 1st edition cover | |
| Author | John Buchan |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Quasi-novel |
| Publisher | William Blackwood & Sons [1] |
Publication date | 1906 [1] |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 378 [1] |
A Lodge in the Wilderness is a 1906 political quasi-novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. [2]
Plot
The book relates an imagined conference arranged by a multi-millionaire, Francis Carey, to discuss Empire. The guests are contemporary figures from the upper and professional classes, nine men and nine women, [2] all of whom have an interest in understanding how Empire might be a positive influence. [3] Buchan uses the novel to expound a variety of current political and social viewpoints. [2]
Critical reception
David Daniell, in The Interpreter's House (1975), called the work "an extraordinary book, like nothing else". It is mostly serious discussion, but there is also a lot of fun especially in the portrait of Lady Flora Brume, based upon the real-life Susan Grosvenor who was later to become Buchan's wife. [3]
Writing for The John Buchan Society website in 2002, Edwin Lee noted that while the book has some aspects of a novel it is not a novel in the ordinary sense of the word. Rather, he suggested, Buchan is using the imagined conference, via the utterances of his characters, as a means of defending the ideals and practical benefits of Empire. [2]
In his 2009 essay John Buchan and the South African War Michael Redley noted that the book drew on Buchan's South African experiences. The author's intention "was to rescue [Lord] Milner's best ideas from the wreckage of his South African policy when British politics lurched to the left in January 1906". [4]
Andrew Lownie, in his 2013 biography John Buchan: The Presbyterian Cavalier, suggested that while the attitudes appearing in the book may appear patronising to a late 20th-century reader, Buchan “shows himself to be far in advance of many of his contemporaries with his view of the empowerment of the individual and the Empire as a liberalising force for good”. [5]
References
- ^ a b c "British Library Item details". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
- ^ a b c d Lee, Edwin (2002). "The Vision Splendid: A synthesis of John Buchan's A Lodge in the Wilderness". No 27. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
- ^ a b Daniell, David (1975). The Interpreter's House. Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd. pp. 103–105. ISBN 0-17-146051-0.
- ^ Redley, Michael (2009). "John Buchan and the South African War". In Macdonald, Kate (ed.). Reassessing John Buchan: beyond the Third-Nine Steps. London: Pickering & Chatto. p. 73. ISBN 978-1851969982.
- ^ Lownie, Andrew (2013). John Buchan: The Presbyterian Cavalier. Thistle Publishing. pp. 87–88. ISBN 978-1-909609-99-0.