WWI novels

This post will be full of completely idiosyncratic thoughts on my recent readings, and not a properly researched post (here is a slightly more useful thread with some decent recommendations, though personally I didn't enjoy Ford Maddox Ford's Parade's End and don't imagine I'll try it out a second time to see if I like it more).  In any case, scattershot or not, I thought I might as well pull them together, since this Sunday will be the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, marking the end of WWI.  There is no question that WWII has much better representation in novels and film, not least because it seemed to serve a larger moral purpose (at least in retrospective almost anything could be justified in stopping Hitler) and wasn't just a stupid war that the various countries stumbled into (and thus not really worthy of being celebrated).

That said, one can always celebrate war coming to an end.  There was an interesting story in the Toronto Star about how there was "fake news" back in 1918 where some reporter thought the war would end on Nov. 7 (not 11) and this led to widespread celebrations, including in Toronto, which then had to be put on hold as it became clear the reporter had jumped the gun.  There is an interesting parallel to this in Faulkner's A Fable, where a mutinying regiment almost brings about a premature end to the war until the generals jump in and restore order.  I've already gone into some detail about how much I disliked A Fable, and I would absolutely not recommend it.  That said, the concepts in the novel are interesting (if Faulkner does strain far too much in referencing every last element of the Christ story) but the execution leaves a lot to be desired!

A much better bet is Timothy Findley's The Wars, which focuses on a young Canadian soldier and the horse from home he more or less follows and tries to protect.*  I have to admit that I didn't latch onto The Wars as much as some have done, but I'll probably reread it one of these days.  As an aside, while I had seen Findley at a reading many years ago, I never did get an autograph from him.  While buying a second-hand autograph is a little bit crass, I will do this under certain circumstances, and I found a reasonably priced autographed copy of The Wars, which I just ordered.  (In addition, a bookstore on the west side has The Telling of Lies, and I'll probably pick that up later in the week.)

I have been meaning to review Billy Bishop Goes to War, both the play (I saw a revival last year at Soulpepper) and the script.  This focuses on the young Canadian pilot who became the most successful fighter pilot against the German air force, even surpassing a few UK pilots.  I'll see if I can carve out some time to review this tomorrow.

Perhaps the most significant literary figure (aside from Faulkner) to really tackle WWI was John Dos Passos.  There are many references to soldiers or former soldiers in The USA Trilogy.  But he dives in even more with One Man's Initiation: 1917 (largely based on his own wartime experience) and Three Soldiers.  These two novels are bundled with Manhattan Transfer in a single Library of America volume. I had really only planned on reading Manhattan Transfer, but I stumbled across an incredible deal and couldn't resist.  I think it will be quite a while before I actually read those two WWI novels, however, but I thought I would at least mention them here.

I think that's really all I had to say on the matter for now, but, as I said, I'll probably review Billy Bishop tomorrow.


* The play (and movie) War Horse is supposedly based on the work (of the same name) by Michael Morpurgo and not The Wars, though if I had been in charge of Findley's estate, I would definitely have asked if there might have been some unauthorized reuse of themes and materials.  Just sayin'...