"The quintessential spy thriller"

About John Buchan's first thriller and its subsequent influences:

A century after publication, John Buchan’s The Thirty-Nine Steps remains the quintessential spy thriller. There is no need to rediscover this novel, since it has never gone away. No work of fiction published during the Edwardian period is more widely available in bookstores in as many mass-market and scholarly editions. ....

The Thirty-Nine Steps is the forerunner to countless subsequent spy thrillers and action movies where a lone hero is pitted against the forces of darkness, which is the scenario used by virtually all of them.

The Thirty-Nine Steps has spawned four feature-film adaptations, the first and best-known of which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1935. ....

A refreshingly uncomplicated tale of a manhunt that lasts a couple weeks, is set mostly in the Scottish Highlands and is told in around 40,000 words, The Thirty-Nine Steps has proved, so to speak, a runaway success. Indeed, the imperative of brevity and speed was something new and notable that Buchan brought to the thriller genre. ....

The Thirty-Nine Steps is remarkably cinematic for a novel published in the early days of the silent-film era. Certainly the thriller formula developed by Buchan had a profound influence on Hitchcock, who knew Buchan and whose “wrong man” style of thriller is derived from the model of The Thirty-Nine Steps. Hitchcock’s own film version of the book forms the basis for several of his subsequent Hollywood films, most notably the 1958 masterpiece North by Northwest.

In that film, as in Buchan’s original, the protagonist, played by Cary Grant, is caught up in a wider international conspiracy and through a series of unfortunate events is obliged to avoid both sinister foreign agents and the local police. He realises that he has become a decoy in a full-scale espionage operation designed to expose enemy spies operating on home soil.

The influence of The Thirty-Nine Steps on Hitchcock films such as North by Northwest may be seen not just in the manhunt theme common to both. In North by Northwest, the Buchan influence is felt also in set-piece scenes such as the crop-duster attack upon the fugitive protagonist at the isolated bus stop. In the original novel, Buchan’s hero Richard Hannay is pursued across the Highland wilderness by a monoplane. ....

Interestingly, the novel ends with Hannay leaving England to serve as a junior officer on the Western Front. Although Hannay was the only man who could have saved the day in The Thirty-Nine Steps, after the German plot has been thwarted he is just another British soldier. It would not be long, however, before he is employed again as an independent secret agent in Buchan’s follow-up adventure, Greenmantle. (more)

Simon Caterson, "A Century of The 39 Steps," Quadrant, Sept. 21, 2024.

Giftedness and godliness

From a good essay about "Preventing a Failing Faith":

...[D]on’t confuse giftedness with godliness. We live in a culture that prizes giftedness, while godliness is often overlooked and ignored. In our results-driven culture, this inverted value system makes sense. Giftedness produces immediate results. People are drawn to those who are gifted. Giftedness is outwardly noticeable and impressive. Godliness is less noticeable. People who are godly but not extraordinarily gifted are often ignored. The church has a tendency to follow our culture in prizing giftedness over godliness. That is one reason why people have been stunned to see Lawson’s sin. He was without question highly gifted, but that giftedness has no connection to whether he was godly.

We see Jesus highlight the irrelevance of giftedness to godliness in Matthew 7:22-23. He warned His hearers that on the day of judgment many would say to Him, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?” The abilities of prophecy, exorcism, and miracle-working are extraordinary gifts, and people who can do such remarkable feats are extraordinarily gifted. Jesus, however, tells these gifted individuals, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” Their giftedness was not combined with godliness; therefore, it brought them no spiritual or eternal benefit. Jesus was not concerned with how gifted they were but how godly they were.

We can judge ourselves or others by the wrong standard, evaluating giftedness rather than godliness. We thank God for the people He has given the church who have immense gifts, but we must be careful not to assume that because we or someone else is highly gifted that we are necessarily godly. In our personal lives, if we would be faithful, we must be more concerned about our godliness than our giftedness. .... (more)

Robb Brunansky, "Preventing a Failing Faith," RealClear Religion, September 27, 2024

Despair not

Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667) in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living:

If your case be brought to the last extremity, at the pit's brink, even the very margin of the grave, yet then despair not. Remember that whatsoever final accident takes away all hope from you, bear it sweetly, it will also take away all despair too. For when you enter into the regions of death you rest from all your labours and your fears.

