Thesis (M.A.)--University of Detroit, 1954. / "June 1954." Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-110).

The aim of this thesis is to establish, from a historical and religious perspective, that the Presbyterian ethos and environment in which John Buchan was reared was the predominating influence in the writing of his novels. Presbyterianism was not the only influence on Buchan that determined the character of his stories. Buchan was by temperament a romantic, and this had considerable influence on his literature. His novels are romances, peopled by romantic figures who pursue romantic adventures. There are the signs of Buchan's romantic nature in the contents of the novels: creative imagination, sensitivity to nature, and expectations of the intrusion of other worlds, with destiny-determining events to follow. But Buchan had also an acquired classicism. His studies at Glasgow and Oxford Universities brought him in touch with a whole range of the master-pieces of classical literature, especially the works of Plato and Virgil. This discipline gave him clarity and conciseness in style, and balanced the romantic element in him, keeping his work within the bounds of reason. At the heart of Buchan's life and work, however, was his deeply religious nature and this, while influenced by romanticism and classicism, was the dominant force behind his work. Buchan did not accept in its entirety the Presbyterian doctrine conveyed to him by his father and his Church. He was moderate by temperament and shrank from excesses in religious matters, and, being a romantic, he shied away from any fixed creeds. He did embrace the fundamentals of Christianity, however, which he learned from his father and his Church, even if he did put aside the Rev. John's orthodox Calvinism. The basic Christianity which underlies all Buchan's novels has the stamp of Presbyterianism upon it, and that stamp is evident in his characters and their adventures. The expression of Christianity which Buchan embraced was the Christian Platonism of seventeenth century theologians, who taught and preached at Cambridge University, They gave prominence to the place of reason and conscience in man's search for God, They believed that reason and conscience were the ‘candle of the Lord’ which was existed every one. It was their conviction that, if that light was followed, it would lead men and women to God. They were against superstition and fanaticism in religion, against all forms of persecution for religious beliefs, and insisted that God could only be known by renouncing evil and setting oneself to live according to God’s will. This teaching Buchan received, but the stamp of his Presbyterianism was not obliterated. The basic doctrines which arose from his father's Presbyterianism and are to be found in Buchan's novels are as follows: a. the fear (or awe) of God, as life's basic religious attitude; b. the Providence of God as the ultimate determinative force in the outcome of events; c. the reality, malignity and universality of evil which must be forcefully and constantly resisted; d. the dignity of human beings in bearing God's image; e. the conviction that life has meaning and that its ultimate goal, therefore, is a spiritual one - as opposed to the accumulation of wealth, the achieving of recognition from society, and the gaining access to power; f. the necessity of challenge in life for growth and fulfilment, and the importance of fortitude in successfully meeting such challenge; g. the belief that, in the purpose of God, the weak confound the strong. These emphases of Presbyterianism are to be found in all Buchan's novels, to a greater or lesser degree. All his characters are serious people, with a moral purpose in life. Like the pilgrims of the Bible, they seek a country: true fulfilment. This quest becomes more spiritual and more dearly defined as Buchan grows in age and maturity. The progress is to be traced from his early novels, where fulfilment is sought in honour and self-approving competence, as advocated by classicism; to the novels of his middle years, where fulfilment is sought in adventures suggested by romanticism. In his final novel Sick Heart River. Buchan appears to have moved somewhat from his earlier classicism and his romanticism as the road to fulfilment. In this novel, Buchan expresses what, for him, is ultimate fulfilment: a conversion to God that produces self-sacrificing love for others. The terminally-ill Edward Leithen sets out on a romantic adventure that will enable him to die with dignity, and so, in classic style, justify his existence. He has a belief in God, but in a God who is almighty, distant and largely irrelevant to Leithen's life. In the frozen North of Canada, where he expects to find his meagre beliefs in God's absolute power confirmed by the icy majesty of mountain and plain, he finds instead God's mercy and it melts his heart. In a Christ-like way, he brings life to others through his death, believing that, through death, he will find life. There is sufficient evidence to give plausibility to the view that Buchan is describing in Leithen his own pilgrimage. If so, it means that Buchan found his way back to the fundamental experience of the Christian life, conversion, so strongly emphasised in his orthodox Presbyterianism home and Church. However, Buchan reaches this conclusion in a Christian Platonist way, through the natural world, rather than through the more orthodox pathway of Scripture.

Undergraduate honors paper--Mount Holyoke College, 2005. Dept. of History. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-142).

This thesis emphasises, as paramount, Buchan's little explored life-long and deeply held Christian faith and practice. Much on-going discussion of his life and character ignores or misrepresents this essential motivation, favouring interpretations that stress his desire for fame or fortune. This is not, however, a full-scale presentation of Buchan's doctrinal beliefs, perhaps impossible to achieve with so private a man. Many influences around Buchan, and choices he made throughout life, indicate that he remained faithful to his early experience of commitment to Christ. Neglected parts of books, articles, and sermons, together with archived letters, documents and papers, in Oxford, Glasgow, London, Elsfield, Edinburgh, and Queen's Library, Kingston, Ontario, are used to inform Buchan's Christianity. An examination of writings by Buchan's father and sister revises the extent of a suggested alienation between father and son over expressions of the faith. Subsequent chapters consider how older friends, and youthful contemporaries encouraged Christian faith throughout his life. Most appear as rather shadowy figures in what has been written. Greater attention to little published biographical material clarifies their importance. Using local reminiscences of the inter-war years when the Buchans were very prominent in Elsfield, for the first time the absorbing significance of their involvement in village life receives the attention it deserves. Those arguing that Buchan's more racist or anti-clerical fictional characters voice his own beliefs are challenged by closer examination of some of his historical and fictional writings, and other activities. It has been claimed that one of Buchan's greatest novels, Sick Heart River, reveals his own spiritual pilgrimage, lacking a fully satisfying conversion experience until the close of life. This book is given a new interpretation. All the matters addressed more thoroughly here trenchantly focus Buchan's life-long faith, wonderfully expressed in Greek on his grave, ‘Christ shall overcome'.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

