- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: The History Press Ltd; New Ed edition (28 Feb 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0750936401
- ISBN-13: 978-0750936408
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.2 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 530,585 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
This starkly powerful novel of one man's experiences in the First World War captures to the full the grim experiences of the ordinary man caught up in a conflict over which he has no control. John Bullock is the archaetypal common soldier, fighting out of blind patriotism for a cause he does not understand, living through the bewilderment of his brutal initiation into army life, and finally facing the terrors of trench warfare on the battlefields of France. Illustrated with the original lino-cuts of William Kermode, this book draws upon Henry Williamson's own war experiences, and the combination of the text and illustrations creates a vivid and unforgettable portrayal of the war machine.
About the Author
Henry Williamson is a very well known and respected writer. best known for his 'Tarka the Otter'book. He also wrote 'The Chronicles of Ancient Sunlight' a series of books which also fictionalise his own experiences during the Great War. He died in 1977.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have read many many books on the Great War. Some of these have described military tactics relating to particular battles but, by far, the most interesting (for me) have been the soldiers' own diaries or books recalling their experiences on the Western Front. I have often wondered how it must have felt going up the line for the first time and being in the midst of a shell storm. The noise, the sights, the sounds?
I will never actually know of course but this book must be the closest approximation I've come across. Williamson's descriptive writing is stunning. The sounds interweave with colour which interweaves with thoughts and sensations. The confusion, the noise, the fear, the not-knowing and the smells all come alive in this simple book.
Far and away, one of the best books I've read on WW1.
I will never actually know of course but this book must be the closest approximation I've come across. Williamson's descriptive writing is stunning. The sounds interweave with colour which interweaves with thoughts and sensations. The confusion, the noise, the fear, the not-knowing and the smells all come alive in this simple book.
Far and away, one of the best books I've read on WW1.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Among many great books about the horrors of trench warfare on the Western Front, this may be one of the most unusual.
It began as a story-less collection of linocuts (a popular alternative to wood-engraving, or metal-plate etching, during the early decades of the Twentieth century: linoleum was readily available as a robust, cheap floor-covering, before vinyl: linoleum had a backing of hessian-fabric, and a firm plastic-like "pastry" layer, often coloured or patterned: simple cutting tools could produce stark outlines, with the quality of silhouettes combined with stained-glass windows) by an Australian artist -- a survivor of the Western Front.
The linocuts presented something akin to Hogarth's "The Rake's Progress": almost a wordless graphic novel, showing foot-soldiers and the trenches, and behind the lines, in stark black and white.
This was, shortly after World War I, the era of Expressionism in art.
Henry Williamson was asked by a publisher, interesting in making a book based on the linocuts, to offer some commentary, based on his own experiences as a soldier at the Western Front.
Instead of descriptive captions, Williamson created a totally new coherent story, with the result that the book became a unique fictional account of the Western Front, hand-illustrated by a fellow-soldier.
What would have been a gallery of unconnected images became a brutal exploration of the effects of battle and the appalling conditions of life in, behind, and beyond the trenches, on simple men.
Perhaps only Henri Barbusse's "Under Fire" comes as close in it savagery (think of the aftermath of the final battle, when bodies of friends are found in non-man's land split in halves), or the similarly fictional images from the classic early black-and-white film of "All Quiet on the Western Front", where the hand-to-hand hacking and stabbing of crazed, desperate men strikes hard into the reader's or viewer's consciousness.
Elsewhere, extensively, Williamson wrote about, and around his own experiences of the trenches, especially in his "Chronicles of Ancient Sunlight" sequence. But this seemingly simple short illustrated book encapsulates with great ferocity what must have been the stark, cruel realities.
John Gough -- Deakin University -- JAGough49@gmail.com
It began as a story-less collection of linocuts (a popular alternative to wood-engraving, or metal-plate etching, during the early decades of the Twentieth century: linoleum was readily available as a robust, cheap floor-covering, before vinyl: linoleum had a backing of hessian-fabric, and a firm plastic-like "pastry" layer, often coloured or patterned: simple cutting tools could produce stark outlines, with the quality of silhouettes combined with stained-glass windows) by an Australian artist -- a survivor of the Western Front.
The linocuts presented something akin to Hogarth's "The Rake's Progress": almost a wordless graphic novel, showing foot-soldiers and the trenches, and behind the lines, in stark black and white.
This was, shortly after World War I, the era of Expressionism in art.
Henry Williamson was asked by a publisher, interesting in making a book based on the linocuts, to offer some commentary, based on his own experiences as a soldier at the Western Front.
Instead of descriptive captions, Williamson created a totally new coherent story, with the result that the book became a unique fictional account of the Western Front, hand-illustrated by a fellow-soldier.
What would have been a gallery of unconnected images became a brutal exploration of the effects of battle and the appalling conditions of life in, behind, and beyond the trenches, on simple men.
Perhaps only Henri Barbusse's "Under Fire" comes as close in it savagery (think of the aftermath of the final battle, when bodies of friends are found in non-man's land split in halves), or the similarly fictional images from the classic early black-and-white film of "All Quiet on the Western Front", where the hand-to-hand hacking and stabbing of crazed, desperate men strikes hard into the reader's or viewer's consciousness.
Elsewhere, extensively, Williamson wrote about, and around his own experiences of the trenches, especially in his "Chronicles of Ancient Sunlight" sequence. But this seemingly simple short illustrated book encapsulates with great ferocity what must have been the stark, cruel realities.
John Gough -- Deakin University -- JAGough49@gmail.com
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