Brilliant in its stark depiction of trench warfare in World War I, this lost classic was privately printed in a limited edition in 1930. British censors initially suppressed the short novel because of its tough antiwar views and sympathetic portrayals of German soldiers, and even today's readers may be unprepared for its scenes of horrific battlefield carnage and men driven to madness by relentless psychological stress. Providing a new view of an underappreciated Canadian author, the book also stands as a fascinating addition to the comparatively small shelf of literature by writers who fought in the Great War.
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--This text refers to the
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Editorial Reviews
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"Hanley is possibly one of the best novelists writing in the English language today, and should be recognized for his honesty and ability to deal directly with life." —William Faulkner, Times Literary Supplement
"Why are these men in hell? Mr. Hanley leaves us to find the answer. But what force and vitality there are in this presentation of men driven to madness under inconceivable stress of modern war." —Richard Aldington, author, Images of War: A Book of Poems
About the Author
James Hanley was a Canadian author best known in the 1930s and 1940s for his many detective novels. His eventful early life included a childhood in Dublin, jumping ship in New Brunswick as a 15-year-old during World War I, enlistment in the Canadian army, and deployment to the European theater. Bruce Meyer is the author of more than 20 books, including The Golden Thread: A Reader's Journey Through the Great Books and seven collections of poetry. He lives in Toronto.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
The war novel to end them all,
This review is from: The German Prisoner (Exile Classics series) (Paperback)
This is a slender book, a reprint of an obscure short novel by a British-Canadian writer. The book was published in 1930 and is a fictional take on WWI. But even if you've read recent war memoirs, or watched films by well-known directors, about WWII or Vietnam or the interminable operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, this book will shock you.
In a very straightforward and effective way Hanley recounts the thoughts and experiences of two soldiers, a British man from Manchester and an Irishman. There is no camaraderie, or nationalistic bonding here, just two confused men who get lost in No Man's Land and "capture" a German who had surrendered himself to them. Unspeakable cruelty is described and acted out by the two British soldiers on their "enemy" prisoner (and his corpse), until their true enemy is finally found in each other. I have never read a book like this in English. It turns in on itself in such a devastating way. Why isn't this book an anti-war classic? It is unbelievable to think anyone could write about war without having read "The German Prisoner" first. Unlike most war stories, there is no glorifying violence to pretend to condemn it. This short book is a scalpel cutting the mind.
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