Sabre Squadron

Alms for Oblivion #3

by Simon Raven

When Professor Dortmund died in 1938, the work he left was incomprehensible. He might as well have been doing his scientific research in code. Now Daniel Mond, a young Cambridge academic, is in postwar Gottingen to try to unravel the Dortmund papers.Also in Gottingen is Major Giles Glastonbury s 10th Sabre Squadron of Earl Hamilton s Light Dragoons-maintaining the occupation and preparing for nuclear war.As Mond pries open the Pandora s Box left by Dortmund, both he and the soldiers of the Sabre Squadron find themselves in unimaginable danger... His whole sequence is marvellously witty, intelligent and entertaining SUNDAY TELEGRAPH With this new novel, the sabre squadron, Raven takes a remarkable step forward in the ranks of contemporary writers BBC An excellent piece of story-telling, crammed with comedy, suspense and action DAILY MAILIn this Panther edition, the novels of the Alms for Oblivion sequence are arranged in chronological order, though each is a self-contained story. The Sabre Squadron, set in 1952, is the third in the series.

Genres: Fiction

238 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1972

About the author

Simon Arthur Noël Raven (28 December 1927 – 12 May 2001) was an English novelist, essayist, dramatist and raconteur who, in a writing career of forty years, caused controversy, amusement and offence. His obituary in The Guardian noted that, "he combined elements of Flashman, Waugh's Captain Grimes and the Earl of Rochester", and that he reminded Noel Annan, his Cambridge tutor, of the young Guy Burgess.

Among the many things said about him, perhaps the most quoted was that he had "the mind of a cad and the pen of an angel". E W Swanton called Raven's cricket memoir Shadows on the Grass "the filthiest cricket book ever written". He has also been called "cynical" and "cold-blooded", his characters "guaranteed to behave badly under pressure; most of them are vile without any pressure at all". His unashamed credo was "a robust eighteenth-century paganism....allied to a deep contempt for the egalitarian code of post-war England"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_R...

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, rounded up.

After the first two volumes of Raven's magnum opus, I thought I had pretty much figured out where we were going with this series - only to be thrown a curveball with this third volume (both chronologically, which is how I'm reading them, and in publication order), which swerves from the usual Waugh-esque humorous exploits of a group of louche upper-class Englishmen, into a le Carré style espionage thriller. Not quite what was expected, and not as much to my liking as the other - but still a very compelling and fascinating glimpse into the beginnings of the Cold War. And since I read 200 pages of this in one day, it must have more than kept my attention.

Each volume centers on a different character, although some from the previous volumes make welcome re-appearances here (e.g., Fielding Gray from V.1). The MC here is one Daniel Mond, half Jewish mathematical wunderkind, who is dispatched to post-war Germany to study the, so far, inscrutable papers left behind by a genius who had been working on formulas for sub-atomic particles which might hold the key to new WMDs. Mond inexplicably falls in with the titular battalion but is constantly having to ward off nefarious factions wanting to pick his brains for their own purposes. I was thinking this was no more than a 3-star book, till the final unexpected sentence elevated it to at least a 3.5.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third novel in the 'Alms for Oblivion' both in terms of publication order or if you follow Simon Raven's later decision to organize the novels chronologically (see my footnote *1 below), it is also by far the best novel in the 'Alms for Oblivion' and shows (along with some of his earlier novels) that Raven had the potential to be a very good, if not great or front rank novelist. The strength of the novel is its army setting which Raven knew (that old saying about writing what you know may be a cliché but contains a lot of truth) and his central character Daniel Mond is neither drawn from the 'public school' classes nor is he treated with the dismissive contempt that Raven generally dishes out to all those who fall outside the charmed public school circle (not that Raven is in any way nicer to the his public school characters, most of them are grotesques - but in a more stylish and interesting way then his non-U characters. See my footnote *2 below). Daniel Mond is intelligent, likeable, fallible in many ways, but a man of completely upstanding character, he is, in the best sense of the word, a gentleman and behaves throughout, and particularly at the end in a way that brings a real credit and luster to the tired conventions and shilleboths that officers espouse and regiments are supposed to represent. He is a decent man who acts with honour because he is honourable and decent. It is there is his essence, to his finger tips, and he is someone you would be proud to know. He is foolish and not very worldly, he is easily fooled, but he knows right from wrong. It is amazing that Raven has created such a character but Mond does him proud and by his actions bring honour to old fashioned values that are supposed to be no longer relevant in the modern world.

