Clubland Heroes: A Nostalgic Study Of Some Recurrent Characters In The Romantic Fiction Of Dornford Yates, John Buchan And Sapper
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: rev ed.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
In the golden age of British popular fiction, three authors — Dornford Yates, John Buchan, and Sapper — conjured a world of dashing gentleman adventurers whose exploits captivated millions of readers and defined an era of romantic, escapist storytelling. Clubland Heroes is Richard Usborne's affectionate and incisive critical study of the recurring protagonists at the heart of this fiction: Berry Pleydell, Richard Hannay, and Bulldog Drummond — men of breeding, nerve, and an unshakeable sense of imperial duty. With wit and scholarly precision, Usborne dissects the social fabric from which these characters were cut, revealing how their creators fashioned myths of Englishness that were as much a product of class anxiety and post-war nostalgia as they were of pure adventure. Usborne writes with the warm authority of a man who genuinely loves his subject, balancing critical rigour with an insider's appreciation for the pleasures of the genre. The result is a work of literary cultural history that illuminates the codes of honour, snobbery, and masculine camaraderie that permeate the clubland world — a world of Mayfair flats, sinister foreign villains, and effortless heroism. For anyone who has ever fallen under the spell of a Hannay chase across the Scottish moors or a Drummond brawl in a country house, this study poses the irresistible question: what does it say about us that we still cannot resist these heroes?
Author: Richard Usborne
Format: Hardback
Published: 1974, Barrie & Jenkins Ltd, London
Genre: Literary theory
Edition: rev ed.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
In the golden age of British popular fiction, three authors — Dornford Yates, John Buchan, and Sapper — conjured a world of dashing gentleman adventurers whose exploits captivated millions of readers and defined an era of romantic, escapist storytelling. Clubland Heroes is Richard Usborne's affectionate and incisive critical study of the recurring protagonists at the heart of this fiction: Berry Pleydell, Richard Hannay, and Bulldog Drummond — men of breeding, nerve, and an unshakeable sense of imperial duty. With wit and scholarly precision, Usborne dissects the social fabric from which these characters were cut, revealing how their creators fashioned myths of Englishness that were as much a product of class anxiety and post-war nostalgia as they were of pure adventure. Usborne writes with the warm authority of a man who genuinely loves his subject, balancing critical rigour with an insider's appreciation for the pleasures of the genre. The result is a work of literary cultural history that illuminates the codes of honour, snobbery, and masculine camaraderie that permeate the clubland world — a world of Mayfair flats, sinister foreign villains, and effortless heroism. For anyone who has ever fallen under the spell of a Hannay chase across the Scottish moors or a Drummond brawl in a country house, this study poses the irresistible question: what does it say about us that we still cannot resist these heroes?