving the house. Hannay warns Sir Walter that the man has been spying, and they realise that he is about to return to Europe with his stolen information. At that point Hannay realises that the phrase "the thirty-nine steps" could refer to the landing-point in England from which the spy is about to set sail. Throughout the night Hannay and the United Kingdom's military leaders try to work out the meaning of the mysterious phrase.

After some reasoning worthy of Sherlock Holmes, and with the help of a knowledgeable coastguard, the group decide on a coastal town in Kent. They find a path down from the cliff that has thirty-nine steps. Just offshore they see a yacht. Posing as fishermen, some of the party visit the yacht, the "Ariadne", and find that at least one of the crew appears to be German. The only people onshore are playing tennis by a villa and appear to be English, but they match Scudder's description of the conspirators, The Black Stone. Hannay, alone, confronts the men at the villa. After a struggle, two of the men are captured while the third flees to the yacht, which meanwhile has been seized by the British authorities. The plot is thwarted, and the United Kingdom enters the First World War having kept its military secrets from the enemy.

Literary significance & criticism

In "The Thirty-nine Steps", Buchan holds up Richard Hannay as an example to his readers of an ordinary man who puts his country’s interests before his own safety. The story was a great success with the men in the First World War trenches. One soldier wrote to Buchan, "The story is greatly appreciated in the midst of mud and rain and shells, and all that could make trench life depressing."

Richard Hannay continued his adventures in four subsequent books. Two were set during the war when Hannay continued his undercover work against the Germans and their allies the Turks in "Greenmantle" and "Mr Standfast". The other two stories, "The Three Hostages" and "The Island of Sheep" were set in post war period when Hannay's opponents were criminal gangs.

Characters in "The Thirty-nine Steps"

*Richard Hannay – an expatriated Scot recently returned from South Africa, protagonist and narrator
*Franklin P. Scudder – freelance spy
*Karolides – Greek Premier under threat of assassination
*Sir Harry – a local Scottish politician
*Sir Walter – Sir Harry's relation at the Foreign Office
*Geordie Hamilton - a soldier

Contents

I. The Man Who Died.

II. The Milkman Sets Out on His Travels.

III. The Adventure of the Literary Innkeeper.

IV. The Adventure of the Radical Candidate.

V. The Adventure of the Spectacled Roadman.

VI. The Adventure of the Bald Archaeologist.

VII. The Dry-Fly Fisherman.

VIII. The Coming of the Black Stone.

IX. The Thirty-Nine Steps.

X. Various Parties Converging on the Sea.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

There have been several film versions of the book; all depart substantially from the text, for example introducing a love interest absent from the original novel. For the films, the title is often abbreviated to "The 39 Steps", but the full title is more commonly used for the book and for the 1978 adaptation.

An interesting feature of the phrase "the 39 Steps" is that its meaning in each of the film versions is essentially different not only from the book, but also between the various films. In the 1935 film and the 1959 remake, the phrase refers to the clandestine organisation itself; in the book and in 1978 film version, it does refer to physical steps, but located in different places and with different significance to the plot.

1935

Alfred Hitchcock's black-and-white version of the story starred Robert Donat as Hannay.

1959

This was the first colour version, starring Kenneth More.

1978

A more faithful adaptation of Buchan's novel, this film featured Robert Powell as Hannay.

2006

A second remake of the Hitchcock version by director Robert Towne was planned for 2006, announced in 2004, although he had since commented that this project is, "sort of on the back burner." The release date has now been taken back to 2009. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0393017/]

Also in 2006, a comic theatrical adaptation by Patrick Barlow opened in London's Tricycle Theatre, and after a successful run, transferred to the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly. Although based on Buchan's novel, it is also highly influenced by Hitchcock's 1935 film adaptation. In 2008, the show moved to Broadway.

2008

Penguin Books adapted the story as interactive fiction under the authorship of Charles Cumming calling it "The 21 Steps" [ [http://www.wetellstories.co.uk/stories/week1/ "The 21 Steps"] , interactive fiction] The BBC has commissioned a new television adaptation of the novel, to be scripted by Lizzie Mickery and produced by BBC Scotland's drama unit. [cite news|author= Rushton, Katherine|title= BBC plots 39 Steps remake|url= http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/2008/08/bbc_to.html|work= Broadcast Now|publisher= EMAP|date= 2008-08-20|accessdate= 2008-08-21]

The Real Thirty-Nine Steps

Buchan wrote the book while he was recuperating from illness at a house called St Cuby, Cliff Promenade, Broadstairs. A set of stairs, tunnelled into the cliff, still runs from the garden to the beach. [http://www.undergroundkent.co.uk/39_steps.htm]

External links

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* [http://www.kellscraft.com/thirtyninesteps/thirtyninestepscontent.html "The Thirty-nine Steps"] . Free HTML eBook, Houghton Mifflin Company 1919.
* " [http://www.planetpdf.com/ebookarticle.asp?ContentID=the%5Fthirty%5Fnine%5Fsteps The Thirty-nine Steps] " Free PDF eBook
* [http://www.mysteryguide.com/bkBuchanSteps.html A review of the book] from MysteryGuide.com

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* Free audio recording of [http://www.archive.org/details/39_steps_0807_librivox The Thirty-Nine Steps] from Librivox.org.

References