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WWI Literature

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Bubbles1989

New Member
I am currently on a mission for WWI literature, mostly novels as im up in my eyeballs in poetry! Its for my A Level exam in June.
So far i have read:
Her Privates We- Frederic Manning
Birdsong- Sebastian Faulkes
Goodbye to all that- Robert Graves
All quiet on the Western front- Erich Maria Remarque
Any suggestions that any of you have would be great!
Thanks a lot!
By the way im Sophie :)
 
I can't say enough All Quiet on the Western Front. I really enjoyed how the jingoistic display of patriotism was depicted. From the self-organizing to group enlisting, the book featured the very events that happened in regards to efforts to increase recruiting. There have been several films of this one, the black and white version is horrible, I can't remember for the life of me when it was released.

You also need to check out Willa Cather's One of Ours. It was a Pulitzer Prize winner and focuses on a young farmboy who fights in the war. The relationship that he has with his mother and father is sad to read about. Cather did an excellent job of depicting how interconnected farm families are and how everyone has a good deal of responsibility. When you reach the end of it, you get the feeling that while he was brave for fighting and dying on the battlefield, that his life wasn't worth the entire war.
 
The Regeneration trilogy by Pat Barker is a must-read. So much better than Sebastian Faulks.

The books, in order, are: Regeneration, The Eye in the Door, and the Ghost Road. They are fiction, but based on the experience of Siegfried Sasson, the famous WWI poet who had a horrific war and then publicly resigned his commission in protest of the war. It was a famous case. He was classified as 'mentally unsound' as a result. Barker gets at some interesting aspects of traditional British attitudes, as well as giving a very unsentimental view of war.

Sasson's poetry is still well-regarded and some of the most powerful anti-war poetry there is.
 
Thank you for all your suggestion, ill have an enquire!
To Novella: I brought Regeneration yesterday as we watched the film in class and i loved it. Ill have to try and find the other two to complete the trillogy.
 
If you read 'All Quiet on the Western Front', and you are reading strictly WW1 literature, you should probably read it LAST, because it is the standard for WW1 books.
 
Gee, I loved reading Soldier Svejk (above all else, it's got an extraordinary sense of humor).
You could also try Farwell to Arms, Ernst Hemingway.
 
'The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston' by Siegfried Sassoon. Essentially his autobiography, but about the only person in it whose name has not been changed is Dr. Rivers. It's not all about WWI, but it's worth reading the whole thing (it was originally published as a trilogy), as it paints a wonderful picture of a way of life that disappeared after 1918.
 
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