”I hold no brief for the pre-war spartan training of the english upper class--or middle class as it is now the fashion to call it, leaving the upper to the angels--since in the ordinary affairs of a conventional life it is not of the slightest value to anyone; but it is of use on the admittedly rare occasions when one needs a high degree of physical endurance. I have been through an initiation ceremony on the Rio Javary--the only way I could persuade them to teach me how their men can exercise a slight muscular control over haemorrhage--and I thought it more a disagreeable experience than any proof maturity. It lasted only a day and a night, whereas the initiation ceremonies of the tribal English continue for the ten years of education. We torture a boy’s spirit rather than his body, but all torture is, in the end, directed at the spirit. I was conditioned to endure without making an ass of myself.” The copy I read was a Folio Edition filled with wonderful art work.In other words the guy is Bond before James Bond existed. Rogue Male was published in 1939 and Ian Fleming did not release the first Bond until 1953, but I can’t imagine that Fleming did not read this book. The influences on the Fleming creation are readily apparent. We find our hero, a man whose name was never revealed to us, in a jam. He has been captured attempting to assassinate a world leader, again the country and the leader are never revealed, but of course given the time period the best guess is that he was trying to kill Hitler. It is well indeed that he had taken the time to prepare himself for pain as they have tortured him severely. They have beaten him, torn out his fingernails, and smashed one of his eyes. These villains like the villains in a Bond movie just can’t put a bullet through his head and call it a day. They decide to drop him off a cliff to make the damage to his body look more natural, and of course they muff it.He escapes.With a bit of daring, luck, and a disguise he makes his way back to England only to find that he is still being pursued by foreign agents. ”I began to speculate on what would happen if I reappeared quite openly in England. I was perfectly certain that they would not appeal to the Foreign Office or to Scotland Yard. Whatever I might have done or intended, their treatment of me wouldn’t stand publicity. They couldn’t be sure how the English would react; nobody ever is. After all, we once went to war for the ear of a Captain Jenkins--though Jenkins was an obscurer person than myself and had, considering the number of laws he broke, been treated with no great barbarity.”Whoa hold the horses...Captain Jenkins? Britain went to war over an ear?Yes indeed. Although myth does shroud some of the details it seems that Captain Robert Jenkins commander of the Rebecca was boarded by the Spanish on suspicion of smuggling. He was lashed to a mast and the Spanish Captain sliced off his ear and like a gentleman returned it to him with the statement. ”Same will happen to the king if he is caught doing the same.” Jenkins showing his earJenkins returns to England, making stops along the way to showing his bloody piece of ear to any official he could find. He finally comes before the House of Commons and displays his ear to them, as well, now pickled for posterity and says something along the lines of “what the f**k are you going to do about my ear?” This barbaric treatment of Jenkins sparks off a war with Spain which lasts from 1739-1748 and the conflict is referred to as The War of Jenkins’ Ear.Our hero decides to hide out in the countryside with poor results. It seems his trackers are adept at mapping his movements. At one moment they have him trapped in an earthen cave. He is not deterred. He fashions a Roman hand-drawn ballista made out of dead cat parts, yeah a regular Macgyver, and uses it to overpower and escape his captors. A more complicated version than the one our hero built out of a dead cat.He holds his gun on one of his captors and has a very English response to his fear. ”The wretched fellow feared death as he would a ghost. I admit that death is a horrid visitor, but surely distinguished? Even a man going to the gallows feels that he should receive the guest with some attempt at dignity.”Pissing yourself is not allowed unless you are of the lower classes for what more can be expected from such a muckish lot. Stiff upper lip and all of that if you are a member of the upper class. Our hero does not have a very good opinion of social inferiors even to the point of suffering from agoraphobia if he finds himself among them. There have been two films inspired by this book. The first was Man Hunt produced in 1941 directed by Fritz Lang and starred Walter Pidgeon. The second was produced in 1976 called Rogue Male and starred Peter O'Toole. Geoffrey Household’s father was a barrister. I’m not sure how the English classes work exactly, but he grew up well educated and landed a job as confidential secretary at the Bank of Romania in Bucharest. He then went on to be a marketing manager for United Fruit Company in Spain selling bananas. When World War Two started he joined British Intelligence and worked in Romania, Greece, and the Middle East. He described his writing style as: “sort of a bastard of Stevenson out of Conrad.”I’ve always thought there was a direct connection between the writing of Robert Louis Stevenson to Graham Greene to John LeCarre to Alan Furst. There are hints of all those writers in this book. Household wanted to infuse style and courage into his writing and certainly his character displays those qualities throughout the book. There is not a book that I read more than Robinson Crusoe growing up and when the character reaches the point where he is living off the land I could feel that inner boy in me smiling and enjoying the descriptions of building a hidden shelter,acquiring food, and staying half a step ahead of capture. A blend of heady freedom and dire circumstances that keep the pages turning looking for the answers that only our reserved by nature hero can give us. Some of the answers to our questions will never be known after all it wouldn’t be proper to talk about such matters except with hints, winks, and obscure references leaving us all enthralled; and yet, ultimately knowing nothing.
