The Sergeant Lamb Novels (Robert Graves Programme) [Hardcover]

Robert Graves (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1999 | ISBN-10: 1857542819 | ISBN-13: 978-1857542813

The life of Sergeant Roger Lamb, a young Dubliner who had served the Royal Welsh Fusiliers during the American War of Independence was the subject of a novelistic enterprise originally published in two parts because of war time paper shortages. The final result is a pair of picaresque novels concerned with the passions and frustrations of a distant war which mirrored many of Graves' own feelings for World War II which was happening around him. As an account of the struggle for independence, the horrors and excitements of war, the two novels were well reviewed and popular when published in the early 1940s. This chance to have both parts of what Graves considered to be a single project in one volume offers the opportunity of access to a literary and historical creation which both opens up the world of the American War of Independence, and the creative life and mind of a great writer of the 20th century.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Carcanet Press Ltd. (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1857542819
• ISBN-13: 978-1857542813
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,737,038 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

ROBERT GRAVES (1895-1985) was an English poet, translator, and novelist, one of the leading English men of letters in the twentieth century. He fought in World War I and won international acclaim in 1929 with the publication of his memoir of the First World War, Good-bye to All That. After the war, he was granted a classical scholarship at Oxford and subsequently went to Egypt as the first professor of English at the University of Cairo. He is most noted for his series of novels about the Roman emperor Claudius and his works on mythology, such as The White Goddess.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb descriptions of C18 British Army Life, May 19, 2011

By 

J. Leonard (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Sergeant Lamb Novels (Robert Graves Programme) (Hardcover)

Robert Graves' Sergeant Lamb novels are a brillant recreation of British army life in the late C18. The story is that Graves, himself a veteran of the Royal Welch [sic] Fusiliers, found the memories of Roger Lamb, a veteran of the regiment from the War of American Independence, and, thinking that the story had been reedited from an evangelist Christian perspective before publication, decided to recreate the "real story". The results is an exciting and informative tale told in C18 English.
The only reason that these novels are not more famous is that they have never been well-received in the US. Graves' recreation of Lamb's story figures the American colonists as rebels and treacherous ingrates, and so contradicts 200 years of American patriotic narrative (he even treats Benedict Arnold with some respect!).

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Perspective Somewhat Boringly Presented, August 30, 2005

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sergeant Lamb Novels (Robert Graves Programme) (Hardcover)

Originally published in England under the title "Sergeant Lamb of the Ninth", this is the first half of Graves' retelling of the life of a British soldier fighting against the American revolutionaries. As regimental historian in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, he had come across the real Sgt. Lamb's record of service. Twenty years later, while living in America, Graves was near broke and casting about for an idea for a popular book when he remembered Sgt. Lamb. He then duly immersed himself in Revolutionary War history to create order to create this faux memoir. This first volume starts by recounting the childhood of the protagonist, an Irish boy raised near Dublin's docks and given to dreams of adventure. Seemingly destined for a life at sea, his hopes are derailed by his father, who has already lost one son in naval battle and refuses to lose the other.

But the boy Lamb finds his way into the military nonetheless, and ends up a redcoat infantryman. The first third or so of the book outlines his path to the army and then training. This is followed by a lengthy background on the American Revolution, from the perspective of a British citizen of the time. For Americans, this is probably the most interesting part of the book -- a quite different perspective on events than one generally receives as a youth. Highlights include the venality of the "Founding Fathers" and the nastiness of the Boston mobs. Once Lamb actually gets to North America, the book started to lose my attention. His picaresque adventures aren't that enthralling, and while some of the detail of daily life in Canada is kind of interesting, it's not enough to grip one. One episode has him sent off to learn the ways of the Indians so that he may return to impart them to the redcoats, who were fairly hapless against the revolutionaries' guerilla tactics. Another plotline is his rivalry with a fellow soldier, revolving around a woman they both wooed in Ireland and the other married. This descends into melodrama of the Thomas Hardy type.

Written in the stilted, formal style of a semi-educated 18th-century Englishman, the prose does a better job of mimicry than of actually being readable. While Lamb's fair-minded assessments of the Continental Army and its success make for a novel perspective, one would have to be greatly interested in Revolutionary War history to make reading this worthwhile. The bits and pieces about British vs. American tactics are decent, but scant. This first book ends with the capture of Lamb and his comrades at the Battle of Saratoga. His escape from prison camp and subsequent adventures are described in "Proceed, Sergeant Lamb", which I will not be reading. There are also editions available which combine the two books.