The Way to Dusty Death
by Alistair MacLean
Alistair MacLean was a Scottish novelist, born in Glasgow in 1922. He was the son of a Scottish minister. Primarily famous for his thrillers and adventure stories, MacLean also wrote screenplays, and movies have been made from several of his novels. The Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare are his best-known works.
Particularly inspiring for ESL students, MacLean wrote in his second language, having been raised in Scottish Gaelic from the time he was born. To prove that his novels would sell well no matter who wrote them, MacLean also published books under the pseudonym Ian Stuart.
The narrative excerpt below is from the opening pages of The Way to Dusty Death.
Harlow sat by the side of the race-track on that hot and cloudless afternoon, his long hair blowing about in the fresh breeze and partially obscuring his face, his golden helmet clutched so tightly in his gauntleted hands that he appeared to be trying to crush it: the hands were shaking uncontrollably and occasional violent tremors racked his entire body.
His own car, from which he had been miraculously thrown clear, uninjured just before it had overturned, lay, of all places, in its own Coronado pits, upside down and with its wheels spinning idly. Wisps of smoke were coming from an engine already engulfed under a mound of foam from the fire extinguishers and it was clear that there was now little danger left of an explosion from the unruptured fuel tanks.
Alexis Dunnet, the first to reach Harlow, noticed that he wasn’t looking at his own car but was staring, trancelike at a spot about two hundred yards farther along the track where an already dead man called Isaac Jethou was being cremated in the white-flamed funeral pyre of what had once been his Grand Prix Formula One racing car. There was curiously little smoke coming from the blazing wreck, presumably because of the intense heat given off by the incandescent magnesium alloy wheels, and when the gusting wind occasionally parted the towering curtains of flame, Jethou could be seen sitting bolt upright in his cockpit, the one apparently undamaged structure left in an otherwise shattered and unrecognizable mass of twisted steel: at least Dunnet knew it was Jethou but what he was seeing was a blackened and horribly charred remnant of a human being.
The many thousands of people in the stands and lining the track were motionless and soundless, staring in transfixed and incredulous awe and horror at the burning car. The last of the engines of the Grand Prix cars—there were nine of them stopped in sight of the pits, some drivers standing by their sides—died away as the race marshals frantically flagged the abandonment of the race.
The public address system had fallen silent now, as did a siren’s ululating wail as an ambulance screeched to halt at a prudent distance from Jethou’s car, its flashing light fading into nothingness against the white blaze in the background. Rescue workers in aluminum asbestos suits, some operating giant wheeled fire extinguishers, some armed with crowbars and axes, were trying desperately, for some reason wholly beyond the bounds of logic, to get sufficiently close to the car to drag the cindered corpse free, but the undiminished intensity of the flames made a mockery of their desperation. Their efforts were as futile as the presence of the ambulance was unnecessary. Jethou was beyond any mortal help or hope.
The Deadline to join the conversation is 11:59PM FRI JUN 11
Grades so far (out of 5):
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Mustapha Bayoh
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4
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Bruna Dietrich
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5
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Moshe Edri |
5 |
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Jeanine Guirand |
0 |
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Charlotte Hao |
4 |
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Nourhan Ibrahim |
5 |
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Nafisa Karimova |
0 |
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Clara Lee |
5 |
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Lin-Yong Liu |
0 |
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Elizabeth Luseni |
5 |
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Sevgi Mominova |
4 |
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Ana Morano |
5 |
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Omar Noiem |
0 |
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Philip Pama |
5 |
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Gaurav Patel |
0 |
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Baby Tenuwidjaja |
5 |
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Kankamol Wongkamolchoon |
5 |
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WeiWei Zheng |
5 |
Comments (32)
David Hodges said
at 10:31 am on Jun 3, 2010
A writer could narrate the story of a car crash in many ways. What do you think of Alistair MacLean's version? What important story details does he include? What important story details does he omit? Most narratives depend on suspense to pull the reader through from beginning to end. What do you suppose MacLean would say about the importance of suspense?
