Not
sure about this one. I am afraid that I took an almost
instant dislike to the man, Arthur Graeme West. His
opening lines in his diary, written soon after enlisting
into the ranks of the Public Schools Battalion in
March 1915, talk about how his sensibilities were
offended by
being there. How his nose and ears were assailed
by what I can only imagine to be a group of non-pubic
schoolboys. He
came across to me as a prig before the end of the
first page and subsequent reading did not greatly
improve my endearment to him.
The first four
sections of the book are composed of extracts from
Arthur's diaries and letters. The first takes us
through his training, his move to France in November
1915 and early times in the trenches. Next we are
back in England, undergoing the tedium and "bull"
of training for a commission. The third is a deep
reflection: he is challenging the war, himself,
the army. Finally we are out in France again, with
Arthur now an officer of the 6th Ox & Bucks.
His
writing is powerful and emotional, full of imagery
and none more so than when he is undergoing what
is clearly inner torment. But he seems to take no
solace from the friendship of pals, pride in his
unit or even the cynicism about war that many men
used as the
liferaft they needed to keep themselves afloat.
His is a very inward-looking, isolated view.
The final section of the book is
a collection of poetry. One piece in particular, "The
night patrol", is particularly admirable and I say
that as someone who does not enjoy war poetry.
Nigel
Jones, in his introduction, calls Arthur Graeme
West an "outstanding witness of the war". I
am not sure. There are passages that are vivid, certainly,
but I found the work introspective and not particularly
insightful.
One other gripe: I
presume it was the author rather than publishers who
chose to call his friends and places A---, B--- and
C--- . The book could perhaps have benefited from some
work to determine who these individuals and places
were.
One thing I can not
fault is Greenhill Books production quality; it is
excellent.
Click
here for all the British Army and WW1 books you might
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