 | |
| Author | John Buchan |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Set in | England |
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton [1] |
Publication date | 1931 [1] |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 314 [1] |
The Blanket of the Dark is a 1931 historical novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. The novel is set in the early part of the reign of Henry VIII, and explores the possible consequences had the Tudors been overthrown by a rightful descendant of Edward III. [2]
The action of the novel takes place in the country west of Oxford during the 1536 Pilgrimage of Grace, an uprising against Henry VIII. Peter Pentecost, a young monastic scholar, is informed by shadowy figures who are plotting to depose the king that he is the legitimate son of the deceased Duke of Buckingham and that, as the last of the Bohun line, he has a claim to the English throne.
Although his true identity must for now remain secret, Peter finds himself being prepared for his intended kingly role and being tutored in the noble pursuits of swordsmanship and archery. He meets a noblewoman, Sabine Beauforest.
To hide from the king’s men, Peter takes to the greenwood where he is aided by Solomon Darking and his vagabond comrades. They introduce him to the lore of the countryside, and reveal the existence of a self-contained outlaw society, invisible to the agents of the state, with its own system of communication and intelligence gathering. He discovers that "under the blanket of the dark all men are alike and all are nameless".
As the novel progresses, Peter has increasing doubts about the venture he is being asked to undertake, and the motives of those behind it: "They claimed to stand for the elder England and its rights, and the old Church, but at their heart they stood only for themselves." After an encounter with the king himself, Peter asks himself whether there "might not there be a world of light under the blanket of the dark?", and he decides that he does not wish to pursue a life of power. He disappears from official sight back into the greenwood with Sabine.
The title is a phrase from William Shakespeare's Macbeth , where Lady Macbeth, preparing herself to murder King Duncan, says "Come, thick night, / And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, / That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, / Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, / To cry, Hold, hold!" (Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5)
David Daniell in The Interpreter's House (1975) quotes Kipling who professed to be "rested and delighted" by the book and who called it a tour de force. Rose Macaulay said that the book was "so enchanting and beautiful that I often read it for my pleasure". Daniell himself notes that while the tone is relaxed, the control is tight, and "it is as if Buchan is drawing together all his skills under the influence of his response to the land and its people". [2]
Writing for the John Buchan Society website in 2001, Kenneth Hillier called The Blanket of the Dark “a thoroughly enjoyable book, because it not only expresses the deep love Buchan had for his adopted countryside but it conveys great empathy with the period in which it is set”. [3]
David Goldie noted in 2009 that "One of the animating ideas of The Blanket of the Dark is that English values are expressed more profoundly in the quiet wisdom of its folk than in the forceful actions of its rulers". [4]
In 2019, the historian Diarmaid MacCulloch called it a "wonderful young adult book", also describing it as "chilling" and "brilliant". [5]
Thomas Cromwell, briefly Earl of Essex, was an English statesman and lawyer who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false charges for the execution.
John Stokesley was an English clergyman who was Bishop of London during the reign of Henry VIII.
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular revolt beginning in Yorkshire in October 1536, before spreading to other parts of Northern England including Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham and north Lancashire, under the leadership of Robert Aske. The "most serious of all Tudor period rebellions", it was a protest against Henry VIII's break with the Catholic Church, the dissolution of the lesser monasteries, and the policies of the King's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, as well as other specific political, social, and economic grievances.
Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch is an English academic and historian, specialising in ecclesiastical history and the history of Christianity. Since 1995, he has been a fellow of St Cross College, Oxford; he was formerly the senior tutor. Since 1997, he has been Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford.
Witch Wood is a 1927 novel by the Scottish author John Buchan that critics have called his masterpiece. The book is set in the Scottish Borders during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and combines the author's interests in landscape, 17th century Calvinism, and the fate of Scotland. A significant portion of the dialogue is in Scots.
The House of the Four Winds is a 1935 adventure novel by the Scots author John Buchan. It is a Ruritanian romance, and the last of his three Dickson McCunn books. The novel is set in the fictional Central European country of Evallonia and opens two years after the events recounted in Castle Gay.
The Gap in the Curtain is a 1932 borderline science fiction novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. Part of the action is autobiographical, featuring the agonies of a contemporary up-and-coming politician. It explores the theory of serial time put forward by J W Dunne: Buchan had been reading An Experiment with Time.
Huntingtower is a 1922 novel by the Scottish author John Buchan, initially serialised in Popular Magazine between August and September 1921. It is the first of his three Dickson McCunn books, the action taking place in the district of Carrick in Galloway, Scotland.
David John Daniell was an English literary scholar who became Professor of English at University College London. He was founder of the Tyndale Society, a specialist in William Tyndale and his translations of the Bible, and author of a number of studies of the plays of Shakespeare.
Midwinter: Certain travellers in old England is a 1923 historical novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. It is set during the Jacobite rising of 1745, when an army of Scottish highlanders seeking to place Charles Stuart onto the English throne advanced into England as far South as Derby. The Prince, otherwise known as "Bonnie Prince Charlie", the grandson of the ousted King James II, required men and money from English Jacobite sympathisers, and the novel imagines why those were not forthcoming from landowners in the Western counties and Wales. It purports to sheds light on Samuel Johnson's previously unknown activities during that period.
The Half-Hearted is a 1900 novel of romance and adventure by the Scottish author John Buchan. It was Buchan's first novel in a modern setting and was written when he was 24 while working for an All-Souls fellowship and reading for the bar.
The Path of the King is a 1921 novel by the Scottish author John Buchan, presented as a loosely-coupled series of short stories.
Sir Quixote of the Moors: being some account of an episode in the life of the Sieur de Rohaine is an 1895 short novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. It was Buchan's first novel, written when he was nineteen and an undergraduate at Glasgow University. Buchan's original title was Sir Quixote, and he was annoyed by the addition of "of the Moors" by his publisher.
John Burnet of Barns is an 1898 novel by the Scottish author John Buchan, published when he was 23 years of age. His second novel, it had first appeared in serial form in Chambers's Journal earlier that year.
A Lost Lady of Old Years is an 1899 novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. It was first published in serial form in Today. The title comes from Browning’s poem Waring.
A Lodge in the Wilderness is a 1906 political quasi-novel by the Scottish author John Buchan.
The Free Fishers is a 1934 novel by the Scottish author John Buchan, his last work of historical fiction. The novel is set during the period of the Napoleonic Wars and follows the adventures of Anthony Lammas, a young professor at St Andrews, who is drawn into a plot to kill the prime minister Spencer Perceval. He is aided by The Free Fishers, a secret mutual aid organisation.
Montrose is a 1928 biography of James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose by the Scottish author John Buchan. It won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography in 1928.
The Watcher by the Threshold, and other tales is a collection of early novellas and stories, most with supernatural elements, by the Scottish author John Buchan. When first published in the UK in 1902 the collection included five stories, mainly set in the Scottish Borders. The collection was republished for the US market in 1918 under the title The Watcher by the Threshold, with four of the original stories and four new ones.