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Prester John
Nineteen-year-old David Crawfurd travels from Scotland to South Africa to work as a storekeeper. On the voyage he encounters again John Laputa, the celebrated Zulu minister, of whom he has strange memories. In his remote store David finds himself with the key to a massive uprising led by the minister, who has taken the title of the mythical priest-king, Prester John. David's courage and his understanding of this man take him to the heart of the uprising, a secret cave in the Rooirand.
237 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1910
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795 people want to read
About the author
John Buchan
1,767 books470 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
John Buchan was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.
As a youth, Buchan began writing poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, publishing his first novel in 1895 and ultimately writing over a hundred books of which the best known is The Thirty-Nine Steps. After attending Glasgow and Oxford universities, he practised as a barrister. In 1901, he served as a private secretary to Lord Milner in southern Africa towards the end of the Boer War. He returned to England in 1903, continued as a barrister and journalist. He left the Bar when he joined Thomas Nelson and Sons publishers in 1907. During the First World War, he was, among other activities, Director of Information in 1917 and later Head of Intelligence at the newly-formed Ministry of Information. He was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities in 1927.
In 1935, King George V, on the advice of Canadian Prime Minister R. B. Bennett, appointed Buchan to succeed the Earl of Bessborough as Governor General of Canada and two months later raised him to the peerage as 1st Baron Tweedsmuir. He occupied the post until his death in 1940. Buchan promoted Canadian unity and helped strengthen the sovereignty of Canada constitutionally and culturally. He received a state funeral in Canada before his ashes were returned to the United Kingdom.
John Buchan was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.
As a youth, Buchan began writing poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, publishing his first novel in 1895 and ultimately writing over a hundred books of which the best known is The Thirty-Nine Steps. After attending Glasgow and Oxford universities, he practised as a barrister. In 1901, he served as a private secretary to Lord Milner in southern Africa towards the end of the Boer War. He returned to England in 1903, continued as a barrister and journalist. He left the Bar when he joined Thomas Nelson and Sons publishers in 1907. During the First World War, he was, among other activities, Director of Information in 1917 and later Head of Intelligence at the newly-formed Ministry of Information. He was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities in 1927.
In 1935, King George V, on the advice of Canadian Prime Minister R. B. Bennett, appointed Buchan to succeed the Earl of Bessborough as Governor General of Canada and two months later raised him to the peerage as 1st Baron Tweedsmuir. He occupied the post until his death in 1940. Buchan promoted Canadian unity and helped strengthen the sovereignty of Canada constitutionally and culturally. He received a state funeral in Canada before his ashes were returned to the United Kingdom.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 122 reviews
July 23, 2009
Published in 1910, this story about a Zulu uprising in South Africa as experienced by a young Scottish immigrant, is a good read, in the spirit of Rudyard Kipling or H. Rider Haggard: adventure in the furthest outposts of the British Empire.
But what makes this book worth reading is how many things the author takes for granted that we now know aren't so, and even find distasteful. The racism of the book is shocking precisely because it is so casual and thoughtless, the innate assumption of superiority.
It makes me wonder what people a hundred years from now will think of our popular fiction, our popular movies. What do we take for granted that they will find odd, and perhaps even distasteful. You can already see some obvious candidates in things that are still accepted, but barely, like smoking. How curious it is to see a movie in which everyone is puffing on a cigarette - for example, in Good Night and Good Luck, where Edward R. Murrow is shown delivering prime time television news with a cigarette smoking between his fingers.
What will people think of our enormous steak dinners and obese portions of food? That's on the cusp of changing. What will they think of our profligate use of fossil fuels? Our assumption that the American way of life will go on forever, just as it is, much as the British thought their empire would go on forever? What about our assumptions about unlimited technological progress? Will science fiction visions of star flight or "the Singularity" seem as quaint as "the White Man's Burden"?
There's also a particularly sweet class of novel that is on the cusp of awareness of a profound change in social mores, but one that doesn't quite have the courage of its convictions: the proto-feminism of Anthony Trollope's Can You Forgive Her And there's the delight to be found in one that explores the nuances of a change as it is unfolding, like Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse.
This is why I love old literature: it provides a dimensionality to who we are, who we have become, and who we might become. The human spirit is the same, but the forms with which we express it do evolve. Understanding what people took for granted in the past that "just ain't so" helps us to accept the possibility that we too are subject to change.
But what makes this book worth reading is how many things the author takes for granted that we now know aren't so, and even find distasteful. The racism of the book is shocking precisely because it is so casual and thoughtless, the innate assumption of superiority.
It makes me wonder what people a hundred years from now will think of our popular fiction, our popular movies. What do we take for granted that they will find odd, and perhaps even distasteful. You can already see some obvious candidates in things that are still accepted, but barely, like smoking. How curious it is to see a movie in which everyone is puffing on a cigarette - for example, in Good Night and Good Luck, where Edward R. Murrow is shown delivering prime time television news with a cigarette smoking between his fingers.
What will people think of our enormous steak dinners and obese portions of food? That's on the cusp of changing. What will they think of our profligate use of fossil fuels? Our assumption that the American way of life will go on forever, just as it is, much as the British thought their empire would go on forever? What about our assumptions about unlimited technological progress? Will science fiction visions of star flight or "the Singularity" seem as quaint as "the White Man's Burden"?
There's also a particularly sweet class of novel that is on the cusp of awareness of a profound change in social mores, but one that doesn't quite have the courage of its convictions: the proto-feminism of Anthony Trollope's Can You Forgive Her And there's the delight to be found in one that explores the nuances of a change as it is unfolding, like Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse.
This is why I love old literature: it provides a dimensionality to who we are, who we have become, and who we might become. The human spirit is the same, but the forms with which we express it do evolve. Understanding what people took for granted in the past that "just ain't so" helps us to accept the possibility that we too are subject to change.
November 19, 2023
In my mind, John Buchan is one of the classic writers of British nationalism and the Empire spirit of the early twentieth century. We were forced to read his 1914 novel The The 39 Steps at school and it was years before I returned to read more of his work, all of which needs to be read in the context of its time and his professional life.
He told adventure stories with lots of action for its heroes, usually Scottish (Buchan was a Scot) and set at least in part in Scotland. His villains were usually German and it was after reading the polemical Green Mantle: (John Buchan Classics Collection) that I knew I needed to know more about Buchan.
I wasn't at all surprised to learn that he had served as a diplomat in British colonies in Southern Africa and wrote propaganda for the British war effort during the First World War.
He was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities in 1927, and ended his life as Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor-General of Canada.
Prester John, published in 1910, is the first of his novels and takes place partly in Scotland but mostly in what is probably now South Africa . It tells the story of 19 year old Scotsman David Crawfurd and his adventures during a native uprising under the charismatic black minister John Laputa, who identifies as the rightful descendant of the legendary Prester John.
The language is of its time, reflecting the British attitudes of the time. Very jarring to the modern ear, but there it is, a voice from the heart of the British Empire at its peak.
He told adventure stories with lots of action for its heroes, usually Scottish (Buchan was a Scot) and set at least in part in Scotland. His villains were usually German and it was after reading the polemical Green Mantle: (John Buchan Classics Collection) that I knew I needed to know more about Buchan.
I wasn't at all surprised to learn that he had served as a diplomat in British colonies in Southern Africa and wrote propaganda for the British war effort during the First World War.
He was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities in 1927, and ended his life as Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor-General of Canada.
Prester John, published in 1910, is the first of his novels and takes place partly in Scotland but mostly in what is probably now South Africa . It tells the story of 19 year old Scotsman David Crawfurd and his adventures during a native uprising under the charismatic black minister John Laputa, who identifies as the rightful descendant of the legendary Prester John.
The language is of its time, reflecting the British attitudes of the time. Very jarring to the modern ear, but there it is, a voice from the heart of the British Empire at its peak.
