deutsch, 20th lit, Autobiographie, Krieg

One of the great literary works of the first World War. It was privately published in 1920 only shortly after the armistice, but was revised many times. This version is a 2003 English translation by Michael Hoffman based on the final 1961 edition. The author, Ernst Jünger, was the youngest recipient of the Pour le Merité and was a celebrity in Germany until his death in 1998. The book is a relentless non-fiction account of mostly front-line WWI warfare based on the author's diary. It is graphic and grinding. Praised by many on the right and the left (e.g. Joseph Goebbels ["Grauenerregend in seiner realistischen Größe" - horrifying in its realistic greatness] and André Gide ["le plus beau livre de guerre que j'ai lu" - the most beautiful book of war I have read]), the work is not anti-war; the author describes it as a noble adventure, and in the preface to the 1929 English edition he explicitly says as much. ( )

Ernst Jünger describes The Great War in small words, without much fanfare. He does not dwell on the emotions, nor dramatize the horrors, he merely describes them.

And I am truly grateful for that, since the experiences of World War One must be some of the most horrific ever to be lived through by humans. Somehow, Jünger's humble prose makes them more approachable than other first hand accounts.

A great book. So much of our modern western values are defined by the scars of the two Wars, and you can see this transition happening between the lines of this book; how pre-war idealism turns into cynicism and pragmatism. How the world is hurled into our mechanized, objectivist present. ( )

Amazing, horrific, unbelievable that he survived. Does for WWI what Neuman's Black March does for WWII. ( )

Another holiday book. I found it a very interesting read which was well written with vivid descriptions and historical facts. Unfortunately I had just read 'Harry's War' and that kind of soared in comparison. It meant this book had to receive a three, though a four may have resulted in different circumstances. Shame there are no half points on here. Regardless, it makes one feel so very lucky to have been born in a generation which reaped the benefits of the sacrifices made by others. ( )