Siegfried Sassoon is probably best known as a poet of the First World War and the patient of Dr W H R Rivers from Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy, or as one of the main characters in Gillies Mackinnon's film of Regeneration.

With the First World War very much in the minds of present day readers, this account of the lost pre-War life in England for a well-to-do and leisured young man beautifully evokes a lifestyle and countryside we ourselves can hardly imagine. The Kent and Sussex countryside are lovingly depicted by Sassoon in Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man and his account of the "Flower Show Match" is beloved of cricketing enthusiasts. The book covers the childhood of the poet in a fictionalised form, through the alter ego of George Sherston. Although Sassoon orphans himself in this account of his childhood, we can still see the love of the English countryside that comes out in Sassoon's early poetry, his pleasure in fox-hunting and playing cricket, and the beginnings of the man who was to become the bravely foolhardy officer of the First World War.

This book is the first of a trilogy covering the life of the protagonist George Sherston, the other two titles being Memoirs of an Infantry Officer and Sherston's Progress. Published by Faber and Gwyer, 1928

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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. Published by Faber and Faber, 1930.

This final volume of the Sherston trilogy opens with Sassoon/Sherston's arrival at Craiglockhart War Hospital. Following his protest against the continuation of the War (see Memoirs of an Infantry Officer), Sassoon was sent before a medical board, and on the evidence of his friend Robert Graves (Sassoon's pseudonym for Graves is "David Cromlech"), was then sent to Craiglockhart in Edinburgh. Here Sassoon becomes a patient of W H R Rivers (of Regeneration fame). It is here also that Sassoon met Wilfred Owen (although this famous meeting is missing from this book owing to Sassoon denying Sherston his poetic side). After 6 months Sassoon rejoins his Regiment and, after a brief spell in Ireland (mostly spent fox-hunting) and an even briefer spell in Palestine, Sassoon returns to the trenches of France. He goes out on a fool-hardy daylight reconnaissance and is accidentally shot in the head by one of his own sergeants. This results in Sassoon being invalided out of the Army and the novel closes with Sassoon's doctor and mentor, Rivers, arriving at his bedside to "put things right".

This volume of the Sherston trilogy is not as good as the previous two. The section of narrative in Palestine largely consists of diary entries (based on Sassoon's own diary entries). It has been suggested that Sassoon never intended to write a trilogy but owing to the way he ended Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, and to his desire to try to get the War out of his system he needed to write a third novel. Given that Sassoon then went on to write three volumes of pure autobiography, this hypothesis has some merit. I would recommend reading this book more for the sake of completeness than for its literary merit. Published by Faber and Faber, 1936.

Amazon US and UK are listing Sherston's Progress as out of print but you can order Complete Memoirs of George Sherston, containing all three of the Sherston titles, from Amazon US or Amazon UK instead.

This is the first of Sassoon's autobiographies, and covers his childhood in Kent, with his two brothers, Michael and Hamo. It invokes the Edwardian life that many consider idyllic. Published by Faber and Faber, 1938.

This is the second of Sassoon's autobiographies, and covers his youth, including his time at Cambridge, and his brief spell in London prior to his enlistment for the First World War. Published by Faber and Faber, 1942.

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This is the third volume of Sassoon's autobiographies. This book follows Sassoon's fortunes after the Great War, including a chronicle of his trip to America on a poetry reading/speaking tour. It covers the many meetings he had with famous authors (both poets and novelists) in the two years following the end of the War. It also carries an account of his meetings with Wilfred Owen at Craiglockhart War Hospital, Edinburgh. Published by Faber and Faber, 1945.

This is Sassoon's own selection of his poetry, including the famous War Poems. The collection also includes some of his earlier lyrical poems and his later poetry, which explores his conversion to the Roman Catholic church at the age of 70. Published by Faber and Faber, 1947.

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This biography of Siegfried Sassoon was written before Sassoon's death and as a result is more of a literary study than a biography, since Sassoon would not give the author permission to write a more biographical book. If you are looking for a critical study of Sassoon's literary output, this book will provide it. Published by Oxford University Press, 1966.

This is a more recent biographical study of Sassoon. Paul Moeyes has taken Sassoon's assertion that his writing is his biography as the starting point for this book. He looks in detail at both the poetry and prose that Sassoon wrote. Published by Macmillan Press Ltd., 1997

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This is the first volume of a two-volume account of the life of First World War poet and autobiographer Siegfried Sassoon. This weighty first volume takes the reader up to the end of Sassoon's participation in the First World War. It is particularly detailed on the background of his mother's family, the engineering dynasty of the Thornycrofts. Anyone who has read either Michael Thorpe's (now sadly out-of-print) account of Sassoon, Siegfried Sassoon : A Critical Study (OUP, 1967) or Paul Moeyes's more recent biography Siegfried Sassoon : Scorched Glory (Macmillan, 1997) will already be familiar with much of the material in Moorcroft Wilson's book, and in particular, the details of his father's family.

The Making of a War Poet, does, however, cover the background of Sassoon's homosexuality in more detail than either of the aforementioned accounts did. It will be interesting to see what Moorcroft Wilson makes of his lengthy relationship with Stephen Tennant and his marriage to Hester Gatty.