Let them who are tempted to despair consider how much Christ suffered to redeem us from sin, and he must needs believe that the desires which God had to save us were not less than infinite.

Let no man despair of God's mercies to forgive him, unless he be sure that his sins are greater than God's mercies.

Consider that God, who knows all the events of men, calls them to be His own, gives them blessings, arguments of mercy and instances of fear to call them off from death, and to call them home to life; and in all this shows no despair of happiness to them; and therefore much less should any man despair for himself.

Remember that despair belongs only to passionate fools or villains such as were Achitopel and Judas, or to devils and damned persons; and as the hope of salvation is a good disposition towards it, so is despair a certain consignation to eternal ruin. A man may be damned for despairing to be saved. Despair is the proper passion of damnation. 'God hath placed truth and felicity in heaven, curiosity and repentance upon earth, but misery and despair are the portions of hell'. (Venerable Bede).

And a prayer "to be said in any affliction, in a sad and disconsolate spirit, and in temptations to despair":

O eternal God, Father of mercies, and God of all comfort, with much mercy look upon the sadness and sorrows of Thy servant. The waters are gone over me, and my miseries are without comfort. Lord, pity me! Let Thy grace refresh my spirit! Let Thy comforts support me, Thy mercy pardon me, and never let my portion be amongst hopeless spirits. I can need no relief so great as Thy mercy is; for Thou art infinitely more merciful that I can be miserable; and Thy mercy far above my misery. Dearest Jesus, let me trust in Thee forever and let me never be confounded. Amen

Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, Harper & Row, 1970.

Coffee, a health food

I normally drink several cups of coffee every morning. That may be one of my healthier habits. From The Telegraph today:

For most of us, drinking coffee is an essential part of our morning ritual, either glugging down a mug before we head out the door or picking one up on the go. The near instant energy boost and spike in alertness is enough reason to drink it. But the health benefits are also ample. Research has shown that it can enhance our brain, heart and gut health. ....

As we age, our muscles progressively deteriorate by around five per cent a decade after age 30, causing us to become more weak and frail and leaving us more vulnerable to falls and fractures.

But researchers, who looked at data on coffee intake and muscle mass among more than 8,000 adults in the US, found that those who consumed at least two mugs of coffee per day (or 240ml) had around a tenth more muscle compared to those who drank none. ....

• Brain health Starting your day with a hit of caffeine boosts our focus and alertness in the short-term but it’s also been linked to improved cognitive health as we get older, including better memory and attention...
• Heart health ...One study found that, compared to people who didn’t drink coffee, for every cup of coffee drunk per week, there was a 7 per cent drop in the risk of heart failure and an 8 per cent reduction in stroke risk. ....
• Gut health Having a diverse range of microbes living in your gut is the cornerstone of good gut health and coffee drinkers tend to have more diversity than non-coffee drinkers....
• Mental health ...[C]offee seems to have long-lasting mental health effects. One review found that the risk of depression was a quarter lower among those drinking four-and-a-half cups a day, compared to those who had less than one cup. ....
• Cancer Studies have reported that certain cancers, including those affecting the liver, womb and mouth, are less common among coffee drinkers. ....
• Type 2 diabetes A healthy weight, exercise and nutritious diet are the most evidence-based approaches for reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes but drinking coffee could also offer some protection. One review found that people who drank one cup daily were eight per cent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, compared to non-coffee drinkers. ....

Emily Craig, "Why coffee is good for your muscles too," The Telegraph, Sept. 21, 2024.

"Don't call me stupid"

Some films make me laugh even after many previous viewings. This is about one of them (and it references another):

...A Fish Called Wanda is a movie with many, many things going for it. Kevin Kline, for one; he won his Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing Otto, the Nietzsche-reading, Aristotle-misunderstanding, gun-wielding, armpit-smelling Ugly American who eventually becomes the villain of this movie. John Cleese as the bumbling barrister Archie Leach is another. And Maria Aitken’s as the tough-as-nails English upper-class housewife Wendy Leach is another, particularly when she’s getting the better of both Cleese and Klein. ....

...[T]he film is also the final film directed by Charles Crichton, a legend of British cinema. Working for Ealing Studios in the 1950s, he made The Lavender Hill Mob, one of the loveliest heist/caper movies ever made. Cleese and Crichton, who had been wanting to make a film together since 1969, began writing the script together in 1983. ....

