Greenmantle

Buchan, John, 1875-1940Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.9

Word count: 525K words
Chapters: 53

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Greenmantle by John BuchanAuthor: Buchan, John, 1875-1940,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jun 1, 1996

Editor's review

Greenmantle is a major novel in John Buchan's Richard Hannay series. It continues the adventurous thread of The Thirty-Nine Steps and plunges the reader into transnational espionage and pursuit against the backdrop of the First World War. Its value lies in its brisk pacing and dense suspense, combining the readability of popular adventure fiction with the generic features of early spy fiction. It is useful for understanding early twentieth-century British popular literature, the tradition of spy narrative, and Buchan's gentleman-adventurer figure. This is a Project Gutenberg public-domain electronic edition, making the English original cheaply accessible to researchers and general readers alike. It can be read as a tightly plotted diversion or studied closely within the framework of genre literary history and the cultural context of the First World War, observing how the author organizes friend-enemy imaginings, geographical movement, and identity disguise.

Who it's for

A good fit for

general readers who enjoy early spy and adventure fiction
readers studying British popular literature or the history of genre fiction
learners who want to practice long-form reading with an English public-domain book
readers interested in the European background and spy narratives around the First World War

Not a good fit for

readers expecting contemporary high-tech espionage or intricate plot reversals
beginner English readers who need a Chinese translation or annotations
readers who prefer literary experimentation, psychological depth, and slow-paced narrative

Reading tips

Read The Thirty-Nine Steps first to understand the background of the Hannay series; the character relationships will be clearer when you come to this book.
Keep a map of Europe at hand to track the characters' cross-border movements and geographical clues.
Separate the friend-enemy setup from the wartime propaganda context, and note the period limitations of genre fiction.
Advance through the English original chapter by chapter, briefly retelling the plot after each chapter to reduce the burden of long-form reading.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book related to The Thirty-Nine Steps?

Yes. Both works center on the character Richard Hannay and belong to the same series. Greenmantle continues Hannay's adventures and espionage thread, but its plot is relatively independent. Reading the earlier book first helps with understanding the character's background, though reading this book directly will not leave you completely without context.

Is this a Chinese book or an English book?

This is an English public-domain ebook released by Project Gutenberg. The main text is in English, not a Chinese translation. It suits readers with some English reading ability who want direct access to the original, and it can also serve as English material for understanding early British popular fiction.

Do I need to know First World War history before reading?

Not systematically, but some knowledge of the European situation around the First World War will help. The novel unfolds through cross-border pursuit and espionage, and a little historical background makes it easier to understand the characters' motives, geographical movement, and friend-enemy setup, and to see more clearly the period marks of genre narrative.

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About the author

Buchan, John, 1875-1940 Author

John Buchan (1875–1940) was a British author best known for his adventure novels and political thrillers. Born in Scotland, he studied at the University of Glasgow and Oxford, worked as a lawyer and publisher, and served as Governor General of Canada from 1935 to 1940, becoming Baron Tweedsmuir. His masterpiece The Thirty-Nine Steps introduced the classic figure Richard Hannay; with its tight plotting and mounting suspense, it is regarded as one of the pioneering spy novels. Other works such as Greenmantle, Mr. Standfast, and Prester John are also noted for historical adventure and tense plotting. His fiction is briskly written and skillfully blends real historical backgrounds with imagined adventure, exerting a lasting influence on later thriller and adventure literature.