John Buchan, The Thirty-Nine Steps

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The Thirty-Nine Steps

is Buchan’s most famous novel, and is the single Buchan title most likely to be reissued by publishers. In popular terms it defines his writing. Most discussion of Buchan the writer starts and stops with

The Thirty-Nine Steps

, and moves swiftly on to talk about the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film which was based on the book. What is rarely realised is that this short thriller was Buchan’s seventeenth published work. It was not the work of a beginner, and it is completely different from anything he had published before.

Buchan began writing The Thirty-Nine Steps in August 1914 while he and his daughter were recovering from illness. They were staying at a house in Broadstairs, Kent, overlooking the sea, which had steps leading down to a private beach. War had just

2872 words

Citation: Macdonald, Kate. "The Thirty-Nine Steps". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 August 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=20323, accessed 19 March 2024.]

20323 The Thirty-Nine Steps 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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