Fans of Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy (Viking, 1996) may be put off buying this biography by its price - particularly in view of the fact that this first volume covers much the same ground that Pat Barker has covered in her trilogy, and that Sassoon himself covered in his many semi-autobiographical and autobiographical accounts of his life. (See titles listed above.)

However if you have the price of the book to spare and time to read it then you will probably enjoy this book. Myself, I shall be interested to read volume two when it appears. Published by Gerald Duckworth & Co., Ltd., 1998

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Buy the paperback edition of The Making of a War Poet from Amazon UK.

Some forty years ago as an undergraduate, John Stuart Roberts discovered a volume of the collected poems of Siegfried Sassoon in a second-hand bookshop in Cambridge. His love of Sassoon's work eventually led to this newly published biography of Siegfried Sassoon. Sassoon once declared that his "real biography" was his poetry. This is a rather disingenuous remark from that inveterate memoirist "George Sherston" (Sassoon's fictional alter ego). Nor has it deterred several writers from attempting to produce a biography of the poet and author who is probably best known for his satirical, anti-war poetry of the First World War.

The first attempt at a biography was made by Michael Thorpe when Sassoon was in his eightieth year. As Thorpe points out, for the second half of his life, Sassoon was a "reticent revealer of himself" (Sassoon used the phrase originally of John Galsworthy). Owing to Sassoon's reluctance to help, Thorpe produced a literary-critical study, rather than a standard biography, as the title Siegfried Sassoon: A Critical Study indicates. Published in 1967 by Oxford University Press this book is now sadly out of print.

It was another thirty years before a second attempt was made to write a biography (although Dame Felicitas Corrigan produced Sassoon's 'spiritual' biography, Siegfried Sassoon: A Poet's Pilgrimage in 1973). Paul Moeyes had access to more of Sassoon's personal papers, including three volumes of diaries (covering the years 1915-1918, 1920-1922 and 1923-1925) edited and published by Sassoon's literary executor, Sir Rupert Hart-Davis, in the 1980s. In spite of Moeyes' greater access to material, his book, Siegfried Sassoon: Scorched Glory is subtitled A Critical Study as Thorpe's was thirty years earlier. Moeyes makes more of Sassoon's sexuality than did Thorpe, largely because homosexuality was still illegal in 1967, but also because Thorpe had little access to any papers that covered this aspect of Sassoon's private life.

1998 saw the publication of the second biography of Sassoon in two years. This, however, was not billed as a critical study, although it is subtitled The Making of a War Poet. Significantly, Jean Moorcroft Wilson's biography is also subtitled volume one; such is the wealth of material now available to would-be biographers (note I do not say readily available because access to some material is restricted) that Moorcroft Wilson is producing a second volume. The first volume of Moorcroft Wilson's biography is dense, scholarly and very long (600 pages). Since the first volume only covers the first 32 years of Sassoon's life, to the end of his war service, and given that Sassoon lived another fifty years after the war, one wonders whether Moorcroft Wilson will find a third volume is necessary.

As with buses, Sassoon fans waited thirty years for a new biography and then three came along at once. The third and most recent biography of Sassoon is just over 300 pages long, reasonably priced and will probably appeal to the general biography reading public more than did the others.

John Stuart Roberts has written a friendly, informative account of Sassoon's life in which the author's love of Sassoon's work shines through the simplicity of his prose style. Entitled simply Siegfried Sassoon this biography conducts the reader through the poet's 81 years at a gentle pace. Since Roberts has covered the whole of Sassoon's life in one volume, readers will find much new material in this biography; doubtless most of it will also appear in Moorcroft Wilson's second volume, with her own slant on its meaningfulness.

Although Roberts' book is not a critical study of Sassoon's work, it does take a look at both his poetry and prose work, tracing Sassoon's development both as a poet and as a prose writer, and discussing Sassoon's habit of testing the waters by means of privately printed limited editions of his poetry. It was only the advent of the war and his active service that allowed him to find the courage to publish his poetry more widely, although it was less confidence in his poetry and more a fear of dying a largely unknown poet that prompted Sassoon to approach Robbie Ross for help in finding a publisher. The result of Ross' efforts was The Old Huntsman and other poems published in 1917 by Heinemann to critical acclaim.

Roberts gives the reader a lengthy account of Sassoon's long term relationship with Stephen Tennant, dealing thoughtfully with Sassoon's sexuality. He also gives an account of Sassoon's marriage to Hester Gatty in 1933 and their subsequent separation in the early 1940s, with Sassoon required to share the blame for the breakdown of their marriage. Roberts also enumerates the varied fortunes of Sassoon's personal relationships with his friends. Although not unsympathetic, Sassoon was never overly patient, and all his friends suffered from a period of estrangement from a man who was emotionally insecure (immature even) for much of his life.