November 9, 2019
Find my spoiler free introduction to Prester John, my Buchan of the Month for January 2019, on my blog: https://whatcathyreadnext.wordpress.c...
Prester John was John Buchan’s sixth novel, written seven years after he returned from South Africa where he served as as one of Lord Alfred Milner’s ‘Young Men’. It’s described as ‘a boys’ story’ and certainly fits the bill as a tale of adventure and daring deeds. There are narrow escapes, breathless chases, clever disguises, secret allies, a dastardly villain and coded messages. As the Literary Innkeeper from The Thirty-Nine Steps remarks on hearing of Richard Hannay’s adventures, “By God!…it is all pure Rider Haggard and Conan Doyle.”
John Buchan endows his hero, David Crawfurd, with a young person’s sense of adventure and seemingly tireless energy along with some of his own interests, such as hiking and mountaineering (the latter proving useful for a perilous escape at the end of the book). They also share an appreciation for the landscape of Scotland and South Africa and, as you would expect from Buchan, there are some glorious descriptions of the scenery. ‘As the sun rose above the horizon, the black masses changed to emerald and rich umber, and the fleecy mists of the summits opened and revealed beyond shining spaces of green.’ One of Buchan’s favourite books, The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, also makes an appearance, as it would again later in Mr. Standfast and Sick Heart River.
So far, so good. However, it is difficult for a modern day reader – even a John Buchan admirer like myself – to overlook the racial stereotyping, colonialism and outdated paternalism that pervades Prester John. This becomes even more problematic when one considers Prester John was a book aimed at young people (more likely than not, boys).
As I noted in my previous introduction piece about the book, Janet Adam Smith, Buchan’s first biographer, attempts to argue that, in Buchan’s portrayal of African leader, John Laputa, he is depicting ‘a battle not so much between black and white but as between civilisation and savagery’. Unfortunately it seems fairly obvious that the book associates the savagery as emanating from the native people and the civilizing influence as the ‘white man’s duty’. At the end of the book, David Crawfurd reflects: ‘That is the difference between white and black, the gift of responsibility, the power of being a little king; and so long as we know this and practice it, we will rule not in Africa alone but wherever there are dark men who live only for the day and their own bellies.’ I appreciate these words were written in earlier times but still they rather turned my belly.
David Daniell describes Buchan’s representation of John Laputa in Prester John as being like ‘a black Montrose’ with his ‘military skill, high charisma and religious vision’. It is true that David Crawfurd develops a curious admiration for Laputa as a specimen of a leader, whilst at the same time feeling it his duty to try to prevent what Laputa is seeking to achieve. In fact, David’s admiration seems to stem partly from the fact that a black man could possess such leadership qualities. As events play out, David remarks, ‘I had no exultation of triumph, still less any fear of my own fate. I stood silent, the half-remorseful spectator of a fall like the fall of Lucifer.’
Even writing in 1965, Janet Adam Smith concedes that the references to ‘blacks’ and ‘n*****s’ in Prester John will be found offensive today. I’m not sure that pointing out, as David Daniell does, that the terms are used only twice and three times respectively makes the situation much better. Therefore, whilst Prester John is, in one respect, an exciting, well-told adventure story, on this rereading I found myself less able to overlook the problematic attitudes in the book.
Prester John was John Buchan’s sixth novel, written seven years after he returned from South Africa where he served as as one of Lord Alfred Milner’s ‘Young Men’. It’s described as ‘a boys’ story’ and certainly fits the bill as a tale of adventure and daring deeds. There are narrow escapes, breathless chases, clever disguises, secret allies, a dastardly villain and coded messages. As the Literary Innkeeper from The Thirty-Nine Steps remarks on hearing of Richard Hannay’s adventures, “By God!…it is all pure Rider Haggard and Conan Doyle.”
John Buchan endows his hero, David Crawfurd, with a young person’s sense of adventure and seemingly tireless energy along with some of his own interests, such as hiking and mountaineering (the latter proving useful for a perilous escape at the end of the book). They also share an appreciation for the landscape of Scotland and South Africa and, as you would expect from Buchan, there are some glorious descriptions of the scenery. ‘As the sun rose above the horizon, the black masses changed to emerald and rich umber, and the fleecy mists of the summits opened and revealed beyond shining spaces of green.’ One of Buchan’s favourite books, The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, also makes an appearance, as it would again later in Mr. Standfast and Sick Heart River.
So far, so good. However, it is difficult for a modern day reader – even a John Buchan admirer like myself – to overlook the racial stereotyping, colonialism and outdated paternalism that pervades Prester John. This becomes even more problematic when one considers Prester John was a book aimed at young people (more likely than not, boys).
As I noted in my previous introduction piece about the book, Janet Adam Smith, Buchan’s first biographer, attempts to argue that, in Buchan’s portrayal of African leader, John Laputa, he is depicting ‘a battle not so much between black and white but as between civilisation and savagery’. Unfortunately it seems fairly obvious that the book associates the savagery as emanating from the native people and the civilizing influence as the ‘white man’s duty’. At the end of the book, David Crawfurd reflects: ‘That is the difference between white and black, the gift of responsibility, the power of being a little king; and so long as we know this and practice it, we will rule not in Africa alone but wherever there are dark men who live only for the day and their own bellies.’ I appreciate these words were written in earlier times but still they rather turned my belly.
David Daniell describes Buchan’s representation of John Laputa in Prester John as being like ‘a black Montrose’ with his ‘military skill, high charisma and religious vision’. It is true that David Crawfurd develops a curious admiration for Laputa as a specimen of a leader, whilst at the same time feeling it his duty to try to prevent what Laputa is seeking to achieve. In fact, David’s admiration seems to stem partly from the fact that a black man could possess such leadership qualities. As events play out, David remarks, ‘I had no exultation of triumph, still less any fear of my own fate. I stood silent, the half-remorseful spectator of a fall like the fall of Lucifer.’
Even writing in 1965, Janet Adam Smith concedes that the references to ‘blacks’ and ‘n*****s’ in Prester John will be found offensive today. I’m not sure that pointing out, as David Daniell does, that the terms are used only twice and three times respectively makes the situation much better. Therefore, whilst Prester John is, in one respect, an exciting, well-told adventure story, on this rereading I found myself less able to overlook the problematic attitudes in the book.
January 2, 2009
I first read about John Buchan a few years ago in an article entitled "G.A. Henty and the Tradition of Adventure Writing for Boys"
by Martin Cothran. You can read it here: (I recommend it highly!--even if you don't have boys)
http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/...
Since the first reading of "The Thirty-Nine Steps" my husband and I have fallen in love with the John Buchan.
Graham Green said that "John Buchan was the first to realize the enormous dramatic value of adventure in familiar surroundings happening to unadventurous men."
It's totally true and it is so easy to identify with the characters. They don't really long for a good scrap, but they're courageous and wise when stuck into the middle of one.
Synopsis from a John Buchan website: "'Prester John' (1910) was based upon [Buchan's] experiences in South Africa. It is the story of a Scots lad, David Crawfurd, who travels to South Africa in the turn of the century seeking his fortune after his studies are interuppted by his father's death. Dark deeds and treacherous intrigues are afoot at the lonely trading post where he is assigned by his employers and these are bound up with the mysterious, ancient African Kingdom of Prester John. David stumbles on to the key to the mystery and becomes involved in the ensuing warfare."
Of course it's much more than that! I suppose that Prester John would be called "dated" today (as would many of Buchan's books, I suppose). John Buchan was very nationalistic (but not in the nasty way we think of that phrase today). He loved his country and wasn't afraid to say so. Anyway, he was also a product of his times in some ways, such as the idea that the White British Male was pretty much the bomb. However lame that may seem to us today, he really doesn't write it that way. He had a very healthy respect for all people, he just saw them in different ways than perhaps we do today.