This thesis reports the results obtained, and conclusions made regarding research into the hydrochemistry of a small impounded karst area in southeastern Australia. Water samples were collected from a variety of sites over a period of approximately six years and include samples that are representative of baseflow (drought conditions) and flood (high flow conditions) the two extremes of the flow regime. Four distinct water types were found to be associated with the karst spring and cave water sites sampled. In terms of physical, chemical and computed parameter values these have been classed as TYPE 1 water (median parameter values similar to those noted for the surface stream sites sampled with catchments of non-carbonate material); TYPE 2 water (catchment predominantly of limestone); TYPE 3 water (catchment predominantly of dolomite); TYPE 4 water (high median chemical concentrations). Spatial variation within the study area is considerable and intrinsic factors such as catchment lithology, the residence time of recharge, aspect and vegetation cover are the major natural controls in determining physical and chemical characteristics.

Thesis (M.A.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1994. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-81). Also available via the Internet.

All the biographical accounts of David Steuart Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan, are slight, and often very unsympathetic. Most have relied for factual information on his obituary, published in volume 99 of The Gentleman's Magazine. Malicious and distorted comments, particularly by Sir Walter Scott, have been responsible for the growth of a legend about Buchan's eccentricity, although the charge of absurd conduct was lodged against him in his own lifetime. It is interesting to note that a tradesman in Galashiels, near Buchan's former residence at Dryburgh Abbey, was found to talk about Buchan's patriotism, but at much greater length about his oddities, as recently as 1962. Those who could have given posterity a fair assessment of Buchan did not do so, and the way was left open for those who saw him only as vain and self-seeking. He was unlucky in living in the neighbourhood of Scott's house, Abbotsford, and because of this he has never had his due, even in the Border Country where he spent almost half his life. The cult of Scott flourishes there, but to Buchan there is no memorial. Whereas Abbotsford is much sought after, and is still in the possession of Scott's descendants, Dryburgh Abbey passed from Buchan's family and was given to the nation. Scott would probably have been amused had he known that the time would come when visitors to the Abbey would seek out his grave whilst that of Buchan goes unnoticed.

This thesis explores the relationship between Scotland and the British Empire as depicted in the work of three Scottish writers: Robert Louis Stevenson, R.B. Cunninghame Graham and John Buchan. The aim is to reassess the contribution these three writers made to Scottish literature, a contribution that has been neglected due to their interest and participation in imperial matters. The introduction discusses why their reappraisal within Scottish literary studies matters in relation to an understanding of the effect of Scotland's position within the Empire. Recent post-colonial theory relating to hybridity and the uncanny are shown to be of particular relevance to the Scottish situation in late-nineteenth and early twentieth-century literature. Chapter One examines the work of Robert Louis Stevenson and argues that, far from capitulating to the demands of imperialist literature, Stevenson was able both to work within the discourse of the British Empire and to subvert it. R. B. Cunninghame Graham, discussed in Chapter Two, occupies a similar position. Due to the genre-defying nature of his work Graham has been overlooked as a writer who confuses the boundaries between here and there, the savage and the civilised. Chapter Three provides a critical reassessment of John Buchan and argues that, despite his staunch imperialism, as a Scot within the Empire Buchan shared many thematic concerns with the other two writers in this study. The conclusion draws attention to the similarities between the three writers and argues that a clear break cannot be made between writers associated with the Empire and writers of the Scottish Renaissance.

This dissertation examines the political career of Scottish-born John Buchan (1875-1940) who, through the avenue of the British Empire, formed political alliances that enabled him to enter into the power circles of the British government. Buchan's involvement in governmental service is illustrative of the political and financial advantages Scots sought in Imperial service. Sources include Buchan's published works, collections of correspondence, personal papers, and diaries in the holdings of the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh. Letters and other documents pertaining to Buchan's life and career are also available in the Beaverbrook papers, Lloyd George papers, and Strachey papers at the House of Lords Record Office, London, and in the Liddle Hart Collection at King's College, London. Documents concerning Buchan's association with the War Cabinet, the Foreign Office, and the Department of Information are among those preserved at the Public Record Office, London. References to Buchan's association with the British Expeditionary Force in France are included in the holdings of the Intelligence Corps Museum, Ashford, Kent. The study is arranged chronologically, and discusses Buchan's Scottish heritage, his education, his assignment on Lord Alfred Milner's staff in South Africa, and his appointment as Director of the Department of Information during World War I. The study devotes particular attention to Buchan's leadership of the Department of Information, a propaganda arm of the British government during the First World War. Buchan consolidated independent branches of propaganda production and distribution, and coordinated the integration of information provided by the British Foreign Office, War Office, and the Department of Information's Intelligence Bureau to forward Britain's propaganda effort. The study also considers his literary contributions, his Parliamentary service, and, when raised to the peerage as Lord Tweedsmuir of Elsfield, his royal commission as Governor-General of Canada. This dissertation concludes that, while pursuing an imperial career, John Buchan established a relationship with a powerful clique that enabled him to become part of the machinery of state.