NOURHAN IBRAHIM said
at 3:40 pm on Jun 3, 2010
I think Maclean's version is showing how raceing car is a dangours sport.It is also doesn't inspire anybody to be a race car driver. The important details in his story when the writer narrated how Isaac
died while he racing! The writer omit in this story how Harlow's car go flipped over and how he got out with miraculous.
The writer depend on suspense during he was able to explain vividly how the driver Isacc died the whole seen was described in a suspenseful way, and fans reacted horrible.However,once the story started to narrate the suspend caused me to keep on reading until the end.
David Hodges said
at 8:46 am on Jun 4, 2010
Nora, from the fact that you have commented first to both Wiki Readings, I conclude that you are eager for these stories to appear! Thank you for starting us off to so well. Your comment that the author left out the essential facts of how Harlow's car flipped over and how he was thrown from the car is especially smart! Would you be able to resist telling that part of the story? What can you surmise from the fact that MacLean skips over that part?
NOURHAN IBRAHIM said
at 3:23 pm on Jun 4, 2010
The way Harlow escaped from the death. when he was a passing car crashed on the side of his car causing, the car lost control and flip to the sidelines. Before Harlow's car crashed , he jumped from the window at the top of the car and flipped twice and landed safely on the ground.
My simple surmise of why MacLean skips over essential details of how Harlow (main character) escaped the out of control car because he wanted to add more suspense to the story. In addition, the writer focused more on ngative results for race car driving from the bigging until the end of the story that why he does not talk obout positive details.That is my opinion, thank you sir!
David Hodges said
at 3:57 pm on Jun 4, 2010
That is a clear and well-expressed opinion, Nourhan! Thank you! I hope others will join us, but if they don't, I'm sure we can have quite a conversation about this brief bit of narrative. :-)
Ana Morano said
at 9:19 pm on Jun 4, 2010
Narratives are my favorites and I´m a race car fan, special Formula One. So, was really easy enjoy this reading.
When I start reading the Alistair MacLean text the first thing that come to my mind was Ayrton Senna (Brazilian race car driver three times Formula One World Champion )death in 1994. I was just 10 years old, but I still can remember each detail about the accident that I watched many times on TV. And, what I like better about narratives, is can feel like if I am really watching the action and this just happened with this reading. Also, I think this is the best way to tell true stories.
MacLean text is a narrative rich of descritives elements and im my opinion this make his way to tell the story better and stronger. But the story have kind of a jump because MacLean does not explain how the accident in fact happened. The writer just tell us Harlow was nervous and later the accident was already done.
I´m not a suspense fan and do not agree the good narratives need to be a good suspense too. I prefer the narratives that tell what already happened and so, start to tell how this go on. I think if the writer is really good, the fact of he tell first the happens is not a problem for the reader keep reading all text long.
David Hodges said
at 10:37 pm on Jun 4, 2010
Thanks, Ana! Who would have guessed we had Formula One racing fans in the class! Sometimes, I just get lucky. I agree with you that suspense is not essential to every narrative, particularly if the writer is very skillful. Here, though, you must have some opinion about why MacLean "jumped" over the accident, as you say. Nora thinks his agenda was to criticize racing for its deadly dangers. The narrative, as you mention, is rich in descriptive details, so why no details about the impact, who hit who, how the cars flipped, how many cars were involved, etc.?
philip said
at 10:50 pm on Jun 4, 2010
Well, I think the story talks about the danger of the race cars. The narrative was a little complicated to understand to me, maybe because of the vocabulary. Nevertheless, I understand the story and I think Mclean include in his story a good description before the accident,and after the accident But he omit how was the accident,maybe to give the reader more suspense, and also to give the reader the chance to imagine by himself how was the accident.Also Mclean give the reader a lot of details about race cars, so that's enough information to us to imagine how was the accident.In conclusion,the reader doesn't now exactly how was happened and it gives the story a little bit more suspense.
moshe edri said
at 12:20 am on Jun 5, 2010
I think the author wrote this excerpt from a point of view of a reporter, he came to the accident scene and start to report the findings. Then he turned to Isaac Jethou's story, story with a tragical end. Tragic stories "sale" better !!!