Buchan was a Christian and wrote Christian characters who believed in grace and works. There isn't a lot of religion, per se, but it underlies the characters compositions.
"Prester John" was a very fun read. It was counted one of those schoolboy favorites way back when. We'd like to resurrect Buchan in the states, as he isn't very easy to get a hold of for decent prices. So far most of the Buchan books we've read can't really count as life-changing, but if you need thrilling, adventurous stories without a trace of garbage (in detail or creed) Buchan's a great one to go for.
Some favorite quotes:
"But behind my thoughts was one master-feeling, that Providence had given me my chance and I must make the most of it. ...I looked on the last months as a clear course which had been mapped out for me. Not for nothing had I been given a clue to the strange events which were coming. It was foreordained that I should go alone to Umvelos', and in the promptings of my own fallible heart I believed I saw the workings of Omnipotence. Such is our moral arrogance, and yet without such a belief I think that mankind would have ever been content to bide sluggishly at home."
"...God had preserved me from deadly perils, but not that I might cower in some shelter. I had a mission...I had been saved for a purpose, and unless I fulfilled my purpose I should again be lost..."
David wins the day and at the age of 19 becomes a fabulously wealthy young man...
"The wealth did not dazzle so much as it solemnized me. I had no impulse to spend any part of it in a riot of folly. It had come to me like fairy gold out of the void; it had been bought with men's blood, almost my own. ....I saw my life all lying before me; and already I had won sucess. ...I was a rich man now who could choose his career, an dmy mother need never again want for comfort. My money seemed pleasant to me, for if men won theirs by brains or industry, I had won mine by sterner methods, for I had staked against it my life. I sat alone in the railway carriage and cried with pure thankfulness..."
And by the way, he does much good with his cash:)
by Martin Cothran. You can read it here: (I recommend it highly!--even if you don't have boys)
http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/...
Since the first reading of "The Thirty-Nine Steps" my husband and I have fallen in love with the John Buchan.
Graham Green said that "John Buchan was the first to realize the enormous dramatic value of adventure in familiar surroundings happening to unadventurous men."
It's totally true and it is so easy to identify with the characters. They don't really long for a good scrap, but they're courageous and wise when stuck into the middle of one.
Synopsis from a John Buchan website: "'Prester John' (1910) was based upon [Buchan's] experiences in South Africa. It is the story of a Scots lad, David Crawfurd, who travels to South Africa in the turn of the century seeking his fortune after his studies are interuppted by his father's death. Dark deeds and treacherous intrigues are afoot at the lonely trading post where he is assigned by his employers and these are bound up with the mysterious, ancient African Kingdom of Prester John. David stumbles on to the key to the mystery and becomes involved in the ensuing warfare."
Of course it's much more than that! I suppose that Prester John would be called "dated" today (as would many of Buchan's books, I suppose). John Buchan was very nationalistic (but not in the nasty way we think of that phrase today). He loved his country and wasn't afraid to say so. Anyway, he was also a product of his times in some ways, such as the idea that the White British Male was pretty much the bomb. However lame that may seem to us today, he really doesn't write it that way. He had a very healthy respect for all people, he just saw them in different ways than perhaps we do today.
Buchan was a Christian and wrote Christian characters who believed in grace and works. There isn't a lot of religion, per se, but it underlies the characters compositions.
"Prester John" was a very fun read. It was counted one of those schoolboy favorites way back when. We'd like to resurrect Buchan in the states, as he isn't very easy to get a hold of for decent prices. So far most of the Buchan books we've read can't really count as life-changing, but if you need thrilling, adventurous stories without a trace of garbage (in detail or creed) Buchan's a great one to go for.
Some favorite quotes:
"But behind my thoughts was one master-feeling, that Providence had given me my chance and I must make the most of it. ...I looked on the last months as a clear course which had been mapped out for me. Not for nothing had I been given a clue to the strange events which were coming. It was foreordained that I should go alone to Umvelos', and in the promptings of my own fallible heart I believed I saw the workings of Omnipotence. Such is our moral arrogance, and yet without such a belief I think that mankind would have ever been content to bide sluggishly at home."
"...God had preserved me from deadly perils, but not that I might cower in some shelter. I had a mission...I had been saved for a purpose, and unless I fulfilled my purpose I should again be lost..."
David wins the day and at the age of 19 becomes a fabulously wealthy young man...
"The wealth did not dazzle so much as it solemnized me. I had no impulse to spend any part of it in a riot of folly. It had come to me like fairy gold out of the void; it had been bought with men's blood, almost my own. ....I saw my life all lying before me; and already I had won sucess. ...I was a rich man now who could choose his career, an dmy mother need never again want for comfort. My money seemed pleasant to me, for if men won theirs by brains or industry, I had won mine by sterner methods, for I had staked against it my life. I sat alone in the railway carriage and cried with pure thankfulness..."
And by the way, he does much good with his cash:)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 29, 2025
Despite the title, Prester John doesn't put in an appearance in this book, but his necklace / collar of 55 rubies does.
In South Africa, a man is aiming to lead an uprising against the whites, using the example of Prester John to inspire his followers.
After the death of his father, David Crawfurd leaves Scotland to start earning a living as a shopkeeper in a place called Blauwildebeestefontein. Once settled in, David resolves to start another shop in Umvelos further north. Having travelled up country, David determines to discover a place called Rooirand and eventually reaches a plateau with a lake and a strange, mysterious air about it.
A colonial officer called Captain Arcoll comes across David and tells him a tale about an imminent uprising led by a charismatic man called Laputa, whom David ran across a few years earlier in Scotland and also on the boat to South Africa. His 'assistant' is a thieving man called Henriques who is not interested in anything other than stealing those rubies.
David does a lot of tearing around trying to resist the uprising, helped by his fierce dog called Colin. Not everyone makes it to the end of the book.
Does David succeed in his resistance with the help of Captain Arcoll or does Laputa become the new Prester John? Does Henriques steal the rubies?
Well, that would be telling...
In South Africa, a man is aiming to lead an uprising against the whites, using the example of Prester John to inspire his followers.
After the death of his father, David Crawfurd leaves Scotland to start earning a living as a shopkeeper in a place called Blauwildebeestefontein. Once settled in, David resolves to start another shop in Umvelos further north. Having travelled up country, David determines to discover a place called Rooirand and eventually reaches a plateau with a lake and a strange, mysterious air about it.
A colonial officer called Captain Arcoll comes across David and tells him a tale about an imminent uprising led by a charismatic man called Laputa, whom David ran across a few years earlier in Scotland and also on the boat to South Africa. His 'assistant' is a thieving man called Henriques who is not interested in anything other than stealing those rubies.
David does a lot of tearing around trying to resist the uprising, helped by his fierce dog called Colin. Not everyone makes it to the end of the book.
Does David succeed in his resistance with the help of Captain Arcoll or does Laputa become the new Prester John? Does Henriques steal the rubies?
Well, that would be telling...
January 21, 2017
John, darling - I wish I could travel back in time and shake that racist/imperialist nonsense out of you, because then we'd have a cracking boy's adventure story, right up there with Stevenson's Treasure Island and Kipling's Kim. You are one of my favorite storytellers: anyone who reads Ian Fleming, Ken Follett or Jeffrey Archer should know your books. The 39 Steps and John McNab are
Edwardian entertainment at its best. And Prester John? You brilliantly mix the medieval myth about the great Nestorian Christian king with the British fear of a pan-African uprising. You also have a wonderful teenage hero, intrepid, impulsive. You add a gorgeous setting - and for a touch of excitement, you throw in the Queen of Sheba's fabulous ruby necklace. You even like and admire John Laputa, the leader of the uprising. Damn, damn, so close to perfection! Interestingly, Rider Haggard does just the same in his King Solomon's Mines. Someone needs to write a thesis on British authors' love affair with the Rousseau- inspired noble savage of Africa.
