You can't get at the truth by history; you can only get it through novels.
Gerald Brenan, MC
Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tim O'Brien
I've tried to include a full range of fiction here from treatments of historical events, to psychological studies, to mysteries and satire. All of these books can be purchased from Amazon.com in your preferred format. Just click on the white banner in the right column. MH
Siegrfried Sassoon?
ReplyDeleteI don't consider Memoirs of an Infantry Officer true fiction. It's a fictionalized account of Sassoon's own life. A fine read, however.
DeleteI don't agree that "you can't get at truth through history, only through novels"
ReplyDeleteHistory is, or should be, an objective attempt to discover truth. It may struggle to access all the facts, but at least it should try to. I understand that it cannot convey the emotional impact of the war and the suffering; that is another kind of truth. But to access that truth a novel must have been written by someone who had experinced the war themselves - Erich Maria Remarque for instance - or at least have talked closely to genuine veterans. Any other novel can only be the product of someone's imagination.
Well, how do you feel about Emerson's comment, Adrian.
DeleteThanks for the helpful recommendations. A Soldier of the Great War deserves serious consideration for inclusion on the list. It appears the cover for Through the Wheat is for Simmons' and Alexander's nonfiction work and not for Boyd's novel of the same title. Trent Fox
DeleteGood catch, Trent. The cover has been corrected. I enjoyed A Soldier of the Great War, too. After I read it, I just had to get to the Italian Front and did.
DeleteMike: I can see what Emerson is getting at, but perhaps his use of the word "truth" in that sentence is misleading. Fiction can certainly explore human experience, motivations, emotions in a way that objective history might not. But fiction may not be accurate about historical events, and even when it comes to human emotions and experience, only someone who has experienced combat can be trusted to be accurate, and even then his experience may be different from others (cf. the difference in reactions to war between Eric Remarque and Ernst Junger). And fiction can spread misconceptions, such as perpetuating the "lions led by donkeys" trope (Goshawk Squadron does that).
DeleteThank you for this list, Mike. Much to read.
ReplyDelete