Moreover, the author omit the crash details to make suspense of curse, but lets dont forget that this is the opening pages and he might detail all the facts later.
Many stories start with a spacial/different experience that actually becoming the main idea of the story. In our case, the story will be on Harlow's life, but we got Isaac's story to stress the daily difficulties he needs to to deal with.
David Hodges said
at 6:39 am on Jun 5, 2010
From what you say, Philip, I conclude I chose a narrative with just the right level of complexity. They should be challenging and introduce new vocabulary but ultimately be comprehensible. What you say about writers leaving things to a reader's imagination is exactly correct. Writers of horror material, for instance, usually say very little about the physical details of the monster or attacker—just enough to help the reader visualize something horrifying. Regarding those details about the race cars, what does all that knowledge tell us about the narrator? Thank you for your illuminating comments!
David Hodges said
at 6:43 am on Jun 5, 2010
That's great, Moshe; this excerpt, like journalism, does sound objective. Tragic stories do sell better, but remember, so do stories of danger and mayhem like cars crashing into one another at very high speeds. You're very wise to mention that this excerpt is just the first few paragraphs of a much longer work: we have no idea what the author might be saving for the next page, or the next chapter! That's a powerful literary insight.
Baby Tanuwidjaja said
at 11:13 pm on Jun 6, 2010
Before we read the novel; the title of the novel "The Way to Dusty Death" has already given us the smell of thriller, and suspense. I agree with Moshe about his opiinion "like journalism". I read the paragraphs, and I could not feel/understand where the writer position was in this novel. Was his position as Harlow? I felt that the writer was a part of the audience who reported the accident. The way Mcclean described Jethou's body/remain was so scary. I was so scare, and his remain body always in my mind!! Please Proff, next please choose a nice reading, not the horror one. Thank you
David Hodges said
at 1:38 am on Jun 7, 2010
Very well, then, Baby, next time we will read something lovely and sweet. It's interesting what you say about the narrator, that he doesn't appear to have a position within the story. Clearly, he knows about racing: he knows enough to predict that the overturned car will not explode; he knows that the wheels are made of magnesium alloy. Does the narrator have access to anybody's thoughts? Does he know what Harlow is thinking? Does he know what Dunnet is thinking? Narrators can have limited perspectives if they are characters in the story. However, sometimes their perspective is unlimited; with access to every character's thoughts, and knowledge of the future and past, they are referred to as omniscient (a great dictionary word!). What would you say about this narrator's perspective?
Baby Tanuwidjaja said
at 3:31 pm on Jun 7, 2010
I would say this narrator's perspective as a omniscient. He (the narrator) put himself as the outsider (tell all what happen to each individu in the story: Harlow, Dunnet, and the people who watch that race), and also as the insider (describe how turnmoil Harlo's feeling about the accident, and how nervous Dunnet saw Jethou's remain). In the other word, the narrator put himself neutral in this story.
WeiWeiZheng said
at 7:06 pm on Jun 7, 2010
Well, this story was tell what a bad accident happened in a racing game, from driver's side that he faced this suddenly disaster, how he reacted, and described what he saw in first place, car crush, and slowly explosion; then in that moment, Alexis realized that someone was dying from his eyes, way to closed, but he felt far way that he couldn't help him because the car accident also effected him. Writer used to write close to far tell things in order; moreover, he described as outside people's feel after they saw this badly accident, where noise place became quiet, and reflected a exciting game changed sadly.
WeiWeiZheng said
at 10:36 pm on Jun 7, 2010
Also too many vocabulary in this story, I need to look up in dictionary; otherwise, writer described more on cars after crashed, and as a viewer will think on that way.
