A question came up during a group discussion about where to begin reading for a better understanding of the First World War. The questioner wanted information on "something with a great story," historical fiction preferred, avoiding exhaustive historical accounts of the war and individual battles, in order to better understand what a grandfather must have gone through during the Battle of Verdun. Drawing from my own book shelves and movie collections I have made a short review of some World War I literature in general, not all of which specifically pertains to Verdun but are considered classic literary accounts of the First World War from the viewpoints of actual participants.
Literature about the First World War (1914-1918), is plentiful and varied, but because of the time that has elapsed since the end of the war to the present, much has been forgotten by the general public about events that took place. Many of our grandfathers, great-grandfathers, and yes, even many of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers were participants to varying degrees. But what about them? Historical fiction is as good as anything to begin an inquiry.
My reply to the questioner (updated and expanded slightly):
A book on the First World War (called the "Great War") that belongs on your bookshelf, as others have also suggested, is Eric Maria Remarque's classic All Quiet on the Western Front (1929). This novel is to World War I literature what Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage became to the American Civil War, indisputably the best war novel of the period. All Quiet on the Western Front has been described as "The book that shocked a nation," resulting in denunciation of the author, exile, and public burnings of the book. This is the story of professional patriotism in the German military gone awry, of the brutal realities of trench warfare and disillusionment among alienated soldiers in the words of German soldier Paul Baumer. Following the success of this book Remarque wrote The Road Back which appeared in 1931. Remarque later wrote Arch of Triumph (1945), a story of romance in decadent Paris just prior to World War II, which became his most popular story after All Quiet on the Western Front. Since its first publication in Germany All Quiet on the Western Front has never gone out of print, appeared in many languages. and can be had cheaply in paperback form to more costly leather bound editions. All three books were filmed.
For short stories about World War I, John William Thomason, Jr. published a superb collection titled Fix Bayonets (1926), they recount exploits of the United States Marine Corps during the war as well as in China, Cuba, and Nicaragua. Thomason had a long career in the Marines and authored and illustrated collections of short stories, magazine articles and other books until his death in 1944. He was awarded the Navy Cross while serving as the executive officer of the 49th Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment in WWI. Fixed Bayonets was an immediate bestseller upon publication and is still in print. Thomason's short stories are vivid and realistic personal recollections of the Marines fighting with the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I with his own highly praised illustrations.
English poet, novelist, critic and classical scholar Robert Graves' autobiography Goodbye to All That (1929 and 1957) is one of the highly acclaimed memoirs of fighting in the trenches with the British Army during the World War I. Graves revised the book in 1957 and removed many of the more significant events and figures of the 1929 version. Goodbye to All That still stands as a classic work on personal experiences during the war, including the traumatic incompetence of the Battle of Loos.
For short stories about World War I, John William Thomason, Jr. published a superb collection titled Fix Bayonets (1926), they recount exploits of the United States Marine Corps during the war as well as in China, Cuba, and Nicaragua. Thomason had a long career in the Marines and authored and illustrated collections of short stories, magazine articles and other books until his death in 1944. He was awarded the Navy Cross while serving as the executive officer of the 49th Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment in WWI. Fixed Bayonets was an immediate bestseller upon publication and is still in print. Thomason's short stories are vivid and realistic personal recollections of the Marines fighting with the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I with his own highly praised illustrations.
English poet, novelist, critic and classical scholar Robert Graves' autobiography Goodbye to All That (1929 and 1957) is one of the highly acclaimed memoirs of fighting in the trenches with the British Army during the World War I. Graves revised the book in 1957 and removed many of the more significant events and figures of the 1929 version. Goodbye to All That still stands as a classic work on personal experiences during the war, including the traumatic incompetence of the Battle of Loos.
German writer Arnold Zweig's Sergeant Grischa series, The Case of Sergeant Grischa (1927, and filmed in 1930 and 1968), Education Before Verdun (1935), and The Crowning of the King (1937) have become well-received novels of World War I as well. With publication of The Case of Sergeant Grischa Zweig became an international literary figure. Three Soldiers (1921) written by John Dos Passos, was the only American book that could approach the naturalism of Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. In this novel Dos Passos recounts his experiences with an ambulance unit in France during the war. Humphrey Cobb, born in Italy of American parents fought with the Canadian Army in World War I. His magnificent novel Paths of Glory (1935) is another good novel born out of the war and made into an excellent movie (1957) of the same name by Stanley Kubrik, starring Kirk Douglas and Adolphe Menjou. But nothing can surpass Lewis Milestone's movie adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 B&W film) starring Lew Ayres and Louis Wolheim, although a very good film of this novel was made for CBS Television in 1979 (Color) starring Richard Thomas, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasance, Patricia Neal, Dominic Jephcott, plus a host of other good actors.
The reader interested in knowing more about the First World War through literature will find it helpful to begin with these books and the several mentioned motion pictures. I don't think that one could find a better start. I am reluctant to call these novels and movies "anti-war" as is commonly done, a term that has become in my mind an overused cliche'. To think that the underlying theme of most of these novels is anti-war is naive. All wars have exhumed disenchantment and stupidity of varying degrees and sometimes, often really, an author's intentions are misinterpreted. Actions of a particular war in a particular time and place may be viewed in a literary setting that seems to speak of being against war in general, which of course, is a noble endeavor, but many of these same novelists had not written their last words by the time the next "great war" was to begin.
Dom Giovanni
December 6, 2009