Edwardian entertainment at its best. And Prester John? You brilliantly mix the medieval myth about the great Nestorian Christian king with the British fear of a pan-African uprising. You also have a wonderful teenage hero, intrepid, impulsive. You add a gorgeous setting - and for a touch of excitement, you throw in the Queen of Sheba's fabulous ruby necklace. You even like and admire John Laputa, the leader of the uprising. Damn, damn, so close to perfection! Interestingly, Rider Haggard does just the same in his King Solomon's Mines. Someone needs to write a thesis on British authors' love affair with the Rousseau- inspired noble savage of Africa.
March 5, 2022
Man...I tried to make allowances for the time, but the paternalistic racial vainglory rooted in nonsense about the curse of Ham was just plain cringey. Also cringey was the conflation of Calvinism with fatalism. No wonder men like Chesterton rejected the doctrine so severely if this was the prevailing characterization of it even among its proponents in his day.
That stuff aside, looking just at the story, this sort of thing just isn't my cup of tea. It's a boy book, and I ain't a boy. I realized that the big disconnect for me comes in my absolute inability to visualize descriptions of adventure, resulting in my losing track of what's going on. On the other hand, I took a break last night to watch a rom com, which I had no trouble following, but it was indubitably stupider than this book. I recognize Buchan's storytelling as a good specimen of its kind...it's just not a kind I'm ever going to love.
The reader was well suited to the book.
That stuff aside, looking just at the story, this sort of thing just isn't my cup of tea. It's a boy book, and I ain't a boy. I realized that the big disconnect for me comes in my absolute inability to visualize descriptions of adventure, resulting in my losing track of what's going on. On the other hand, I took a break last night to watch a rom com, which I had no trouble following, but it was indubitably stupider than this book. I recognize Buchan's storytelling as a good specimen of its kind...it's just not a kind I'm ever going to love.
The reader was well suited to the book.
April 20, 2013
John Buchan writes an exciting, fast-paced 'thriller' which is full of his love for the Scottish and African landscapes. His hero, David Crawfurd, is a million miles away from the hero of modern movies: he gets tired and hurt to the point that he cries, and there's never any suggestion that he's invulnerable. As a relaxing read to pass the time I would give this four stars. But ...
It's a great big 'But'. Prester John was published in 1910 and its attitude to issues of race is appalling. But is this the attitude of Buchan or of his characters? The first example of racism that took my breath away was a description of an African preacher by a twelve-year-old Scottish boy:
"'A nigger,' he said, 'a great black chap as big as your father, Archie.' He seemed to have banged the bookboard with some effect, and had kept Tam, for once in his life, awake. He had preached about the heathen in Africa, and how a black man was as good as a white man in the sight of God, and he had forecast a day when the negroes would have something to teach the British in the way of civilization. So at any rate ran the account of Tam Dyke, who did not share the preacher's views. 'It's all nonsense, Davie. The Bible says that the children of Ham were to be our servants. If I were the minister I wouldn't let a nigger into the pulpit. I wouldn't let him farther than the Sabbath school.'" (pp. 13-14)
That's obviously the twelve-year-old speaking, and not Buchan. But the next one is in the words of the narrator, nineteen-year-old David:
"I blush to-day to think of the stuff I talked. First I made him sit on a chair opposite me, a thing no white man in the country would have done. Then I told him affectionately that I liked natives, that they were fine fellows and better men than the dirty whites round about. I explained that I was fresh from England, and believed in equal rights for all men, white or coloured. God forgive me, but I think I said I hoped to see the day when Africa would belong once more to its rightful masters." (pp. 102-103)
I'm pretty sure God would forgive David for saying that he supported African majority rule, but that isn't what David is asking forgiveness for. For him the idea of Africans ruling themselves, and sitting with white men as equals, is preposterous. Again, is this Buchan or his character?
The reason I wonder this is because the Rev. Laputa, David Crawfurd's African adversary, is the real hero of the book. He is the 'Prester John' figure after whom the book is named. I can imagine the book being rewritten to make this clear, in a time when an African man calling on God to help him free his people wouldn't be seen as so appalling:
"He prayed — prayed as I never heard man pray before — and to the God of Israel! It was no heathen fetich he was invoking, but the God of whom he had often preached in Christian kirks. I recognized texts from Isaiah and the Psalms and the Gospels, and very especially from the two last chapters of Revelation. He pled with God to forget the sins of his people, to recall the bondage of Zion. It was amazing to hear these bloodthirsty savages consecrated by their leader to the meek service of Christ. An enthusiast may deceive himself, and I did not question his sincerity. I knew his heart, black with all the lusts of paganism. I knew that his purpose was to deluge the land with blood. But I knew also that in his eyes his mission was divine, and that he felt behind him all the armies of Heaven." (pp. 126-127)
So, could Buchan be writing a story about an African hero, whose heroism is partly disguised by the prejudices of the young narrator? I could argue that right up until the end of the book, in which the narrator writes about 'the white man's burden' in such Kiplingesque terms that I can't help but think he's reflecting the mind of his creator:
"I knew then the meaning of the white man's duty. He has to take all risks, recking nothing of his life or his fortunes, and well content to find his reward in the fulfilment of his task. That is the difference between white and black, the gift of responsibility, the power of being in a little way a king; and so long as we know this and practise it, we will rule not in Africa alone but wherever there are dark men who live only for the day and their own bellies." (p. 238)
So, only two stars for Prester John, for the writing and the heroism of Laputa. I'm glad to have read this, but I don't think I'll reread it.
It's a great big 'But'. Prester John was published in 1910 and its attitude to issues of race is appalling. But is this the attitude of Buchan or of his characters? The first example of racism that took my breath away was a description of an African preacher by a twelve-year-old Scottish boy:
"'A nigger,' he said, 'a great black chap as big as your father, Archie.' He seemed to have banged the bookboard with some effect, and had kept Tam, for once in his life, awake. He had preached about the heathen in Africa, and how a black man was as good as a white man in the sight of God, and he had forecast a day when the negroes would have something to teach the British in the way of civilization. So at any rate ran the account of Tam Dyke, who did not share the preacher's views. 'It's all nonsense, Davie. The Bible says that the children of Ham were to be our servants. If I were the minister I wouldn't let a nigger into the pulpit. I wouldn't let him farther than the Sabbath school.'" (pp. 13-14)
That's obviously the twelve-year-old speaking, and not Buchan. But the next one is in the words of the narrator, nineteen-year-old David:
"I blush to-day to think of the stuff I talked. First I made him sit on a chair opposite me, a thing no white man in the country would have done. Then I told him affectionately that I liked natives, that they were fine fellows and better men than the dirty whites round about. I explained that I was fresh from England, and believed in equal rights for all men, white or coloured. God forgive me, but I think I said I hoped to see the day when Africa would belong once more to its rightful masters." (pp. 102-103)
I'm pretty sure God would forgive David for saying that he supported African majority rule, but that isn't what David is asking forgiveness for. For him the idea of Africans ruling themselves, and sitting with white men as equals, is preposterous. Again, is this Buchan or his character?