If you read any of my other reviews of the other novels in the 'Alms for Oblivion' series you will know that I have a very jaundiced view of the novels so my words of praise are unusual. My praise raises this novel onto a totally different level to all the other novels in the series. It is not a perfect novel, there are flaws, but it is so far above so many of the other 'AfO' novels as well as any of his later novels that it can't but stand out. Raven had a considerable talent which is why I have given even his flawed novels three stars even though I thought he had wasted his talent and skills in lazy novels. This one redeems him and the series as a whole.

*1 For discussion of whether the novels should be read in publication order, the system I prefer, or in chronological order, the system adopted late in the day when the series was nearly complete please see my notes on the review of 'The Rich Pay Late' the first published volume in the series.
*2 'U' and 'Non-U' are very explicit class distinguishers which should be recognizable to any UK reader of my generation. For others I refer you to Wikipedia - although a very English classification in class terms it is a very useful one and has the advantage of brevity.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Sabre Squadron by Simon Raven

Nine out of 10





Having been enthused by the first two volumes of the roman fleuve Alms For Oblivion, respectively Fielding Grey http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/09/f... and Sound the Retreat http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/09/s... , yours truly has been less enthusiastic about The Sabre Squadron, perhaps or surely on reasons of too high expectations…there is a positive psychology rule or exercise that prompts one to lower one’s expectations.



It is very likely that the under signed has missed the greatness of this volume and he can only hope that the magic, glory of the first two instalments will be regained with the fourth part, The Rich Pay Late, which should be finished in about ten or twelve days’ time, given that the cherished books are spaced out, so that je ne m’etouffe with so much pleasure, but it could also be that the plot of the Sabre squadron seems quite farfetched…that last makes me pause, for we look at the world around and we need to stop saying this or that is impossible – unless, of course we consider those stupid conspiracy theories peddled by the members of the cult of the Very Stable Genius and the fool himself, regarding Qanon, the pandemic…these are monsters and the ultimate hypocrites, who had refused to even hear the Obama nominee, with eight months before the elections, and now that there are less than two months would go ahead and try to replace the notorious RBG in the next few weeks and I hope they fail.

The hero of this third part of the Alms for Oblivion is Daniel Mond, a phenomenal mathematician, with a German mother and a Jewish father (which would not make him Jewish for the ultraorthodox, since it is the mother that counts), who travels to Gottingen in Germany, in spite of apprehensions – indeed, he has a superior, very rare intelligence but he is a very tense, quite nervous individual…the fervor, anxiety probably goes along with that Beautiful Mind – to study the work of a deceased professor Dortmund, whose symbols and papers have not been successfully analyzed, but if deciphered by the very young protagonist, they could help him obtain his recognition and throw light on the research of others – one argument in his favor is that mathematicians do their best research when very young, before the age of 28, something I had heard before, maybe in the film Proof, with Anthony Hopkins and Gwyneth Paltrow (before her descent into strange endeavors, with her Goop brand)



He has to convince Roger Constable to approve his departure to Germany, the one who had been crucial in Fielding Grey, where he had appeared to encourage the main character of that first volume, that reapers here with the Sabre Squadron, only to let him down, after accepting his enrolment, because the mother would press frantically and viciously for his exclusion, following a gay affair which constable is not very interested in, but he nevertheless dislikes the treatment of the parent and finally lets Fielding Gray out in the cold…something that he looks like regretting at the time when this third piece takes place, in 1952…



