Customer Reviews

The complete memoirs of George Sherston: Memoirs of a fox-hunting man; Sherston's progress; Memoirs of an infantry officer

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I find this book completely compelling, particularly volume 2 (Memoirs of and Infantry Officer). The descriptions of degradation experienced by those who fought in the trenches and their ability to create a sub-culture of derring-do is powerful in its modesty.Sassoon's mounting frustration is skilfully portrayed, especially in his allusion to details about provision for and management of warfare. His ennui is almost palpable on those train journies across France.

The first volume (Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man) is possibly of more interest to those of us born and raised in the parish where Sasson himself lived. I enjoyed playing 'spot-the-location', but must declare that I am in possession of a comprehensive list, produced by Brenchley History Society,of pseudonyms/real names.

The writing in this volume has some of the lyrical quality of his autobiography (The Old Century and Seven More Years - out of print)on which it is based. Rather than a treaties on Hunting, I consider this to be a gentle study of the awakening of Sassoon's poetic sensibilities; the Hunt and the relationships he formed with particular characters was, for him, an early catharsis. They also augur the events and characters in the following volume.

The final volume (Sherston's Progress)is probably most poignant if one is aware that this is, indeed, a thinly veiled autobiography. Sassoon's heroism is, for me, as great beyond the era of World War I as it is within it. This volume should certainly be read within the context of the previous two, but stands alone as a testament to the debt future generations owe to the perseverance of men such as Sassoon.

World War I had a far greater impact on Britain than the US for the obvious reasons that they were in the war for over four years and suffered horrific casualties. The literature produced by that war made a sharp break from what came before, which reflected the feeling in the country that the war had irrevocably changed life in Britain. This is well illustrated in Siegfreid Sassoon's "The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston," a fictional version of his own experiences. The first part covers Sherston's pre-war life, with his obsession with fox-hunting. This is so well written that you will enjoy it even if you don't have the least interest in the subject.

The next section, "Memoirs of an Infantry Officer" covers his experiences in World War I, during he is highly decorated. The horrors of the war, which many of Sassoon's class thought would be a great adventure, are accurately portrayed. Eventually he becomes disillusioned with the war, and writes a letter denouncing it that could have led to his court-martial. A close friend (Robert Graves in real life) gets him classified as having a mental disorder and he is sent off to a hospital to recuperate.

This book is deeply moving and is one of a handful of books that changed the way that the English-speaking world views war. Sassoon's writing style is plain on the surface, but its plainness makes the emotional impact all the greater.

I had heard of this book many years before I was tempted to read it, and now I truly regret my lack of interest in Sassoon up to this point. He is a great poet, but as a memoirist he absolutely sparkles. Robert Graves' book, "Goodbye to all that", often described as a classic, is a mere string of unrelated anecdotes compared with Sassoon's modest, humorous, poignant account of his own youth, which takes us from his childhood in Kent to the end of his military career after the First World War. Don't hesitate to read this book, especially if you enjoy seeing the English language used at its very best.

Sassoon's three volumes wrapped up into one take the reader into another world. First volume describes life in the English country, where a young George Sherston becomes completely immersed in fox hunting. To say he becomes consumed by this is an understatement. Sassoon's intimate depictions of the countryside, to include the life of a country gentleman are so detailed you can clearly "see" and feel how young George felt.

Volume 2, Memoirs of an infantry officer take George into the trenches of France, where again with graphic details, the horror and calamity of the fighting in WWI are brought to our attention. Of note is the latter part of the volume where Sherston's morals are challenged, and how he deals with this mental dilemma.

Volume 3 takes Sherston from the trenches of France, to a stint in Ireland and Palestine, but ultimately back to France where the novel is brilliantly wrapped up.

Sassoon's experiences in the war have given us perhaps one of the greatest novels from the era. The writing is absolutely outstanding and will give you pause to put the book down.

This book-- it is actually a chronological series of three novels, though it is packaged here as one book-- starts slowly by current standards. In fact, the only reason anyone would want to read the first novel "Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man", is as necessary preparation for the next two. It is as boring as the prewar life of George Sherston, the novel's main character. By the second book "Memoirs of an Infantry Officer", things begin to speed up. Sherston's character grows under the pressures of command; the lazy country gentleman finds himself capable of courage, creativity, and moral outrage. By the third novel, "Sherston's Progress"; Sherston has become a decorated hero, a poet, and an antiwar protester. These novels, by the British poet Siegfreid Sassoon, are a fictionalization of his wartime experiences and friendship with the writer Robert Graves. The same events are covered from a different perspective in Graves own wartime memoir, "Farewell to All That". As powerful in its own way as Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front"; this is a book worth searching out and reading-- even with the slow first section.

Sassoon's thinly-veiled autobiography is one of the finest accounts of a soldier's life during World War One that I've come across, and, indeed, is one of my favorite autobiographies.

And, in addition to his life-during-wartime memoir ("Memories of an Infantry Officer"), the descriptions of Sassoon's life in England both before and after the "war to end all wars" are also finely detailed, giving each of these memoirs a life and vividness seldom found in similar books.

All in all, these memoirs are profound, moving, and well worth reading!

(I'd also recommend picking up Robert Graves "Goodbye to All That" for a look at the same period (and often the same characters!) through different eyes.)

A rhetorical question. I've looked for these memoirs off and on in used book shops for years, chiefly because I remembered the first, foxhunting volume so fondly. I don't agree at all with the other reviewers that this section of the "memoirs" is dull. If you like animals or learning about lost sports and conventions--alpine climbing when it was a club activity, say, or round-the-world sailing--you'll enjoy Sassoon's description of hunts and hunters, especially those of the equine sort.

I've not much to add to the previous excellent review except to mention a few things that struck me:

- The fox-hunting, golfing and cricketing stuff really is immensely tedious unless you happen to like that sort of thing. Just when you think there's no chance of it recurring, there's another dose of it in the third part, "Sherston's Progress".

- Sherston/Sassoon's narrative is overly self-conscious. He doesn't need to explain the way he was thinking so much as it's already perfectly clear from the events he describes. It's particularly irritating that he spends so much time excusing his Declaration against the War.

- The gay sub-text is well concealed.

- Sassoon uses the real names of people who were dead when he wrote the novels and pseudonyms for those who weren't ("Cromlech" for "Graves", for instance.) At our distance in time from the Great War this is either an amusing guessing game or an irritation, depending upon your p! oint of view. Perhaps some enterprising person could produce an annotated edition.

- Pat Barker's "Regeneration" is magnificently complementary to these novels.