The reason I wonder this is because the Rev. Laputa, David Crawfurd's African adversary, is the real hero of the book. He is the 'Prester John' figure after whom the book is named. I can imagine the book being rewritten to make this clear, in a time when an African man calling on God to help him free his people wouldn't be seen as so appalling:
"He prayed — prayed as I never heard man pray before — and to the God of Israel! It was no heathen fetich he was invoking, but the God of whom he had often preached in Christian kirks. I recognized texts from Isaiah and the Psalms and the Gospels, and very especially from the two last chapters of Revelation. He pled with God to forget the sins of his people, to recall the bondage of Zion. It was amazing to hear these bloodthirsty savages consecrated by their leader to the meek service of Christ. An enthusiast may deceive himself, and I did not question his sincerity. I knew his heart, black with all the lusts of paganism. I knew that his purpose was to deluge the land with blood. But I knew also that in his eyes his mission was divine, and that he felt behind him all the armies of Heaven." (pp. 126-127)
So, could Buchan be writing a story about an African hero, whose heroism is partly disguised by the prejudices of the young narrator? I could argue that right up until the end of the book, in which the narrator writes about 'the white man's burden' in such Kiplingesque terms that I can't help but think he's reflecting the mind of his creator:
"I knew then the meaning of the white man's duty. He has to take all risks, recking nothing of his life or his fortunes, and well content to find his reward in the fulfilment of his task. That is the difference between white and black, the gift of responsibility, the power of being in a little way a king; and so long as we know this and practise it, we will rule not in Africa alone but wherever there are dark men who live only for the day and their own bellies." (p. 238)
So, only two stars for Prester John, for the writing and the heroism of Laputa. I'm glad to have read this, but I don't think I'll reread it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 31, 2009
My fascination with John Buchan is growing thin. Prester John still has all the means of inspiration for the boy adventurer--acts of bravery told with a controlled and admirable dose of modesty, detailed strategies made on the fly, acknowledgement of missteps and miscalculations always righted through sheer will, and a straightforward mission that doesn’t leave the young hero room for doubting his sense of right.
The only problem is that Buchan’s love-fest with the “white man’s gift of responsibility” and his scoffing at the misguided, then dastardly, idea of African for Africans doesn’t hold. And I’m not just talking about 21st century readers with views enlightened by history or reflection, or even those of his contemporaries who took issue with this view. Change the race, the history, the planet even and it still doesn’t hold. Buchan went to some lengths to create a worthy adversary in Laputa, the man who would take on the mantle of kingship for Africa and easily lead the masses to take back their land. And, given that it’s a simple adventure story, he did a pretty good job with Laputo, so much so that you trust and admire him for all but a few moments of perfidy. The purported hero, young David Crawfurd, admires him, too, and longs to follow him at times, were it not for his evil plan to deny Africans civilization (oh, and his somewhat paganistic strain of Christianity). Unless the reader is predisposed to assuming that “dark men who live only for the day and their own bellies” are incapable of rule and that burning powder should not be a part of any Christian rite--which, of course, his intended audience was--you never get any very convincing argument for why Laputo and his uprising should be put down.
For anyone who might not have noticed, this is pretty much the same plot as Greenmantle: the ignorant, easily swayed masses of the Arabs/Africans, although filled with some good people who could be set right, are a tinderbox just waiting for one great leader and by crushing that one leader (inevitably someone who has reached such heights by long study in the west) everyone will just settle down. I guess it worked for Buchan as an easy-to-convey scheme from which to weave a story, and he did a much better job with it in Greenmantle. Me, I think I’ll take a break from Buchan for awhile. He’s definitely inspired me to spend more time hiking and scrambling up and down rocks, even without the satisfaction of putting civilization to rights.
The only problem is that Buchan’s love-fest with the “white man’s gift of responsibility” and his scoffing at the misguided, then dastardly, idea of African for Africans doesn’t hold. And I’m not just talking about 21st century readers with views enlightened by history or reflection, or even those of his contemporaries who took issue with this view. Change the race, the history, the planet even and it still doesn’t hold. Buchan went to some lengths to create a worthy adversary in Laputa, the man who would take on the mantle of kingship for Africa and easily lead the masses to take back their land. And, given that it’s a simple adventure story, he did a pretty good job with Laputo, so much so that you trust and admire him for all but a few moments of perfidy. The purported hero, young David Crawfurd, admires him, too, and longs to follow him at times, were it not for his evil plan to deny Africans civilization (oh, and his somewhat paganistic strain of Christianity). Unless the reader is predisposed to assuming that “dark men who live only for the day and their own bellies” are incapable of rule and that burning powder should not be a part of any Christian rite--which, of course, his intended audience was--you never get any very convincing argument for why Laputo and his uprising should be put down.
For anyone who might not have noticed, this is pretty much the same plot as Greenmantle: the ignorant, easily swayed masses of the Arabs/Africans, although filled with some good people who could be set right, are a tinderbox just waiting for one great leader and by crushing that one leader (inevitably someone who has reached such heights by long study in the west) everyone will just settle down. I guess it worked for Buchan as an easy-to-convey scheme from which to weave a story, and he did a much better job with it in Greenmantle. Me, I think I’ll take a break from Buchan for awhile. He’s definitely inspired me to spend more time hiking and scrambling up and down rocks, even without the satisfaction of putting civilization to rights.
September 3, 2018
Prester John is the story of David Crawfurd, a young scotsman who is sent to South Africa for work, and becomes embroiled in uprisings of the native black South Africans against the whites.
I love Buchan's writing style. It's terse but expressive, compact, so that a massive amount of detail is present in a short space. His descriptions are wonderful, with language that is sometimes startling and always original.
One warning. Some of the attitudes and language of the book might come off as racist to the modern ear. There's talk of the 'white man's burden', etc. That was just the way things were back then. You'll have to look past some of that if you want to enjoy the book.
I love Buchan's writing style. It's terse but expressive, compact, so that a massive amount of detail is present in a short space. His descriptions are wonderful, with language that is sometimes startling and always original.
One warning. Some of the attitudes and language of the book might come off as racist to the modern ear. There's talk of the 'white man's burden', etc. That was just the way things were back then. You'll have to look past some of that if you want to enjoy the book.
November 21, 2014
Not one of my favorites of Buchan's. The only whole book set in southern Africa. The cast of villains betrays more than most of Buchan's books the author's contemptuous attitude toward most (not all) persons not of the Anglo-Saxon race. I can give old books some leeway on racism and snobbery, but this one needs too much leeway to get four stars. Gets three for an exciting adventure with a markdown.
May 25, 2016
Another "classic" unpalatable to me because of its orientalist attitude.
February 22, 2021
Folly - folly, madness, and despair!
"I had no exhilaration in my quest. I do not think I had even much hope, for something had gone numb and cold in me and killed my youth. I told myself that treasure-hunting was an enterprise accursed of God, and that I should most likely die. That Laputa and Henriques would die I was fully certain. The three of us would leave our bones to bleach among the diamonds, and in a little the Prester's collar would glow amid a little heap of human dust. I was quite convinced of all this, and quite apathetic. It really did not matter so long as I came up with Laputa and Henriques, and settled scores with them. That mattered everything in the world, for it was my destiny."
Laputa's lonely, bitter life, not belonging to either world, lived to the fullest in futility. Henrique's pointless, avaricious life wasted. Arcoll's marvellous talents spent brilliantly in absurd, misguided pursuit. And Davie's youth spent and spirit crushed, as he dies several deaths before the age of 20, going from an idealistic, stout-hearted colonialist self-satisfied in his views on right and wrong to a pathetic, spectral, blue-faced "treasure hunter" who knows he's "accursed" and doesn't care anymore if he lives or dies, or what happens to his country.
"'I have laid up for you treasure in heaven,' he said. 'Your earthly treasure is in the boxes, but soon you will be seeking incorruptible jewels in the deep deep water. It is cool and quiet down there, and you forget the hunger and pain.'"
...and the countless African lives arbitrarily tossed about, ranging between the disposable tribesmen scorned and used up and thrown away by anyone and everyone in power, to the absurd existence of the disposable black spies working for Britain. Fittingly for the imperialistically delusional story: the only loyal life given proper homage and burial in the story is Davie's faithful mutt of a dog.
All set to the gradual, and simultaneous, unravelling and disintegration of the enterprise at hand: "rule" and "trading", as the British and Portuguese ravage and plunder the continent for everything it has, while decrying and condemning any additional "illegal" diamond trading carried out by its subjects. Law and order, justice and nobility, loyalty and obeisance to country and God. As everyone who has written about colonialism has noted: how it dehumanises and makes absurd both the oppressed and the oppressor. Ideals shattered, justice outraged, lives slaughtered, and lives wasted. Boys' adventure stories!