Are you into the genre of chase books? This book has to be the originator, not just of the books but of movies too. And if not it is definitely the best example of the chase genre that one could hope for. But there is a lot more than just genre fiction here. Though the moral conflict between "does one kill an evil dictator who is bound to kill many others?" or "does one maintain the Kantian virtue of not pulling the trigger" is a bit lame and overdone (though this reader is generally pleased when he cuts out the Kantian cant and grabs his gun). But what really strikes me is the, also done before, split between individual independence and self-will against the power and reach of the state. Our unnamed hero is the epitome of British, aristocratic, masculine, moral, competent ideal. He's nice to people, he can connect with all types, he's not a snob, he's scrupulously moral, he loves cats, he loves beautiful foreign women, he can survive in the wild, and he's smart as hell. But this is not James Bond, if for no reason other than he does hate killing, despite the fact that is a world famous hunter, and hates even more institutions. Bond, for all his bravado, works for the fucking M5. He's a bureaucrat. With a gun. And Bond is always helped by Q's little gadgets that no one else has. Our hero here, on the other hand, is pure primal strength and knowledge. It's hard to accept anyone could live in the wild, hiding from all human contact, for weeks at a time in our era, but one does believe it with our hero in his time.And of course the reader does approve of his strict individualism and the morality to treat all the same. However we are hardly surprised when this turns impossible. One cannot stay a hermit in the fields, a hunted hermit at that, but must stand up full force to the iniquity of horrible society. Good luck with that.In a way it reminds me very much of John Buchan and The Thirty-Nine Steps, though Victoria Nelson points out in her comprehensive intro that our hero doesn't have the patriotism of Buchan's hero—something I'm not sure if I agree with. He is the moral hero, very skilled even though his enemy is just as skilled. But again, it is only when he agrees to use these skills while ignoring his strict moralism that we can cheer him. A trope that has been repeated in comic books heroes, and their never-ending movie adaptations for years and years. The best thing about this book, is that you can't help hearing it from our heroes voice. This is one of the most attractive heroes I've ever met. Even buried alive he'd be a fun person to hang out with. I wish I could be him.
What do You think about Rogue Male (2002)?
A can't quite put my finger on what it was that caused me to pick up this book in the first place. It may have been the beautiful expressionist depiction of a winter forest on the cover, or perhaps the use of red in conjunction with shades of white and black. I think it may been the title in blood red text that compelled me to give this book a gander.The brief synopsis on the back cover described an interesting yet not profound plot line. I think the quip which mentioned Household (whom I never heard of before) as the "bastard child of Stevenson and Conrad" peaked my interest. The last phrase "an exploration of the lure of violence, the psychology of survivalism, and the call of the wild" finally convinced me to bring it home.Once I started reading I quickly noticed that there were no chapters, and only two brief "interludes" where the text stopped before the bottom of a page. Whether this format was intentional or not, I do not know, but I have to admit this was one of the most addictive books I've ever read. The lack of chapters may have played into this, but I was generally enthralled with the content.As someone who has given some thought on how to best "disappear" from society, I found this book to be incredibly realistic and insightful. Granted, this story took place in the 1930's when surveillance technology was far more limited than present day, but I could personally relate to several of his ideas and tactics.I found Rogue Male to be incredibly unpredictable, highly addictive, and immensely enjoyable. Recommended.
—Matt
Rogue Male is a chase book that gains momentum as it goes along. When the clever protagonist (being pursued) meets his match in an equally clever antagonist (giving pursuit), the reader can't help but breeze through pages to see who wins the high-stakes chess match. Luckily, I stopped reading Victoria Nelson's introduction when I sensed it might give up too much of the plot. I went back to it after finishing the book and yes, it did, which makes one wonder why it's not an afterword instead of an introduction. It's good. It's just in the wrong place. So don't read it first if you pick up the nyrb version of this book.Anyway, set back in time a bit, this novel pits an ever-polite Brit against an equally polite German. All I can say is, beware of polite people. They kill politely. Also, it's a tough book for claustrophobes. Our hero is ultimately chased into a burrow, an underground lair where he draws comparison to animals holed up from hunters above. The description of "life" in this close space is not for the faint-hearted, especially when the climax arrives and the match of wits reaches its height.At only 180 pp., this is a quick read and a well-written suspense tale. I found the ending particularly clever. John Gardner, a man who knew something about writing, called it "a classic." Who am I to second guess the dead?
—Newengland
Great little thriller that's full of suspense, twists, and lots of clever, well described details. The overarching plot is simple enough - man hunts central european dictator, gets captured, tortured, escapes, and becomes hunted himself, on his home turf. Along the way, the main character, an outdoorsman and aristocrat, gets stripped of most of the signifiers and relationships that define who he is, to the point where he is basically a blank slate, alone, and forced to survive with only his cunning. As the book progresses, you (and the protagonist) learn more about what drives him and get some interesting insights into his (and presumably the author's) ideas on loyalty and personal responsibility.
—Richard
