Mr Ivery Gets Away, by John Buchan

The gates of the Château d’Havrincourt‎ in the Pas-de-Calais region of France. It was on a snowy day such as this, in Buchan’s face-paced wartime adventure tale, that Richard Hannay went in pursuit of the dangerous German spy calling himself Moxon Ivery, hoping the gates would cut off his escape – and was bitterly disappointed.

Mr Ivery Gets Away

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THE next second I was on the moonlit snow.

I got a shot at him as he went over the terrace, and again I went wide. I never was at my best with a pistol. Still I reckoned I had got him, for the car which was waiting below must come back by the moat to reach the highroad. But I had forgotten the great closed park gates. Somehow or other they must have been opened, for as soon as the car started it headed straight for the grand avenue. I tried a couple of long-range shots after it, and one must have damaged either Ivery or his chauffeur, for there came back a cry of pain.

I turned in deep chagrin to find Mary beside me. She was bubbling with laughter.

“Were you ever a cinema actor, Dick? The last two minutes have been a really high-class performance. ‘Featuring Mary Lamington.’ How does the jargon go?”

by John Buchan 1875-1940

From ‘Mr Standfast’ by John Buchan.

Précis

Hannay assumes that the park gates are closed and that his enemy’s car must come right past him to get out, but his assumption proves ill-founded. He must watch Ivery driving off in the opposite direction; and knowing that he has winged either Ivery or his driver, and that the watching Mary Lamington was greatly entertained, is scant consolation.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

Why did Hannay miss with his second shot?

Suggestion

Because handguns were not his favourite weapons.

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Hannay thought the park gates were shut. He was mistaken. Ivery drove straight towards them.

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