"'No one will come after me. My race is doomed, and in a little they will have forgotten my name. I alone could have saved them. Now they go the way of the rest, and the warriors of John become drudges and slaves.'"
. . . Davie recovers; limps back to his own country, cash in hand; reflects, and remarks on the course of history and on how things have turned out in the proper way, with the civilised white world back in control and guiding and educating the savage natives. The 20-year-old narrator - having gone through a million traumatic events and revolutions of ideas, conscience, loyalty, morality, health, and worldview - convinces himself it was all through the grace and guidance of God. Everyone is happy. Queasy, convalescent, prematurely aged and retired, and happy, with a grimy taste in the mouth. Is the book a disgrace to literary history, for telling an imperialist narrative filled with dismissive and divisive descriptions, slurs, and epithets directed toward other races (and other European nations) by its various and sundry characters? No - aside from being extremely well written, paced, and plotted, as is the wont of Buchan - it is fascinating, instructive, and a deadly warning, for precisely all of these reasons.
Bitter, bitter folly!
". . . and in that green haven of flowers and ferns I was struck sharply with a sense of folly. Here were we wretched creatures of men making for each other's throats, and outraging the good earth which God had made so fair a habitation."
"I had no exhilaration in my quest. I do not think I had even much hope, for something had gone numb and cold in me and killed my youth. I told myself that treasure-hunting was an enterprise accursed of God, and that I should most likely die. That Laputa and Henriques would die I was fully certain. The three of us would leave our bones to bleach among the diamonds, and in a little the Prester's collar would glow amid a little heap of human dust. I was quite convinced of all this, and quite apathetic. It really did not matter so long as I came up with Laputa and Henriques, and settled scores with them. That mattered everything in the world, for it was my destiny."
Laputa's lonely, bitter life, not belonging to either world, lived to the fullest in futility. Henrique's pointless, avaricious life wasted. Arcoll's marvellous talents spent brilliantly in absurd, misguided pursuit. And Davie's youth spent and spirit crushed, as he dies several deaths before the age of 20, going from an idealistic, stout-hearted colonialist self-satisfied in his views on right and wrong to a pathetic, spectral, blue-faced "treasure hunter" who knows he's "accursed" and doesn't care anymore if he lives or dies, or what happens to his country.
"'I have laid up for you treasure in heaven,' he said. 'Your earthly treasure is in the boxes, but soon you will be seeking incorruptible jewels in the deep deep water. It is cool and quiet down there, and you forget the hunger and pain.'"
...and the countless African lives arbitrarily tossed about, ranging between the disposable tribesmen scorned and used up and thrown away by anyone and everyone in power, to the absurd existence of the disposable black spies working for Britain. Fittingly for the imperialistically delusional story: the only loyal life given proper homage and burial in the story is Davie's faithful mutt of a dog.
All set to the gradual, and simultaneous, unravelling and disintegration of the enterprise at hand: "rule" and "trading", as the British and Portuguese ravage and plunder the continent for everything it has, while decrying and condemning any additional "illegal" diamond trading carried out by its subjects. Law and order, justice and nobility, loyalty and obeisance to country and God. As everyone who has written about colonialism has noted: how it dehumanises and makes absurd both the oppressed and the oppressor. Ideals shattered, justice outraged, lives slaughtered, and lives wasted. Boys' adventure stories!
"'No one will come after me. My race is doomed, and in a little they will have forgotten my name. I alone could have saved them. Now they go the way of the rest, and the warriors of John become drudges and slaves.'"
. . . Davie recovers; limps back to his own country, cash in hand; reflects, and remarks on the course of history and on how things have turned out in the proper way, with the civilised white world back in control and guiding and educating the savage natives. The 20-year-old narrator - having gone through a million traumatic events and revolutions of ideas, conscience, loyalty, morality, health, and worldview - convinces himself it was all through the grace and guidance of God. Everyone is happy. Queasy, convalescent, prematurely aged and retired, and happy, with a grimy taste in the mouth. Is the book a disgrace to literary history, for telling an imperialist narrative filled with dismissive and divisive descriptions, slurs, and epithets directed toward other races (and other European nations) by its various and sundry characters? No - aside from being extremely well written, paced, and plotted, as is the wont of Buchan - it is fascinating, instructive, and a deadly warning, for precisely all of these reasons.
Bitter, bitter folly!
". . . and in that green haven of flowers and ferns I was struck sharply with a sense of folly. Here were we wretched creatures of men making for each other's throats, and outraging the good earth which God had made so fair a habitation."
July 29, 2023
Hard to rate this very old book that originally was my aunt's, then my father's, and now mine. Written in times when the white man believed himself to be the saviour of all people's who have brown or black skin, it is geared toward younger readers of adventure. Heavy racism is evident from the first few pages. Yet that being said, it is a great adventure story with a happy ending (for the white men anyway). I think I liked it merely because my aunt and father likely read this together as children and that fact alone gave me great pleasure in the reading. If you like old good stories and can take the rampant racism with a nod to the past, give it a go. Three stars but probably less so because of the racism and colonialism throughout.
September 18, 2017
John Buchan, best known as the author of The Thirty-Nine Steps, wrote about 27 other novels (and a great deal more beside). I picked this up at random because I liked the edition which includes some illustrations and I like the myth of Prester John.
It is more or less a Boy's Own colonial African adventure story, in the mold of H. Rider Haggard. A young Scotsman goes off to South Africa to try to establish himself as a merchant. A mysterious black African preacher who our hero had observed in some distinctly un-Christian behavior in his hometown some years before coincidentally turns up on his southward ship. A plot is revealed and foiled! Colonialist racial attitudes are in full effect.
It is more or less a Boy's Own colonial African adventure story, in the mold of H. Rider Haggard. A young Scotsman goes off to South Africa to try to establish himself as a merchant. A mysterious black African preacher who our hero had observed in some distinctly un-Christian behavior in his hometown some years before coincidentally turns up on his southward ship. A plot is revealed and foiled! Colonialist racial attitudes are in full effect.
May 9, 2023
This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and it is incredibly well written and a great adventure. I share others’ concerns about the colonialist attitudes that pervade the book, and I think I wouldn’t just hand it to my boys without some discussion around that. However, it is an excellent example of attitudes as they were, and as another reviewer pointed out, this raises important questions about things we may be completely blind to in the culture we live in, things that future generations will rightly condemn.
I look forward to trying more books by the same author.
I look forward to trying more books by the same author.
February 20, 2024
Problematic racism and colonialism in a pretty good adventure story set in South Africa of 1910
March 29, 2020
"WARNING **** this book was written in 1910 so contains language that today can only be considered racist. Although I am sure was not the intent of the author.
David Crawfurd was 19 years old when he interrupted his college life in England to move to Africa in a bid to earn money and after the death of his father. Through connections, he is given a role as an assistant shopkeeper in the town of Blaauwildebeestefontein, arriving to find the shopkeeper is a lousy drunk.
Sure that he has been sent to 'clean the place up' and prove himself, he will be replacing this man within the coming months. Blaauwildebeestefontein is a town of very few Caucasians and David meets and befriends Wardlaw, the town's schoolmaster. All is not as it seems in town with rumours swirling abo
ut stolen diamonds from the nearby mines and unrest between the native African tribes and their white rulers.
When David was a young boy he and his friends stumbled across a tall Black man dancing around a fire, on a beach, in an apparent voodoo ceremony. This man is coincidently on the ship that David takes from England to Africa and has an acquaintance, a Portuguese man, that David does not know. He thinks nothing more of this until he finds his drunken storekeeper secretly meeting the two men, all around the time of the diamond and uprising rumours.