Once in Germany, the hero meets with Aeneas von Bremke, the man that would supervise the department and keep an eye on Herr Mond, eventually we would find about his role as a two faced figure, the one that had tried to find the significance of the symbols and the research made by the late Dortmund without success, telling the visiting mathematician about his efforts and at one point warning him that the deceased had become very ill at one point and at least the second part of his work could well be meaningless, just the result of the wondering mind of a very sick scientist…though even this warning we would find is the result of psychological insight, meant to encourage the young guest to find ambition and determination within himself and readiness to prove Bremke wrong and solve the difficult mathematical challenges

One issue that this reader has had with the plot is that, though explained in simple terms, it is still difficult to grasp the significance of that the hero is doing, if not wholly incomprehensible – and it must be noted that the undersigned, out of the game as he had been for a few decades, since he had changed his career, had still been one of the best in mathematics, entering the Geophysics department of the university and for the first year when enrolled – furthermore, the idea that others had known about the Dortmund papers and had somehow anticipated that Daniel – winner of the Spinoza Prize as he was – would be very likely to solve the puzzle and thus they concoct a scheme to catch him looks somewhat preposterous to this reader.



Again, once such a statement is made, there is a rebound and then I think of the symbol of the age, the leader of a cult of Deplorables, the one who could have been called the leader of the free world, if he were not such a total disaster, and the sheer fact that he is up there and what, sixty million idiots are ready to vote and if he does not win, to take their many guns and kill for him is the Paradigm of the impossible that we can see, manifesting itself daily, with ever more ‘impossible’ insults, abuses, idiocies and more…

When he arrives in Gottingen, an American student of history, Earle Restarick, is there and he becomes very attached to Daniel Mond, to the point that the under signed thought we will have another homosexual story, like in Sound the Retreat or maybe something similar to the narrative from Fielding Gray, only here the initially kind, emotional American disappears and when he returns he seems to have changed dramatically…quite soon, he explains that he works for some mysterious patrons, who want to know what the young mathematician has found, especially when it becomes clear that the young hero has succeeded in the first stage and then, with the meaning of the symbols understood, he can move to the next stage and eventually, clear the problem, which we now see that it is of great interest to Americans, British and other major powers, much like the work of other scientists brought about the atom bomb.



Only the hero has left leaning inclinations – another reason for this reader to be less than sympathetic to him – and he does not want to share this with the group that is pressing him and spying on him…enter the stage some British well-wishers, represented by one Rupert Percival, who turns out to be a Secret agent, who says give us the secret and we will protect you from the other side – if there are two sides here remains to be seen – Fielding Gray becomes a friend of the main character and he will try to help, albeit in the process he might make things worse, unintentionally, offering a card for the malevolent agents…

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This third (both in terms of publication and story chronology) volume in the Alms for Oblivion series is something of a departure from The Rich Pay Late and Friends in Low Places, the first two books to be published. With it, the story moves to the British Army in Germany in 1952 as the country continues to recover from the devastation of the war under the new threat of Russian nuclear attack. Into this strange new world comes Daniel Mond, a young Jewish Cambridge mathematician with the expectation of a stellar career ahead of him. He has come to work on a problem that has baffled other great minds, but the progress he makes in his work comes at a cost and attracts the attention of shady Cold War forces. There is of course plenty of the sort of social comedy at which Simon Raven excels, but at the heart of the book are the kind of serious and troubling moral questions that will be familiar to any reader of John Le Carre. The Sabre Squadron is a dark book that offers little comfort and ends on a particularly bleak note, but it is a richly rewarding novel that demonstrates just how versatile and subtle a writer Raven was. I’d remembered it as one of the best books in the sequence from my first reading thirty-five years ago, but I’d forgotten quite how good it was.

