John Buchan the Romantic

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: JOHN BUCHAN, THE MAN When Lord Tweedsmuir came to Canada in the Fall of 1935 as Governor General, he was a noted man of letters, author of many popular novels, a biographer, poet, and historian. While many will remember his achievements in public life, especially his contributions to Canadian politics, there can be little doubt that posterity will know him as John Buchan, and not as first Baron Tweedsmuir. His work in the world of literature, his keen mind, his sound practical judgment and warm human sympathy will endure. In his Preface to the book, John Buchan by His Wife and Friends, George Trevelyan writes: "Some men are great by what they do, others by what they are. ... And even in the world of letters, what a man is inspires what he writes." However, John Buchan can be placed in both categories of greatness, for "The man and his work run an even race. And the two seem inseparable.” It is in the capacity of a writer, and more specifically as a writer of romance, that we shall be concerned with John Buchan, for we feel that as such, he has left upon his age a definite imprint. The present chapter will provide the biographical background and romantic influences in the life of Buchan Which prepared and inspired him to write the way he did. Subsequent chapters will deal with the history of romance, its general characteristics, and more particularly, with those elements exhibited by our author in his writing of biography, poetry and adventure fiction.