The penultimate chapter of Roberts' book deals with Sassoon's long period of intense disconsolation following the breakdown of his marriage, during which time Sassoon's was desperately searching for something that was missing from his emotional and spiritual life. This search and the attendant disconsolation ended in 1957 with Sassoon's conversion to the Roman Catholic faith. As with other personal matters, Sassoon attempted to keep his conversion a secret; as Roberts recounts, he was shocked when a reporter from the Sunday Express turned up on his doorstep wanting an interview. Sassoon declined to give an interview, and spent some time explaining some of his story to the reporter in the apparent belief that his request for privacy would be respected. Unsurprisingly the reporter produced a story for the paper, and Sassoon wrote to The Times to protest. Ironically it was The Times that had received Sassoon's last letter of protest - then it was his statement against the continuation of the war, some forty years earlier. John Junor, editor of the Sunday Express was unrepentant, unsurprisingly, pointing out that the reporter's 'interview' with Sassoon had covered "four closely written pages in shorthand", the implication being that if Sassoon had really wanted the matter kept quiet he should have said nothing to the reporter in the first instance.

The easily readable style of Roberts' biography puts it within reach of the majority of readers, Sassoon fans or not, and the price more or less puts it within reach of those studying WW1 poetry at school. If you enjoy reading biographies or you are a Sassoon fan, this book is well worth its price, and is an enjoyable and interesting read. Published by Richard Cohen Books, 1999. (The cover picture is a reproduction of Glyn Philpot's 1917 painting of Sassoon produced just a few weeks before Sassoon made his now (in)famous protest.)

Buy Siegfried Sassoon from Amazon UK (hardback edition) or buy the paperback edition from Amazon UK.

For my interview with John Stuart Roberts visit my Author Interview page.

The Sassoons - Stanley Jackson

This is the story of Sassoon's Jewish ancestors, known as "the Rothschilds of the East". Sassoon's family had a spectacular trading empire based in Bombay which gradually opened branches in Europe as well. The first Sassoon to wear Western clothes came to England in 1858. This book is a fascinating portrait of a dynasty - well worth reading. Published by Heinemann, 1968.

This is a recent biography of Rivers and includes extracts from some of his books as well as a detailed account of the busy and varied life of this anthropologist, psychiatrist and ethnologist. Published by Sutton Publishing Ltd, 1997.

Robbie Ross - Jonathan Fryer

This is a new biography of one of Sassoon's literary mentors (Eddie Marsh and Edmund Gosse being the other two 'Men of Letters' who most influenced Sassoon's poetry writing). Ross was a Canadian authority on art, literary executor of Oscar Wilde (and a great friend of Wilde's acting as his proof-reader, critic and amanuensis, amongst other things), and a literary journalist. (For more information see my brief biography of Robbie Ross.) Published by Constable Robinson, 2000.

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This is an interesting account of the last year in the life of Wilfred Owen, including his famous meeting with Sassoon at Craiglockhart War Hospital, Sassoon's encouragement of Owen's poetry, and Owen's eventual return to the Western Front followed by his tragic, but brave, death a week before the Armistice. Published by Constable, 1992.

Based on over thirty years of wide-ranging research, Dominic Hibberd's new biography of Wilfred Owen has been described as authorative and richly-detailed. It is the first full biogprahy to have been published since Jon Stallworthy's 1974 offering. Published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2002. For a detailed review and how to buy a copy of this book, see the reviews page.

Robert Graves is best know for his masterpieces "I,Claudius" and assorted works dealing with ancient Rome. He is also know as a war poet. Goodbye to All That is Graves autobiography up to 1929. He covers his youth in Victorian/Edwardian England, including holidays in Germany to visit his mother's relatives. Also covered is his life at Charterhouse School and the many experiences there. His restlessness and rebelliousness is apparent at an early age.

After graduating from Charterhouse in spring of 1914, he is saved from having to go to Oxford to study by the outbreak of the First World War. He enlists in the Royal Welch Fusiliers and is given a commission as a second lieutenant. A major section of the book deals with his experiences in the war, some funny, some tragic, all leaving a lasting impression on Graves.

He chronicles his friendship with Siegfried Sassoon, and Sassoon's near court-martial for his protest against the continuation of the war. Sassoon became a patient of Dr. W. H. R. Rivers at Craiglockhart Hospital in Scotland, where Graves visited him, taking the opportunity to talk to Rivers himself on personal matters.

Graves gives some very harrowing accounts of trench life and small unit actions that he was a part of along with his multiple wounding in the fighting. My criticism of this part of his book centres around a lack of perspective of which engagements he is talking about. It seems to be written in a forced style of writing, as if exorcising some demons.

Following the war, Graves is invalided out of the service and finally goes to Oxford to pursue his studies. During this period he marries and starts a family. While at Oxford he became friends with T.E. Lawrence and gives a very personal glimpse of a rather enigmatic character. He also got to know Thomas Hardy, already late in his years who has difficulty understanding the new writers and their angst.

The book ends with a teaching assignment in Colonial Egypt and the crumbling of his marriage. Although many memoirs were written after the war, this one certainly stands out as a masterpiece. Aside from being well written, it is also an excellent chronicle of the stark contrasts of Western Society from late in the Victorian Age, the war, and the aftermath. It should be of interest to an student of the Great War or literature. Published by Jonathon Cape, 1929. (Review by Mark Baldwin, USA.)

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