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The Thirty-Nine Steps · Theme
The Shocker Genre
How The Thirty-Nine Steps develops The Shocker Genre.
The book self-identifies as a 'shocker'—a tale where improbable incidents march just inside the possible, emphasizing a deliberate embrace of thrilling, improbable adventure over realism.
Where it surfaces
- Dedication
The dedication explicitly defines the book as a 'shocker'—a romance where incidents defy probabilities but remain just inside the possible.