 | |
| Author | John Buchan |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Set in | Scotland |
| Published | London & New York [1] |
| Publisher | John Lane [1] |
Publication date | 1898 [1] |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 444 [1] |
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. [2]
The novel follows the adventures of John Burnet (a fictional relative of the 17th-century cleric and historian Gilbert Burnet), supposed to have been born at Barns in Tweeddale, Scotland in 1666. [3] It is written as an autobiography, with the eponymous writer detailing the events of his life as a first-person narrative.
The novel opens in 1678, with the bookish 12-year-old John Burnet escaping from his tutor at Barns for a day's fishing expedition. In the woods he meets Marjory Veitch, about 10 years old, the daughter of a neighbour. The two become playmates and, over the years, sweethearts.
Following the recommendation of his illustrious uncle Gilbert Burnet of Edinburgh, John is at the age of 18 sent to study at Glasgow University, where he proves to be an exceptional scholar. One day, he sees in the street his soldier cousin Gilbert Burnet, dressed in the latest fashions, riding arrogantly through the town at the head of a king's troop of horse. John resolves there and then to give up the life of a scholar, and to honour his family line by becoming a Cavalier himself. He buys himself a blade and a new suit of clothes, and returns home to Barnes where he is welcomed with surprise by his father who is entertaining a guest – his cousin. Gilbert insults John and offhandedly makes clear his intention to court Marjory. He challenges John to a long and dangerous race on horseback through the surrounding hills, a race that John ultimately wins, though at the cost of Gilbert's lifelong enmity.
John asks Marjory to marry him, and shortly afterwards become the new laird of Barns on the sudden death of his father. He decides that he should spend some time travelling abroad before returning to marry Marjory and take up his new role at home. Becoming interested once more in scholarship, he travels to Netherlands to study at the university in Leyden, where he again encounters his cousin. During a supper party, Gilbert taunts John, who responds by hurling a wine glass. The cousins fight a duel, with John emerging victorious. Gilbert departs for Scotland.
Some months later, John receives a mysterious letter from Marjory summoning him home urgently. On his arrival in Scotland, John finds that Gilbert has falsely denounced him as a traitor and that his lands have been confiscated. He is hunted around the Borders by Gilbert's soldiers. Fearing for Marjory's safety, he covertly escorts her to shelter with a kinsman, while he takes to the hills as an outlaw. Gilbert finds Marjory and tricks her into accompanying him to his estate in the west of Scotland. John follows, helps her escape, then confronts Gilbert. They are engaged in a final swordfight when Gilbert is mortally wounded by a shot from one of his own disgruntled men.
King James having been deposed by William of Orange while John was on the run, he is now free to travel to Edinburgh and to London to recover his lands. That complete, he returns to Barns and marries Marjory.
Buchan was not entirely satisfied with the novel, and wrote to a friend, "To tell the truth I am rather ashamed of it; it is so very immature and boyish. I had no half serious interest in fiction when I wrote it and the result is a sort of hotch-potch". Early reviews were mixed, but confirmed that Buchan was a writer to watch. The Labour Leader opined that it was "a most remarkable work for so young a man". [2]
David Daniell in The Interpreter's House (1975) stated that, in spite of Buchan's faults of inexperience, this is a fine book for a first long novel. He considered it to be a fascinating 'hotch-potch' in which Buchan, with evidence of a lot of thought, reworked big themes. [4] Daniell concluded that the book is "a clever, searching analysis of non-commitment done with a good deal of novelistic skill, at the fringes of a more frightening darkness." [5]
John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.
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.
Salute to Adventurers is a 1915 historical adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. Largely set among the newly-settled Virginia plantations of the late 17th century, the novel includes a number of historical characters and events, including the wild and radical preaching of John Gibb, founder of the Sweet Singers sect.
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.
The Dickson McCunn Trilogy is a series of novels by John Buchan, all featuring his eponymous retired grocer from Glasgow. The books are titled Huntingtower, Castle Gay and The House of the Four Winds. Penguin published an omnibus edition, The Adventures of Dickson McCunn, in 1994.
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.
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 Runagates Club is a 1928 collection of short stories by the Scottish author John Buchan. The collection consists of twelve tales presented as reminiscences of members of The Runagates Club, a London dining society. Several of the stories are recounted by recurrent characters in Buchan’s fiction, including Richard Hannay, Sandy Arbuthnot, John Palliser-Yeates, Charles Lamancha, and Edward Leithen.
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.
The Magic Walking Stick is a 1932 novel by the Scottish author John Buchan, his only novel for children. The first edition was illustrated by John Morton Sale.
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 Naploeonic 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. 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.
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.