The Power-House
Encyclopedia
The Power-House is a novel by John Buchan, a thriller set in London, England. It was written in 1913, when it was serialised in Blackwood's Magazine
, and it was published in book form in 1916. The narrator is the barrister
and Tory
MP Edward Leithen
, who features in a number of Buchan's novels. The urban setting contrasts with that of its sequel, John Macnab
, which is set in the Scottish Highlands.
The Power-House of the title is an international anarchist organization led by a rich Englishman named Andrew Lumley. Its plan to destroy Western civilisation is thwarted by Leithen with the assistance of a burly Labour
MP.
"The dominant theme of Buchan's fiction is the fragility of civilisation," it has been said in the context of a discussion of The Power-House. What the critic Christopher Harvie calls "perhaps the most famous line in all Buchan" occurs during the first meeting between Leithen and Lumley, when the latter tells the former, "You think that a wall as solid as the earth separates civilisation from barbarism. I tell you the division is a thread, a sheet of glass" (Chapter 3). Harvie cites a comparable passage from the second volume of The Golden Bough
, where Frazer speaks of "a solid layer of savagery beneath the surface of society," which, "unaffected by the superficial changes of religion and culture," is "a standing menace to civilisation. We seem to move on a thin crust which may at any time be rent by the subterranean forces slumbering beneath." Similar sentiments were expressed by other writers of the period, including Nietzsche, Freud
and Conrad
.
Talking to Lumley, Leithen is reminded of an encounter he once had in Tyrol
with a "Nietzschean" German professor who told him, "Someday there will come the marriage of knowledge and will, and then the world will march" (Chapter 3) — words uncannily prophetic of Hitlerian militarism and the Nazi iconography
of marching troops immortalised in Leni Riefenstahl
's propaganda film, Triumph of the Will
.
The "nameless brains" who form the Power-House, Lumley reveals, are "great extra-social intelligences" who have opted out of the "conspiracy" called civilisation. "They may be idealists and desire to make a new world, or they may simply be artists, loving for its own sake the pursuit of truth." It takes "both types to bring about results, for the second find the knowledge and the first the will to use it" (Chapter 3). The Power-House is "highly-scientific" (Chapter 5) and among its members are "artists in discovery who will never use their knowledge until they can use it with full effect" (Chapter 3). When Charles Pitt-Heron, the friend of Leithen whose flight abroad is the starting-point of the novel, joins the Power-House, he turns his billiard-room into a laboratory, "where he works away half the night" (Chapter 1). The Russian anarchist theoretician Peter Kropotkin
, who was also a biologist and zoologist, wrote in his pamphlet Modern Science and Anarchism (1901): "Anarchism is a world-concept based on a mechanical explanation of all phenomena....Its method of investigation is that of the exact natural sciences."
During their final meeting, Leithen accuses Lumley of believing "nothing", but Lumley dissents from this judgement. "'I am a sceptic about most things,' he said, 'but, believe me, I have my own worship. I venerate the intellect of man. I believe in its undreamed-of possibilities, when it grows free like an oak in the forest and is not dwarfed in a flower-pot. From that allegiance I have never wavered. That is the God I have never foresworn.'" (Chapter 8)
As this last exchange indicates, The Power-House is set in an unfamiliar era — that preceding World War I
— when the terrorist threat to the West came not from religious fanatics seeking to impose Islamism
but from atheistic nihilists claiming allegiance to reason, knowledge, science, freedom and humanism — a humanism, however, so coldly rational, so focused on "the intellect of man," that it has been "stripped of every shred of humanity" (Chapter 8).
Blackwood's Magazine
Blackwood's Magazine was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine. The first number appeared in April 1817 under the editorship of Thomas Pringle and James Cleghorn...
, and it was published in book form in 1916. The narrator is the barrister
Barristers in England and Wales
Barristers in England and Wales are one of the two main categories of lawyer in England and Wales, the other being solicitors. -Origin of the profession:The work of senior legal professionals in England and Wales...
and Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
MP Edward Leithen
Edward Leithen
Sir Edward Leithen is the hero of/character in several of John Buchan's novels. These were published over a number of years, the first in 1916, and the last in 1941, one year after Buchan's death...
