Product Description

A fictionalised autobiography of the period between the spring of 1916 and the summer of 1917, in which the story moves from the trenches to the Fourth Army School, to Morlancourt and a raid, and then to the Battle of the Somme.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #67654 in Books
• Published on: 1974-02-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 236 pages

Customer Reviews

One of the classics of World War One fiction.
Siegfried Sassoon's Memoirs of an Infantry Officer is a classic of WW1 fiction. Largely based on Sassoon's real-life experiences, it is a detailed account of one soldier's life in the trenches of France. It recounts, in the guise of Sassoon's alter-ego, George Sherston, Sassoon's transition from the eagerly patriotic "happy warrior" to the angry anti-war poet (although Sherston is denied the experience of being a poet). The book recounts Sassoon's happy time spent at the Fourth Army School in Flixecourt, the loss of his friend "Dick Tiltwood" (Sassoon's pseudonym for David Thomas), his attempts at revenge on the Germans for Tiltwood's death and his decision to protest against the continuation of the War. The novel continues where "Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man" left off, and is the second of the Sherston trilogy. Although a fictional account of Sassoon's experiences, this book nevertheless presents a clear picture of what life was like for some of the soldiers on the Western Front.

An essential part of the Great War Canon
Although the language has, perhaps, become a little dated, this is a wonderfully humane and earnest book. A fictionalised account of Sassoon's war and to be read alongside Robert Graves' Goodbye to All That. Highly recommended from a social and literary viewpoint, you'll be able to spot characters such as Graves and Bertrand Russsell who are thinly veiled behind the fiction. This volume takes us to the point at which Sassoon (or Sherston as he is here) was admitted to Craiglockhart Hospital where, effectively, his war ended. Includes wonderful accounts of a serene English life before the aftermath and scale of the Great War's tragedy was fully revealed.