[Alex Sarll]

After the school story and the tale of the Raj (albeit its dying days), Alms for Oblivion reaches the Cold War proper. The theme remains Britons adapting, seldom satisfactorily, to a time of transition - Daniel Mond, the half-Jewish academic, uneasy in a Germany so recently so inimical to his kind; the Sabre Squadron of the title happy with their aristocratic and storied regiment, but instead thrust in amongst tiresomely plodding Fusiliers for an exercise in the new realities of nuclear war. And meanwhile, Daniel's researches seem to be bearing fruit - in a manner which recalls the researches of MR James' dons, but adapted to mathematics. Which in turn brings Daniel into territory more usually associated with John le Carré, yet rendered all the more sinister because, like Daniel, the reader wasn't expecting a spy story from the outset.

[Corto · Rating 3 out of 5]

This "Alms for Oblivion" novel was more to my taste than the previous two. A little international intrigue, some spy games, a glimpse of the Cold War British Army at work. However, I would've given this 4 stars had the conclusion not developed so rapidly and made the novel seem a bit convoluted. I suppose I'll have to keep reading to see where it goes.

Excellent writing. Compelling characters. Gripping plot. Good, light reading.

[Robert Ronsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm working through the Alms for Oblivion series that I first tackled around fifty years ago. Having read widely since then I'm more appreciative of the subtlety that Simon Raven hides below the rollicking bawdy of his prose.
In a Cold War plot worthy of mid-career John le Carré, Raven tells the story of Daniel Mond. He is a mathematician with a secret who is pitched against shadowy forces that may or may not mean him harm. (It's an idea that reappeared in CJ Sansom's Dominion. Just saying.) Mond finds friendship and psychological shelter within the officer class of the Sabre Squadron of the title. This is part of a 'first-rate' regiment in which the officers are louche, public-school-educated, gentlemen. Much of the story involves their esoteric code and how it obligates them to keep Mond safe. As with when I first read this and the other books in the series it is this exposition of the ways of the privileged classes back when I was a working-class boy that makes the series a revelatory read.
The only negative for me is the strangely intimate language of men at the top of society when they bond with each other in what the lower classes would call friendship. The way they converse in normal discourse is suggestive of a homo-erotic, blood brotherhood. Simon Raven writes from experience so far be it from me to criticise him on this aspect of what is a ripping yarn.

[Davidg · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the first two volumes of 'The Alms for Oblivion' trilogy, this came as a bit of a shock. The series seemed to be a Waugh-like satire on the British upper middle class and the artistic set. Suddenly, we are in a Le Carre novel mixed with one of those Hitchcock films where an innocent gets himself involved in secret events by accident. Daniel Mond is a brilliant mathematician, working towards his PhD by researching the notes of a German mathematician who seemingly went mad. Unfortunately we are in post-war Europe in the new nuclear age and the research into sub-nuclear particles arouse the interest of agencies with more sinister designs. Only the British military regiment involved in exercises nearby provide friendship and a means of escape for our beleaguered hero.

After getting past the surprise of discovering that I was reading a very different book from the one I expected, this was an enjoyable read, but not in the Graham Greene class for this genre.

[Stephen Cunliffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unconvincing plot, but brilliant portrayal of the residual strength of the English class system after WWII. It is for that portrayal that I appreciate this book, in much the same way as I appreciate Evelyn Waugh, although Waugh's plots tended to be better.
Both are holdovers from the glorious days of elitism based on nothing but birth, the right schools and universities (only two of those), even though they are perfectly willing to point out the faults of the system that had protected them.
I was English born and educated and have been a citizen of the US for the past many years, and I imagine both of these authors would be difficult to appreciate for Americans who did not grasp the subtleties of class, especially as it manifests itself in dialog.

[Mathis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Diese Geschichte enthält nichts, was sich zu lesen lohnt.
Weder spannend noch glaubhaft. Auch die Charaktere... Nichts, was irgendwie überzeugen würde. Das große, dramatische Finale ist ebenfalls allenfalls halbgar und wirkt nicht sonderlich glaubwürdig.

[Alex Ankarr · Rating 1 out of 5]

unpleasantly cold and dispassionate writing, not even that technically great.