, who features in a number of Buchan's novels. The urban setting contrasts with that of its sequel, John Macnab
John Macnab
John Macnab is a novel by John Buchan, published in 1925.-Plot summary:Three successful but bored friends in their mid-forties decide to turn to poaching. They are Sir Edward Leithen, lawyer, Tory Member of Parliament , and ex-Attorney General; John Palliser-Yeates, banker and sportsman; and...
, which is set in the Scottish Highlands.
The Power-House of the title is an international anarchist organization led by a rich Englishman named Andrew Lumley. Its plan to destroy Western civilisation is thwarted by Leithen with the assistance of a burly Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
MP.
"The dominant theme of Buchan's fiction is the fragility of civilisation," it has been said in the context of a discussion of The Power-House. What the critic Christopher Harvie calls "perhaps the most famous line in all Buchan" occurs during the first meeting between Leithen and Lumley, when the latter tells the former, "You think that a wall as solid as the earth separates civilisation from barbarism. I tell you the division is a thread, a sheet of glass" (Chapter 3). Harvie cites a comparable passage from the second volume of The Golden Bough
The Golden Bough
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer . It first was published in two volumes in 1890; the third edition, published 1906–15, comprised twelve volumes...
, where Frazer speaks of "a solid layer of savagery beneath the surface of society," which, "unaffected by the superficial changes of religion and culture," is "a standing menace to civilisation. We seem to move on a thin crust which may at any time be rent by the subterranean forces slumbering beneath." Similar sentiments were expressed by other writers of the period, including Nietzsche, Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
and Conrad
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...
.
Talking to Lumley, Leithen is reminded of an encounter he once had in Tyrol
County of Tyrol
The County of Tyrol, Princely County from 1504, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1814 a province of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...
with a "Nietzschean" German professor who told him, "Someday there will come the marriage of knowledge and will, and then the world will march" (Chapter 3) — words uncannily prophetic of Hitlerian militarism and the Nazi iconography
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
of marching troops immortalised in Leni Riefenstahl
Leni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party...
's propaganda film, Triumph of the Will
Triumph of the Will
Triumph of the Will is a propaganda film made by Leni Riefenstahl. It chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, which was attended by more than 700,000 Nazi supporters. The film contains excerpts from speeches given by various Nazi leaders at the Congress, including portions of...
.
The "nameless brains" who form the Power-House, Lumley reveals, are "great extra-social intelligences" who have opted out of the "conspiracy" called civilisation. "They may be idealists and desire to make a new world, or they may simply be artists, loving for its own sake the pursuit of truth." It takes "both types to bring about results, for the second find the knowledge and the first the will to use it" (Chapter 3). The Power-House is "highly-scientific" (Chapter 5) and among its members are "artists in discovery who will never use their knowledge until they can use it with full effect" (Chapter 3). When Charles Pitt-Heron, the friend of Leithen whose flight abroad is the starting-point of the novel, joins the Power-House, he turns his billiard-room into a laboratory, "where he works away half the night" (Chapter 1). The Russian anarchist theoretician Peter Kropotkin
Peter Kropotkin
Prince Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin was a Russian zoologist, evolutionary theorist, philosopher, economist, geographer, author and one of the world's foremost anarcho-communists. Kropotkin advocated a communist society free from central government and based on voluntary associations between...
, who was also a biologist and zoologist, wrote in his pamphlet Modern Science and Anarchism (1901): "Anarchism is a world-concept based on a mechanical explanation of all phenomena....Its method of investigation is that of the exact natural sciences."
During their final meeting, Leithen accuses Lumley of believing "nothing", but Lumley dissents from this judgement. "'I am a sceptic about most things,' he said, 'but, believe me, I have my own worship. I venerate the intellect of man. I believe in its undreamed-of possibilities, when it grows free like an oak in the forest and is not dwarfed in a flower-pot. From that allegiance I have never wavered. That is the God I have never foresworn.'" (Chapter 8)
As this last exchange indicates, The Power-House is set in an unfamiliar era — that preceding World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
— when the terrorist threat to the West came not from religious fanatics seeking to impose Islamism
Islamism
Islamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...
but from atheistic nihilists claiming allegiance to reason, knowledge, science, freedom and humanism — a humanism, however, so coldly rational, so focused on "the intellect of man," that it has been "stripped of every shred of humanity" (Chapter 8).