A Fish Called Wanda...is the kind of constantly-propulsive, laugh-a-minute mid-budget studio comedy no one makes anymore. This alone should be enough of a reason for you to revisit it, frankly, but if you need another, how about this: you will laugh. You will. ....

Olivia Rutigliano, "I Don't Know Why, but It's Time to Watch A Fish Called Wanda," CrimeReads, Aept. 20, 2024.

A wedding

I've been going through scrapbooks inherited from my folks. This was my parents' wedding party on April 6, 1942:

Left to right: Charles Bond (Mom's younger brother), J.L. Skaggs, Mary Elizabeth Bond, Margaret Skaggs Bond (Dad's younger sister)

On their 50^th anniversary a celebration was held in Main Hall on the former Milton College campus. This is part of what my brother wrote in the invitation:

On Thursday, April 2, 1942, a thirty year old, City College of New York mathematics teacher caught a train and headed home to spend the Easter break in Salem, West Virginia with his family and lovely fiancee.

There, faced with the certainty of military service and the uncertainty of many other aspects of life at that time, the couple decided, because people important to them might not be able to attend their scheduled June wedding, that they would be married immediately.

Having had blood tests and having located a judge, the couple respectfully requested that they be issued a license in order to carry out their plan for a weekend wedding.

The judge, unimpressed with the immediacy of their need, informed the couple that a three day wait was necessary, except in emergency cases. Finding that their case did not qualify as an emergency, as defined by this judge, a Monday wedding was planned.

On the morning of Monday, April 6, 1942, in the Salem Seventh Day Baptist Church, Mary Elizabeth Bond and James Leland Skaggs were married by the Reverend James Leroy Skaggs, with Margaret and Charles Bond as attendants. Kenneth Camenga and Richard Bond sang solos and Robert Bond ushered the small group of other family members and friends in attendance.

The rest is history...

"Kind folks of old, you come again no more"

A recent exchange about nostalgia reminded me of this:

Home no more home to me, whither must I wander?
by Robert Louis Stevenson

HOME no more home to me, whither must I wander? Hunger my driver, I go where I must. Cold blows the winter wind over hill and heather; Thick drives the rain, and my roof is in the dust. Loved of wise men was the shade of my roof-tree. The true word of welcome was spoken in the door — Dear days of old, with the faces in the firelight, Kind folks of old, you come again no more.

Home was home then, my dear, full of kindly faces, Home was home then, my dear, happy for the child. Fire and the windows bright glittered on the moorland; Song, tuneful song, built a palace in the wild. Now, when day dawns on the brow of the moorland, Lone stands the house, and the chimney-stone is cold. Lone let it stand, now the friends are all departed, The kind hearts, the true hearts, that loved the place of old.

Spring shall come, come again, calling up the moorfowl, Spring shall bring the sun and rain, bring the bees and flowers; Red shall the heather bloom over hill and valley, Soft flow the stream through the even-flowing hours; Fair the day shine as it shone on my childhood — Fair shine the day on the house with open door; Birds come and cry there and twitter in the chimney — But I go for ever and come again no more.

A baleful influence

What I know about Nietzsche is entirely second-hand. I have never read him. I have read much about him by scholars, historians, political theorists, and theologians who deplored his ideas and their consequences. Theodore Dalrymple doesn't like him much either. From his review of a recent book:

I grant that Nietzsche was brilliantly clever and was possessed of certain important insights, psychological and sociological, sometimes expressed with wit and pithiness reminiscent of La Rochefoucauld. His main insight was that the loss of religious belief would entail philosophical, social, and psychological problems more severe than most people realized at the time, but as far as I am aware he provided no new philosophical arguments against the existence of God, nor was he the first person to question the metaphysics of morality in a world without transcendent meaning. ....

Between what he sometimes wrote and what Himmler said in his infamous speech about the SS’s glorious work of mass extermination there is, as Wittgenstein might have put it, a family resemblance (though of course Nietzsche cannot be held responsible for all that was done by his most brutish of admirers). His exegetes in turn accuse those who take him literally of being unsophisticated and incapable of understanding his depths; but this reminds me of attempts to turn the seventy-two virgins into seventy-two raisins. ....

A thinker can be important in more than one way. He may be original and illuminating (though originality is not a blessing in itself), or he may be important because he has a great influence on his society and successors. I think that Nietzsche was important in the second sense, but that his influence has been almost wholly baleful. His originality was in his mode and vehemence of expression, not in the underlying thought. He was one of the patron saints of the hermeneutics of suspicion, and I see in this neither intellectual nor moral advance.