What follows is an adventurous story of voodoo magic, war and historical myth, the basis for which is Prester John, the original Zulu snake chief who once ruled these lands.
I enjoyed this book in most parts although I did find the terminology to be offensive. I understand (as stated earlier) that this was just the language of the day. This book is only 203 pages long but I found it really could have
ended with the 'final climatic scene'. Instead, it continues on in way of explanations that I found unnecessary and therefore I had the unique experience of rushing through the first 170 pages only to really struggle with the last 30."
David Crawfurd was 19 years old when he interrupted his college life in England to move to Africa in a bid to earn money and after the death of his father. Through connections, he is given a role as an assistant shopkeeper in the town of Blaauwildebeestefontein, arriving to find the shopkeeper is a lousy drunk.
Sure that he has been sent to 'clean the place up' and prove himself, he will be replacing this man within the coming months. Blaauwildebeestefontein is a town of very few Caucasians and David meets and befriends Wardlaw, the town's schoolmaster. All is not as it seems in town with rumours swirling abo
ut stolen diamonds from the nearby mines and unrest between the native African tribes and their white rulers.
When David was a young boy he and his friends stumbled across a tall Black man dancing around a fire, on a beach, in an apparent voodoo ceremony. This man is coincidently on the ship that David takes from England to Africa and has an acquaintance, a Portuguese man, that David does not know. He thinks nothing more of this until he finds his drunken storekeeper secretly meeting the two men, all around the time of the diamond and uprising rumours.
What follows is an adventurous story of voodoo magic, war and historical myth, the basis for which is Prester John, the original Zulu snake chief who once ruled these lands.
I enjoyed this book in most parts although I did find the terminology to be offensive. I understand (as stated earlier) that this was just the language of the day. This book is only 203 pages long but I found it really could have
ended with the 'final climatic scene'. Instead, it continues on in way of explanations that I found unnecessary and therefore I had the unique experience of rushing through the first 170 pages only to really struggle with the last 30."
July 22, 2025
What a load of old codswallop. Buchan an unashamed apologist for Empire and a racist (in sheep's clothing - at times) dashes off a boy's adventure yarn which is paced fairly well, I must admit. So it rollicks along cheerfully as our hero, a boy of 19 sent out from Scotland to run a store in South Africa in the middle of nowhere, becomes involved in a battle of good against evil (or white against black). Before you can blink an eye he's involved in a native uprising with a charismatic African by the name of John Laputa. (He's met him before believe it or not in Scotland on a beach in his hometown). There's a very silly sub plot about a necklace of rubies which Laputa can only employ at a certain stage in his uprising, until then he cannot fight back against the colonialists which allows our hero a large amount of leeway to win out.
So far so bad, the novel is shot throughout with a strong vein of unabashed racism and let's face it is a vehicle for propagandistic pamphleteering for the British Empire. Buchan did very well for himself ending up as Governor-General of Canada.
I leave you with this paragraph from the end of the book.
"That is the difference between white and black, the gift of responsibility, the power of being in a little way a king; and so long as we know this and practise it, we will rule not in Africa alone but wherever there are dark men who live only for the day and their own bellies. I learned much of the untold grievances of the natives ( Alert - racist in sheep's clothing here), and saw something of their strange and twisted reasoning."
Apparently Jomo Kenyatta read this book while in prison , I can only imagine what he thought of it!
So far so bad, the novel is shot throughout with a strong vein of unabashed racism and let's face it is a vehicle for propagandistic pamphleteering for the British Empire. Buchan did very well for himself ending up as Governor-General of Canada.
I leave you with this paragraph from the end of the book.
"That is the difference between white and black, the gift of responsibility, the power of being in a little way a king; and so long as we know this and practise it, we will rule not in Africa alone but wherever there are dark men who live only for the day and their own bellies. I learned much of the untold grievances of the natives ( Alert - racist in sheep's clothing here), and saw something of their strange and twisted reasoning."
Apparently Jomo Kenyatta read this book while in prison , I can only imagine what he thought of it!
February 4, 2015
John Buchan writes adventure stories like none other; i.e. superbly well. The story of Prester John may be as politically incorrect nowadays as most of H Rider Haggard's output; but that doesn't prevent the pace, imagination, content, and sheer descriptive brilliance of his storytelling from totally wrapping up and enthralling his 21st century reader.
This is a book that I prefer to read in hardcopy; mine is a pocket sized Thomas Nelson green cloth hardback of 1945 (first published in this series 1938). It's printed in a visually pleasing typeface (not identified). The frontpiece verse is a charming in memoriam compliment to (I think) Sir Lionel Phillips, 1st Baronet (6 August 1855–2 July 1936) who was a South African mining magnate and politician.
"Time, they say, must the best of us capture,
And travel and battle and gems and gold
No more can kindle the ancient rapture,
For even the youngest of hearts grows old.
But in you, I think, the boy is not over;
So take this medley of ways and wars
As the gift of a friend and a fellow lover
Of the fairest country under the stars."
JB
This is a book that I prefer to read in hardcopy; mine is a pocket sized Thomas Nelson green cloth hardback of 1945 (first published in this series 1938). It's printed in a visually pleasing typeface (not identified). The frontpiece verse is a charming in memoriam compliment to (I think) Sir Lionel Phillips, 1st Baronet (6 August 1855–2 July 1936) who was a South African mining magnate and politician.
"Time, they say, must the best of us capture,
And travel and battle and gems and gold
No more can kindle the ancient rapture,
For even the youngest of hearts grows old.
But in you, I think, the boy is not over;
So take this medley of ways and wars
As the gift of a friend and a fellow lover
Of the fairest country under the stars."
JB
July 4, 2016
As a schoolboy in the 1960s I remember the thrill whenever our English teacher Mr Hogan, a bearded man with an American accent, came into the classroom and said "get out your 'Prester Johns' boys!" I was probably about eleven years old, and hearing this book read aloud was one of the rare pleasures of the school day. However, I could remember nothing of the story, so I have just re-read it. The first thing that must be said is that it makes an unquestioning assumption of the superiority of 'the white man' in Africa, and is filled with casually racist remarks about 'the blacks' which strike an unwelcome note in today's world. Even the book's single Portuguese character does not get away without some racial slurs on the Portuguese race! Putting this to one side, the book is a 'boy's adventure' type narrative, very well done, in which the nineteen year-old Scottish protagonist is constantly put into tight spots (captured by murderous 'Kaffirs'; trapped in a cave from which the only escape is by a death-defying rock-climb, etc) and extricates himself by a mixture of luck, bravery, skill, and sharp wits. I enjoyed the ride.
May 21, 2016
Enthralling adventure story about a Scottish teenager who travels to South Africa in the early 1900's to take a job as storekeeper in a remote trading post. He finds himself at several strategic and mystical junctures leading up to a great multi-tribe uprising against white European colonists. The African chief, John Laputa, was a charismatic warrior king, who had been educated in Great Britain and was a celebrated Christian minister there. We participate in many thrilling adventure chases in the wild country, deal with nasty villains, narrow escapes, impossible climbs up rock walks, a secret cave of massive proportions with a hidden switch to open a boulder door, stores of diamonds to fund the uprising, a valuable and ancient ruby necklace (the purported talisman of an ancient Ethiopian King in Laputa's bloodline), and the courageous love of a gigantic dog.
Published in 1910, the racism of the time and culture is evident. I listened to this novel as a free audio download from Librivox.org
Published in 1910, the racism of the time and culture is evident. I listened to this novel as a free audio download from Librivox.org
October 31, 2017
Sure, it's racist, in that old-school British Empire kind of way, but if you didn't notice or hadn't paid attention to it compared to others of the era, it's down-right progressive.
If the people complaining about the racist language paid attention they'd see the real crime is one of white man's not quite burden, but something akin to that, like progressive Imperialism.
