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Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth - John Garth

To most people, the phrase 'First World War literature' brings to mind such names as Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Robert Graves, Edmund Blunden or Rupert Brooke, but very few people would immediately think of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Although famous for the classic children's tale, The Hobbit, and the epic fantasy for adults, The Lord of the Rings, it is possible that many of those who love Middle-earth are still unaware of Tolkien's brief, yet arguably significant, service in the trenches of the Western Front. John Garth, in this book, argues, from the subtitle The Threshold of Middle-earth to the postscript, that Tolkien's mythology owes much to the influence of the First World War.

Wilfred Owen: A New Biography - Dominic Hibberd

Before I picked up Dominic Hibberd's comprehensive new biography, I admit to having had no more than a sketchy knowledge of the details of Wilfred Owen's life. To me, he was the shy, sensitive soul who made his diffident approach to Siegfried Sassoon at Craiglockhart in 1917, the stammering, troubled protagonist of Stephen Macdonald's play, Not about heroes.

This book introduces us to another Owen: the rather callous teenager who belittled the efforts of his younger siblings, the boy who was so proud of his success in matriculation that he paraded around Shrewsbury in a cap and gown, the youth who told his French landlady that his father was a baronet - and persuaded the old man to go along with the charade. When one thinks about it, it's obvious that Owen must have had other sides to his character; without them, he could never have developed the sardonic edge that makes his war poetry so deeply emotive.

Mr Hibberd labours hard to throw into doubt most of what was previously written about the poet by his younger brother, Harold. The result is unflattering to the latter, who comes across as a snob and a prude, despite the author's protestations to the contrary. Harold was emotionally damaged by a feeling of exclusion from the Owen family circle, and particularly from the close relationship between Wilfred and their mother. Susan Owen herself fares even worse, being directly blamed for many of Wilfred's less attractive qualities. At times Mr Hibberd seems not to see how his criticisms of Susan for her "(s)mothering" of her eldest son may lead to a picture of the poet quite at odds with the one he aims to present.

In places, it is not clear whether the misogyny attributed to Owen is really his own or his biographer's: "Occasionally the nursing sister looked in to give shrill orders, her heels clacking irritatingly on the floor. He preferred the deferential calm of the male orderlies, smart young soldiers who did most of the work." Are these Wilfred's words, or Hibberd's ?

One of this biography's stated intentions is to demonstrate that Wilfred Owen was homosexual. This is an area where, in my opinion, Dominic Hibberd fails to produce the promised evidence. The nearest he comes to it is in describing Owen's introduction, by Siegfried Sassoon, into the openly gay circle of Robert Ross - and even then the evidence for Owen's having been sexually active is very limited. We learn that he was "seduced" by Charles Scott Moncrieff, but also that he found Moncrieff's subsequent advances distasteful and embarrassing. Most of the phrases from letters and poems that are quoted in the text are open to alternative interpretations. In fact, several of the episodes described in the book lead to the opposite conclusion from that drawn by the author. I'm not, of course, suggesting that he is wrong; merely that the "evidence" which survives is far from being incontrovertible.

One service this biography does perform is to emphasise the contribution to of Owen's doctor at Craiglockhart to the poet's recovery of his mental health. Arthur Brock, whose devotion to his duties has tended to be overshadowed by the more illustrious reputation of his colleague, Rivers, seems to have had quite an individual approach to treating the officers sent to him. Limited space is given to Brock, however, because Dominic Hibberd is now ready to move on to Sassoon.

As secretary of the Siegfried Sassoon Fellowship, it would be wrong of me not to comment on the portrayal of Sassoon and the account of his relationship with Owen given in this book. It is a curiously colourless one. Although it would be wrong to expect an in-depth discussion of Sassoon's own merits in a book about Owen, the impression given is that Owen originally latched on to the older man for no better reason than that he was a poet. That doesn't reflect well on the subject of the biography.

As I finished reading the last page, despite feeling that I now knew a lot more about Owen, I can't honestly say that I felt I understood him more deeply. My own fault, perhaps, for not picking up more of the subliminal messages. In all fairness, the task of writing the life story of a man who died at twenty-five is an unenviable one. Wilfred Owen was only just maturing; much of his early life, including his poetry, betrays the same naiveté and callowness displayed by Sassoon in the days before the Great War. A would-be biographer inevitably has to scrape the barrel for new insights, and, as the book progresses, the reader has a strong sense of Owen's life slipping relentlessly out of his grasp before he has a chance to become a really interesting human being. (Review by Deborah Fisher, Wales)

Literature

Not So Quiet . . . Step-daughters of the War - Helen Zenna Smith

Helen Zenna Smith is the pseudonym of Evadne Price who served as an ambulance driver in France during the FWW. This totally compelling fictionalised account of a woman's experience of the War should be ranked alongside E. M. Remarque's 'All Quiet on the Western Front', Siegfried Sassoon's 'Memoirs of an Infantry Officer' or Edmund Blunden's 'Undertones of War'. The value of the experiences of women who saw active service during the FWW are beginning to be recognised in academic circles thanks to the work of feminist critics, but it is time that such recognition came from the general public as well, and this book is one of many that is capable of bringing those experiences to wider attention. A wonderfully written book that is worth reading.

History

The First Day on the Somme - Martin Middlebrook

In these days of over used superlatives the words classic and monumental dim in the description of this work. The fact that the book was originally written in 1971 and has never gone out of print speaks for its endurance as a major text on FWW. In virtually every work dealing with the Battle of the Somme, Middlebrook's book is cited as one of, if not, the authoritative work on the battle. Even for a reader with only a passing interest in the Somme or FWW in general this book is a must read.

The book starts as a history of Kitchener's New Army, the men's enlistments, training and backgrounds leading up to the battle. He takes the personal histories of 10 men whose units were all on the line and engaged in the first day's battle. The men vary in age, background, class and rank to give an in depth look at the army. He does shift focus, rather easily, to give the reader insight into the goings on at the brigade, division, corps and army level so that no stone is left unturned.

While focusing on the men, he gives the reader information on the structure of the army, their pay, rations and lives. For anyone unfamiliar with the British Arm this is very helpful information. The plan and ideas are laid out leading up to the exploding of the mines under the German lines at 7:20 AM 1 July, 1916. The events of the day begin with Zero Hour and the slaughter that occurred in the German wire on so many fronts. The day is then broken up into sequential segments and the events of the 10 soldiers are followed, as are the activities of many others.

Interesting enough is the German perspective that is given in the battle. In so many books on the war, the perspective is given only to one side. While the stories of the German defenders do not outnumber those of the British soldiers, they are presented and relevant in detail.

Although the battle went on into November 1916, the first day of the Somme was the defining day of not only the battle but the needless slaughter of so many young British and Empire troops.

Following the details of the day, the rest of the book is a critical analysis of the battle and errors of command that occurred. Following this there is an account of the final years of the war and the 10 men and others mentioned in the book. The Appendix gives the Order of Battle of both the British and German Armies, a listing of the senior officer casualties, winners of the Victoria Cross on the first day.

The last chapter is a tour of the battlefield, circa 1971. Never having been to the battlefield, I am not sure how much has changed since this tour was written in 1971.

Overall, "The First Day on the Somme" is certainly one of the finest books written on FWW or on warfare for that matter. It should be on the reading list and in the library of any serious or casual student of the war. (Review by Mark Baldwin, USA.)