David Hodges said
at 8:44 am on Jun 8, 2010
Well, I won't apologize for sending you to the dictionary, Wei Wei; you should be spending all your time with it! If I understand you correctly, you've identified an organizing principle of "close to far," for details, meaning that the writer describes things nearby, then steps away and looks into the distance to describe things farther away. That's a nice observation on your part. I'm not sure we learn a lot about how Harlow felt, but the narrator certainly meant for us to understand that neither Harlow nor anyone else could help the driver trapped in the burning car.
Mustapha said
at 11:48 am on Jun 8, 2010
Before I read the story the title itself has told me that this story is full of creepy,and suspense the writer omit some details to put the story in to suspense.I think the writer was also part of the audience who reported the accident.
David Hodges said
at 12:04 pm on Jun 8, 2010
Thanks, Mustapha! I'm delighted you've been able to join us here and leave your comments. (ESL Department Chair Dr. Hoda Zaki is getting you a new code to the replace the one Criterion rejected, so we should be able to get you onto Criterion shortly as well!)
Everybody is leaving comments about suspense, which is fine but a little bit unclear. Suspense is a very broad topic and can apply to more than predictions about "how the story ends." Think of popular TV shows as an example. Some—classic whodunits—devote their stories to figuring out who committed a crime (in other words, not very grammatically, who done it?). Others—they're called procedurals—tell us immediately who the killer is but keep us in suspense by making us guess how the investigators will prove guilt (their suspense is in the HOW, not the WHO). Is either of those techniques used here? We don't know how the crash occurred. There doesn't appear to be a crime to solve. What questions keep us reading, looking for answers?
Kankamol said
at 3:10 pm on Jun 10, 2010
Alistair MacLean, the writer, narrated a lot of details about Issac Jethos' racing car accident but he gave us a little detail for Harlow, who seems to be the main character in this story. As the first two paragraph, in my opinion, are just the beginning shots of the whole story. The writer wrote after that how the Isaac Jethou died and how the others tried to help him. He omit to talked about Harlow after the second paragraph but he was keep going with the other character, Isaac Jethos, that's why this story did not end as smoothly as it should be. The important details that the writer included in this essay, is a very good explanation of the dead of Isaac. I can imagine what is going on in the race.
Chunhui Hao said
at 10:27 am on Jun 11, 2010
Narrative essay is the most basic and difficult essay, because the writer needs to descript whole story to capture the attention of readers and make it in logical and clear. I just want to talk about the beginning of this essay, because I think it is the most important part of a narrative essay, which wants to catch the reader’s interesting. This essay descripts a result of the accident and the person who had already seen the accident. Making reader full down the story scene, and let the reader feel they are seeing the scene. The beginning gives reader a backdrop of the whole story.
David Hodges said
at 12:05 pm on Jun 11, 2010
OK, Kankamol, let me challenge you a bit. If Harlow, as you say, is the main character in the story, what do we learn about him, and why, after briefly introducing him, does the author shift his focus to Jethou's crashed car and cremated body? The excerpt "does not end smoothly" because it's just the opening paragraphs of a novel. but what do you guess will follow? What do you imagine happened between the cars in the race? What is the character of Harlow?
David Hodges said
at 12:10 pm on Jun 11, 2010
Thank you, Charlotte, for your contribution. If these opening paragraphs, as you say, are just the Introduction to a much longer narrative, what do they suggest about the story that will follow? For example, do you think there's any significance to Harlow's long flowing hair, his golden helment, his gauntleted hands? Do you think the fact that he doesn't stir from his seat near the racetrack, that he looks at Jethou's car and not his own, that he does not rush to help his trapped colleague, is significant to his character? Be more specific in your comments, please.
