Tag Archives: First World War

“Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen [w/ Audio]

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Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
 Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
 Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
 And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
 But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
 Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
 Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! -- An ecstasy of fumbling
 Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
 But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
 And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime. --
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
 As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
 He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace 
 Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
 And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
 His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
 If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
 Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
 Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
 Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, --
 My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
 To children ardent for some desperate glory,
 The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est 
   Pro patria mori.

NOTE: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori is a line written by Horace in Latin that translates to: “It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.”

BOOKS: “Ali and Nino” by Kurban Said

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Ali and Nino: A Love StoryAli and Nino: A Love Story by Kurban Said
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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I read this book as travel literature for a trip to Azerbaijan and was pleased that it both met my needs as travel literature (i.e. offering insight into the local culture(s),) and it turned out to be an engrossing story, as well. You may have caught that “turned out to be.” It’s true that the first one-third to half of the book is a slow-burn on the story front. Through those early chapters, the book is the character-driven, plotless novel one frequently sees among literary fiction. Don’t get me wrong, it is still interestingly written and engaging (if you’re a literary fiction reader,) and it definitely met my needs for travel literature. But just as I’d resigned myself to this character-driven literary fiction formulation, it shifted into being a compelling and even action-packed story.

This is a tale of star-crossed lovers but set in the Caucuses in the WWI era (i.e. the time of the Armenian Genocide, when the Ottoman Empire was in its violent death throes.) Unlike Romeo and Juliet, in which the lovers came from feuding clans that were culturally quite similar, cultural divergence is the crux of the matter for Ali and Nino. While the families of the two kids get along fine enough, Nino is from an aristocratic Georgian family of progressive Western (and Christian) proclivities. The protagonist, Ali, is also from an upper-crust family, but they are of a much more conservative Muslim bent. While Ali, himself, is an educated and moderate personality and somewhat of a bridge between the old world Persian mindset of his family and the liberal European one in which he was educated, he has friends and family that it would not be unfair to call fanatics. So, while the families bless the union, it is ill-fated because the worldviews of Ali and Nino make it so there is no place they can both be happy living, except a Baku that is being contested by the Ottoman Empire and a Russia in the midst of its own transmutation. In Persia, Nino is a soulless possession who is not allowed to interact with anyone but Ali, eunuch and female servants, and her own family when they visit. On the other hand, Ali can’t bear to go to Europe or America, where he’d be so far out of his element. So, they are stuck with a Baku besieged by multiple entities.

The writer made a couple of unconventional but clever choices that I found to be brilliant. I’d highly recommend this book for readers of literary fiction and / or historical fiction.

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“Suicide in the Trenches” by Siegfried Sassoon [w/ Audio]

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Photo by Ernest Brooks (Imperial War Museum)
I knew a simple soldier boy
 Who grinned at life in empty joy,
 Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
 And whistled early with the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
 With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
 He put a bullet through his brain.
 No one spoke of him again.

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
 Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
 Sneak home and pray you'll never know
 The hell where youth and laughter go.

In Flanders Fields by John McCrae

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In Flanders fields the poppies blow
 Between the crosses, row on row,
      That mark our place; and in the sky
      The larks, still bravely singing, fly
  Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
  We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
       Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
          In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
   To you from failing hands we throw
       The torch; be yours to hold it high. 
       If ye break faith with us who die
    We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.

BOOK REVIEW: A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

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A Farewell to ArmsA Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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This novel is set in Italy during World War I. The protagonist, Frederic Henry (like Hemingway, himself) volunteered to drive an ambulance in Italy during the war. The story is informed by, if not based upon, Hemingway’s personal experiences. Central to the story is a romance between Henry and a British nurse named Catherine Barkley. Their tentative flirtations deepen when Henry is wounded and spends a considerable amount of time at the hospital while recuperating. Barkley becomes pregnant with Henry’s child in the middle of the war. Henry returns to service for only a short time before he finds himself in the midst of a chaotic retreat from the swift advance of the Austrians and Germans. This retreat continues to go sour for Henry, leading to a flight for his life as he attempts to get back to Catherine so that he can get them both (plus the unborn child) to safety.

There’s a [variously-attributed] quote about war being: “long periods of interminable boredom punctuated by sheer terror.” This book captures that feel, but even during the moments of quiet from the opening through Henry’s rehab to the weeks hiding out in the Swiss mountains, Hemingway keeps the story engaging by shining a light into the protagonist’s psychology – and, occasionally, through wit. Then there are the thrilling moments like the shelling that wounds Henry or his various narrow escapes.

I found this book to be highly engaging. It has some beautiful language, exemplified by the famously well-composed opening paragraph, mixed with the taut suspense of life in a war zone. If you’re interested in war stories or classic American literature, it’s a must-read.

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