Alistair MacLean

Alistair Stuart MacLean (April 28, 1922 - February 2, 1987) was a Scottish novelist, writer of successful thrillers or adventures, the best known of which is perhaps The Guns of Navarone. He also used the pseudonym Ian Stuart.

Style of writing

Compared to other thriller writers of the time, such as Ian Fleming, MacLean's books are exceptional in one way at least: they are absent of sex and short of romance because MacLean thought that such diversions merely serve to slow down the action. Nor do they resemble the more recent techno-thriller approach. Instead MacLean lets little hinder the flow of events in his books, making his heroes fight against seemingly unbeatable odds and often pushing them to the limits of their physical and mental endurance. MacLean's heroes are usually calm, cynical men entirely devoted to their work and often carrying some kind of secret knowledge. A characteristic twist is that one of the hero's closest cooperators turns out to be a traitor.

Related Topics:
Ian Fleming - Techno-thriller

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Nature, especially the sea and the arctic north, plays an important part in MacLean's stories, and he used a variety of exotic parts of the world as settings to his books. Only one of them, When Eight Bells Toll, is set in his native Scotland. MacLean's best books are often those in which he was able to make use of his own direct knowledge of warfare and seafare such as H.M.S. Ulysses which is now considered a classic of naval fiction.

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Stylistically MacLean's novels can be broken down into four periods:

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• H.M.S. Ulysses through The Last Frontier. These featured third-person narratives and a somewhat epic tone, and were mostly set during World War II. The Last Frontier contained overt philosophical and moral themes that were not well received. MacLean then switched gears to —
• Night Without End through Ice Station Zebra. These all featured first person (and sometimes unreliable) narration laced with a dry, sardonic, self-deprecating humour, and were all set in contemporary times. These are MacLean's most intensely plotted tales, masterfully blending thriller and detective elements. MacLean then retired from writing for three years, returning with —
• When Eight Bells Toll through Bear Island, a varied collection that still maintained a generally high quality, with some books harking back to each of the first two periods but usually taking a more cinematic approach (not surprising since he began writing screenplays during this time). Finally —
• The Way to Dusty Death to the end. There were no more first-person stories, and his prose often sagged badly, with excessive dialogue, lazily described scenes, and poor characterization. Some of the books are better than others, and all sold reasonably well, but MacLean never regained his classic form.

Altogether MacLean published 28 novels and a collection of short stories, as well as books about T. E. Lawrence and James Cook.

Related Topics:
T. E. Lawrence - James Cook

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MacLean also wrote screenplays, some of them based on his novels and others later novelized by other writers. Around 1980, he was commissioned by an American movie production company to write a series of story outlines to be subsequently produced as movies. Although he did write about a fictitious United Nations organisation, the books were later completed by others. Among these are "Hostage Tower" by John Denis and Death Train by Alastair MacNeill. Some of these works bear little resemblance to MacLean's style, especially in their use of gratuitous sex and violence.

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Many of MacLean's novels were made into films, but none completely captured the level of detail and the intensity of his writing style as exemplified in classics such as Fear is the Key; the two most artistically and commercially successful film adaptations were The Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare.

Related Topics:
The Guns of Navarone - Where Eagles Dare

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Alistair MacLean was awarded a Doctorate of Literature at the University of Glasgow in 1983.

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