Elizabeth M. Luseni said
at 2:05 pm on Jun 11, 2010
Alistair Mellean's version of the story was a vivid description of a car accident which happened in his absence . Hisversion is full of significate details of the story that in my opion
Alistair Meclean's version of the story was a vivid description of a accident which happened in his absence.His version if full of insignificate details of the story that in my opinion is not the reader's interest. For instance "his long hair blowingabout in the fresh breeze and partially obscuring his face". The reader would have prepared a detail account of how it happened. The important story details includeed are the way the fire was extinguish, his emotion as a first hand witness, the reaction of the spectators and the attempt made by people to save the suitation.The details omitted are disturbing to the reader's mind. For example the reader would want to know how and why the accident happened and what happen to the victims. Suspense is the technique used by the author to wetting the apetite of the reader. The reader would want to know the end of the of the subject matter he was talking anout. In my opinion his style of writing was woundweful.
David Hodges said
at 4:15 pm on Jun 11, 2010
That's a very detailed account, Elizabeth!
Bruna Dietrich said
at 5:00 pm on Jun 11, 2010
The first thing I noticed was that the writer described little details. I think that’s come from what we already learned with the descriptive essay. Some of the details that he describes do not are really important in this excerpt, but the details make the reader feel a little more closer to the fact; for example, one hot and cloudless day or a golden helmet. In my opinion the introduction of a narrative essay has to be a little descriptive, to make us go into the place and the fact.
I agree with Ana about the jump from the begging and the accident. I really would like to know how the accident happened, and I think MacLean could do that very well. The suspense is something that I like in a big book for example. It makes me want to read more and more of the book. Usually I get involved with the story and the feeling of the characters. When the writer can make us readers feel something, even when he makes us feel sad as MacLean in the excerpt, I think that is a good a narrative.
David Hodges said
at 6:06 pm on Jun 11, 2010
While it's true that not every detail must serve a particular purpose, Bruna, the more effectively they build character or advance the storyline, the better. For example, the writer may have the narrator share specific details with readers to demonstrate how much the narrator knows about a topic or a character. I really would like to know how the accident happened too, and I have a feeling if we read the rest of the book, we'd find out.
SEVGI MOMINOVA said
at 8:35 pm on Jun 11, 2010
This narrative is very well written. Alistair MacLean wrote many details and therefore made reading this passage very interesting. When I read "Jethou was beyond any mortal help or hope," I felt very sad that his life was coming to an end. What was very interesting to me was that Harlow was unscathed and Isaac died. Weren't they in the same car? Other than this, the story was very clearly and interestingly written.
clara lee said
at 12:14 am on Jun 12, 2010
This excerpt shows that how dangerous the racing car, but it seems people still enjoy the risky sports. What a tragedy accident!
Horlow who was car racer had a accident, but miraculously, he survived without injury and another racer, Jethou who had died terribly in past without any mortal help or hope.
The writer, Alistair MacLean described the tragedy accident in very clearly as a part of spectator himself and explained all the happening in the race track. He used unique technique with descriptive, narrative method that described the accident place, situation, viewing of happening with back and forth tense in vividly; for instance, he was telling the Horlow accident then all of sudden he was mentioned past time again about Jethou who was died past time. These technique makes reader to follow his direction and put in interesting mood.
Over all, this version is very interesting. Even though, this very sad story.
clara lee said
at 12:50 am on Jun 12, 2010
Hello Professor,
Sorry, the due time is just passed.
I got a problem with computer, so it took longer and it was sent before spelling correction.
This narrative essay, The Way to Dusty Death, did not make any conclusion. It was left to reader's decision to conclude next scene.
David Hodges said
at 3:18 am on Jun 12, 2010
Thanks for your comments, Sevgi. The two drivers were certainly not in the same car, but you can be forgiven for not understanding that since the author didn't say much about the accident. He did mention two cars, though. "Alex Dunnet, first to reach Harlow, noticed that he wasn't looking at his own car, but was staring, trancelike, at . . . Isaac Jethou . . . being cremated in . . . his Formula One racing car." Harlow was thrown from his car; Jethou was not so lucky. Does that help?
David Hodges said
at 3:22 am on Jun 12, 2010
That's OK, Clara. Close enough. You're right about how MacLean shifts his focus several times during the few paragraphs.
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