The Middle Parts of Fortune: Somme and Ancre, 1916 (Twentieth Century Classics) [Mass Market Paperback]

Frederic Manning (Author), Paul Fussell (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1995 | Series: Twentieth Century Classics

First published anonymously in 1929, this book was from the start an underground classic, considered by Hemmingway, Eliot, Pound, T.E.Lawrence, and Arnold Bennett as the ultimate novel of trench warfare, evoking the horror, brutality, futility, nobility, and courage of war.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Born in 1882 in Australia, Manning came to England in 1898. He is best known for "The Middle Parts of Fortune". He died in 1935. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From AudioFile

Stanley McGeagh's low-key, dispassionate narration may at first seem unsuited to a novel set on the horrific Western Front of WWI. But Manning's novel is nothing if not matter-of-fact in its depiction of the lives of ordinary British infantry soldiers who are called upon to fight and die in the cause. Manning is concerned with the ordinariness of life even in the extraordinary situation of war. He details the drudgery, the camaraderie, the animosities, and the longings of soldiers, interspersed, of course, with moments of profound terror and dread. McGeagh's sober, measured reading gets across the notion that even when violence and destruction are the norms, the most mundane and fundamental aspects of living persist. M.O. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics; First Edition edition (January 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140184619
• ISBN-13: 978-0140184617
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,174,916 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book on Men in War, April 27, 2000

By 

history phd grad (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Middle Parts of Fortune (Echoes of War) (Paperback)

This is an unsung classic. Frederic Manning published it anonymously during his lifetime, but he was a poet and essayist of some repute, and it shows in his first class writing style.

The book, published ten years after the end of the First World War, runs along similar lines to the movie "Saving Private Ryan". The first chapter is stunning. We first find the hero (perhaps not quite the right word), Bourne, struggling back to British lines after a battle. You could almost be there such is the writing. Manning then gives a fantastic account of the emptiness and tension of the First World War battlefield as Bourne thinks over the days events that night.

The rest of book follows Bourne and his friends out of the front lines, and through various travails as they recover from the battle, recruit new men, and prepare for an inevitable return to the trenches.

If you have any interest in war, if you wish to understand what the First World War was really like -- it was not all "mud and blood" as the historians would have you believe -- this is the book for you.

It is a novel, but highly autobiographical. It is therefore easy to read and credible.

I give it five stars, and recommend it to all.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars There are few who die well in battle, May 27, 2001

By 

Peter Bowes (Avalon, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Middle Parts of Fortune: Somme and Ancre, 1916 (Twentieth Century Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

Manning's protaginist, Bourne, wanders through this grisly narrative like a ghost. Friend of the enlisted and confidante of the sub-altern and officers, he cadges, scrounges, fights and kills in the mud, towns and trenches of WW1... Bourne is as likeable as any poet or writer is in a classroom of fellow lads, for that is what most of them were.. Yet his compassion and love for the suffering of his fellow men, though understated and pressed down here, betrays the real experiences of this little known Australian writer.. Hemingway wrote " The finest and noblest book of war that I have ever read " ..

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A semi-autobiographical masterpiece, January 17, 2003

By 

P. J Lambert "pjlambert" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Middle Parts of Fortune: Somme and Ancre, 1916 (Twentieth Century Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

A truly remarkable story of the horrors of the trenches in WWI. Manning, an Australian who moved to Britain to pursue his writing, served in WWI as an enlisted man, upon which the book is based. Bourne, the main character, is based upon Manning's experiences in France on the Western Front during WWI.
The novel provides an interesting insight into the lives of the common man in the trench, based on the perspective of a man who is from the upper class. Despite the class difference, Bourne is able to befriend his comrades, while at the same time, engage with the NCOs and officers who are senior to him.
An important element to derive from the book is the horror of the trenches, and the commanality of the experiences of the men who served, despite their social status. Once a man went "over the top" the base instinct of kill or be killed prevailed. Manning grasps this concept and adeptly describes the mechanical routine of sending men to their death, in what today is an inconceivable amount of casualties.
If you are looking for a good read on what life is like in the trenches, this is a great book.
Manning, while not a household name, won the acclaim of writers of his era to include Hemmingway and T.E. Lawrence. It is an enjoyable read and not easy to put down.