Aside from that, it's a pretty good adventure yarn, the hero wins in the end. If there'd been a girl, he'd have gotten her. His success was more a combination of his loyal dog's deeds and bad timing on the part of his opponents, than any clever bit of strategy. Still, I enjoyed it.
If the people complaining about the racist language paid attention they'd see the real crime is one of white man's not quite burden, but something akin to that, like progressive Imperialism.
Aside from that, it's a pretty good adventure yarn, the hero wins in the end. If there'd been a girl, he'd have gotten her. His success was more a combination of his loyal dog's deeds and bad timing on the part of his opponents, than any clever bit of strategy. Still, I enjoyed it.
February 28, 2013
Taken in its time, this book has much to offer the student of social history. Buchan was the ultra-imperialist and arch racist. Thus, he takes for granted that his pre- First World War readers will automatically accept the inferiority of African, Dutch, Portuguese and other non-British characters. Otherwise, the quality of the plot and storyline are of the best ‘ripping yarn’ quality. If the basis of the plot were (as they almost certainly have been) transposed to suit a more PC setting, it would make for a Hollywood success.
January 29, 2021
A fantastic tale of high adventure, in the best of spirits! Prester John, and perhaps John Buchan himself has copped unfair criticism for being a blatantly racist book, but is it really?
With the briefest of exceptions, and perhaps one dubious paragraph, I couldn't help but feel the author greatly admired the African natives. I read Prester John without the sensitivities of the 21st century mindset, and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. The great untouched wilds of Africa probably still exist today, I can only imagine how unspoilt it must've been a century ago.
With the briefest of exceptions, and perhaps one dubious paragraph, I couldn't help but feel the author greatly admired the African natives. I read Prester John without the sensitivities of the 21st century mindset, and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. The great untouched wilds of Africa probably still exist today, I can only imagine how unspoilt it must've been a century ago.
October 12, 2016
Definitely not a 21st century book. Avoid this book if you are easily offended by racism or if you cannot read books without taking them out of their historical context
December 1, 2017
Amazing adventure!
From start to finish an amazing adventure! Historical fiction that has brought a mythical priest king Prester John into a story of the early 20 th century.
From start to finish an amazing adventure! Historical fiction that has brought a mythical priest king Prester John into a story of the early 20 th century.
January 6, 2018
I picked this up from Audible when I had a hankering for a good old fashioned boy's adventure tale. This book definitely delivers on that front, but I have to say I had a hard time getting into it.
It tells the story of a young David Carwfurd of Kirkcaple, Scotland, and how he gets mixed up with with an African preacher named John Laputa, whom he first encounters on his native Scottish coast. Crawfurd then finds himself in South Africa, a little older and now running a store in a place called Baluwildebeestefontein. Here he meets Laputa again and gets mixed up in his affairs. These seem to involve an illegal gem trade and the inciting of a revolt. Also mixed up in these affairs is a 'Portugoose' named Henriques, and on the side of all that is right and imperial, Captain Arcoll of the colonial forces and Crawfurd's trusty dog, Colin.
Prester John has a midling to good adventure story at its core, but with some flaws that mar the experience - fatally for some. For me, It didn't really capture my imagination. Part of this, I think, is because the characters are a little flat, and part of it is because the presentation of the novel from the viewpoint of Empire is pretty tired, now. The same story in the hands of an author like Chinua Achebe would have been far more interesting, I think. And the setting (so important a factor for me in my enjoyment of books) is also a little flat - sure, the author mentions several placenames with the word 'drift' in them, but that's not really enough to bring the book alive for me.
Another issue for me was that the narrator adopted a Scottish accent to tell the story (it's told in the first person as a memoir) and, while he did a passably good job, I think he was concentrating so much on keeping the accent correct that he didn't inject much in the way of feeling into the story, so the pacing seemed rather undramatic.
Lastly, I should mention that the narrative is quite racist, and there's a fairly liberal use of the N word at the beginning. Yes, it's a product of its time and I can accept that, but it still marrs the experience. It also completely fails the Bechdel test.
If you can get past all of the above, you might well enjoy it. Most of you, however, will probably be happy giving this one a miss. I'm filing this one under "I read it so you don't have to".
It tells the story of a young David Carwfurd of Kirkcaple, Scotland, and how he gets mixed up with with an African preacher named John Laputa, whom he first encounters on his native Scottish coast. Crawfurd then finds himself in South Africa, a little older and now running a store in a place called Baluwildebeestefontein. Here he meets Laputa again and gets mixed up in his affairs. These seem to involve an illegal gem trade and the inciting of a revolt. Also mixed up in these affairs is a 'Portugoose' named Henriques, and on the side of all that is right and imperial, Captain Arcoll of the colonial forces and Crawfurd's trusty dog, Colin.
Prester John has a midling to good adventure story at its core, but with some flaws that mar the experience - fatally for some. For me, It didn't really capture my imagination. Part of this, I think, is because the characters are a little flat, and part of it is because the presentation of the novel from the viewpoint of Empire is pretty tired, now. The same story in the hands of an author like Chinua Achebe would have been far more interesting, I think. And the setting (so important a factor for me in my enjoyment of books) is also a little flat - sure, the author mentions several placenames with the word 'drift' in them, but that's not really enough to bring the book alive for me.
Another issue for me was that the narrator adopted a Scottish accent to tell the story (it's told in the first person as a memoir) and, while he did a passably good job, I think he was concentrating so much on keeping the accent correct that he didn't inject much in the way of feeling into the story, so the pacing seemed rather undramatic.
Lastly, I should mention that the narrative is quite racist, and there's a fairly liberal use of the N word at the beginning. Yes, it's a product of its time and I can accept that, but it still marrs the experience. It also completely fails the Bechdel test.
If you can get past all of the above, you might well enjoy it. Most of you, however, will probably be happy giving this one a miss. I'm filing this one under "I read it so you don't have to".
February 13, 2026
I really enjoy John Buchan’s adventure stories, but this one is not only full of adventure, but many implausibilities and horrible colonial racism. David Crawfurd , the protagonist, is a 19 year old Scot, sent to rural South Africa to help run a store. Of course he’s hard working and inquisitive so not only gains his own store, but investigates the land and learns of a native uprising, led by Laputa, a statuesque Black man who has earned a British academic degree, is a Christian minister, and also hopes to unite a number of African tribes in throwing out the white invaders. I kept rooting for him and his men, who are often described as savages, yet praised for a variety of positive attributes. Crawfurd is obviously helping the white men and he does so by finding his way into a treasure cave, walking/running over 50 miles in the course of one night, scaling his way out of a dark lair with no entrance except the top of a sheer rock face, plus some fighting of various sorts. He has a lovely dog Colin, who loses his life while protecting Crawfurd from the evil Portuguese Henriques. In the end, Laputa jumps to his death, the native uprising is quelled, and the ending, supposed to be a happy one, is the creation of schools and trades for Africans so that parts of Africa now seem like Scotland.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2018
This book very much reminded me of H. Rider Haggard's "King Solomon's Mines", which I absolutely loved. It is full of mystery and action, set right in the heart of wild Africa. It is true that some of Buchan's language about the natives appears to be very racist and biased towards white people. However, we must remember that he wasn't speaking about blacks in general, but was referring mostly to the wild savages living and warring in Africa, much as an American would refer to the wild Indian "red skins" of a few hundred years ago. Buchan certainly isn't down on blacks in general. In the character of Laputa, for example, Buchan has given us an African who is highly admirable and unusual. He has great learning and wisdom, and, while a bit of a villain, is also a bit of a hero as well in the end. So I don't think that Buchan intended his language to express racism against all Africans, though he does appear to have a higher view of white people.
Anyways, the story itself is highly engaging and well worth the read. I'd definitely recommend it, especially if you love Buchan's or Haggard's other works.
Anyways, the story itself is highly engaging and well worth the read. I'd definitely recommend it, especially if you love Buchan's or Haggard's other works.
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