He influenced a great variety of people, from the free-market fascist Ayn Rand, for whom superior types had the right and duty to ride roughshod over multitudes in pursuit of their self-proclaimed superior goals, all protestations to care for the welfare of others being but disguised egotism, to figures such as Foucault, for whom statements of truth were likewise instruments in the lust for power, except when he made them. .... (more)

Theodore Dalrymple, "The Grating Roar," The Lamp, August 2, 2024.

"Be our strength..."

1 Father, hear the prayer we offer:     not for ease that prayer shall be, but for strength that we may ever live our lives courageously.	3 Not forever by still waters would we idly rest and stay; but would smite the living fountains from the rocks along our way.
2 Not forever in green pastures do we ask our way to be; but the steep and rugged pathway may we tread rejoicingly.	4 Be our strength in hours of weakness, in our wanderings be our guide; through endeavour, failure, danger, Father, be Thou at our side.

The sound of silence

"Confessions of a Music User" was linked today at a blog I visit often. I use music as background much less than I once did. From the essay:

.... I seemed to always need background music, something to offset discomfort, or to provide a rush of adrenaline. Some songs I listened to provided that ember of transcendence, yet they lost their flare when I put them on repeat, trying to squeeze the dopamine out of them. .... Music yielded instances of healing, grace, and beauty, but I also used it to manufacture emotions and escape the burden of silence. And I used it a lot. ....

Roger Scruton, the late British philosopher, believed much of modern music had devolved into a vacuum of senseless chatter: “For the most part, the prevailing music is of an astounding banality. It is there in order to not be really there.  .... AI has exacerbated this problem by divorcing music production from human expertise. “Music is no longer something you must make for yourself, nor is it something you sit down to listen to,” Scruton continues. “It follows you wherever you go, and you switch it on as a background. It is not so much listened to as overheard.” ....

...[L]etting music wash over every moment of life without cultivating places for quiet is like reading the classics and never pausing to reflect on their meaning. We become chronic skimmers, afloat in the ocean of noise with our eyes sleeplessly staring into space.

Beautiful music has tended to hit me at unexpected times. As I said earlier, those times can’t be controlled or manufactured. I’ve never been able to wrangle a transcendent experience like a cowboy ropes an elusive bull. Every time I’ve tried, I’ve ended up restless and in an emotional flux – focused on myself instead of on the divine. One thing any of us can do, perhaps, is to choose to listen not only to music but to the silence. .... (more)

Peter Biles, "Confessions of a Music User," Plough, August 7, 2024.

Christianity and work

On this Labor Day I once again quote from a 1942 address by Dorothy L. Sayers, "Why Work?" (pdf):

I HAVE already, on a previous occasion, spoken at some length on the subject of Work and Vocation. What I urged then was a thorough-going revolution in our whole attitude to work. I asked that it should be looked upon—not as a necessary drudgery to be undergone for the purpose of making money, but as a way of life in which the nature of man should find its proper exercise and delight and so fulfill itself to the glory of God. That it should, in fact, be thought of as a creative activity undertaken for the love of the work itself; and that man, made in God's image, should make things, as God makes them, for the sake of doing well a thing that is well worth doing. ....

It is the business of the Church to recognize that the secular vocation, as such, is sacred. Christian people, and particularly perhaps the Christian clergy, must get it firmly into their heads that when a man or woman is called to a particular job of secular work, that is as true a vocation as though he or she were called to specifically religious work. .... It is not right for her to acquiesce in the notion that a man's life is divided into the time he spends on his work and the time he spends in serving God. He must be able to serve God in his work, and the work itself must be accepted and respected as the medium of divine creation. ....

Where we have become confused is in mixing up the ends to which our work is put with the way in which the work is done. The end of the work will be decided by our religious outlook: as we are so we make. It is the business of religion to make us Christian people, and then our work will naturally be turned to Christian ends, because our work is the expression of ourselves. But the way in which the work is done is governed by no sanction except the good of the work itself; and religion has no direct connexion with that, except to insist that the workman should be free to do his work well according to its own integrity. ....

Dorothy L. Sayers, "Why Work?," was published in the collection Creed or Chaos? in 1949 and can be read here as a pdf.