Black Maria Posted 12 July , 2014 Share Posted 12 July , 2014 If you go back to earlier posts in this thread, all of these have been discussed/mentioned. William I know, I was trying answering Last Puttee's question , we have discussed/ mentioned lots of memoirs in this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last_Puttee Posted 12 July , 2014 Share Posted 12 July , 2014 I've already purchased 'Old Soldiers never die' and 'Haunting Years', I had also noticed that 'A Subaltern's War' was mentioned interestingly several times, as 'The Big Push' and 'There's a devil in the drum' either. Adding 'Somme Harvest' to the list! I suppose that I caught the virus... I've purchased also Hitchcock's 'Stand to', Downing's 'To the last ridge', Plowman's 'A Subaltern on the Somme', Martin's 'Sapper Martin', Chapman's 'A passionate prodigality', Dunn's 'The war the infantry knew'... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last_Puttee Posted 12 July , 2014 Share Posted 12 July , 2014 And as I like to have both points of view, to get the broader possible picture of the conflict, I've just purchased 'Warrior Against His Will: A German Sapper's Account of World War I' by J.Koettgen... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Maria Posted 12 July , 2014 Share Posted 12 July , 2014 I've already purchased 'Old Soldiers never die' and 'Haunting Years', I had also noticed that 'A Subaltern's War' was mentioned interestingly several times, as 'The Big Push' and 'There's a devil in the drum' either. Adding 'Somme Harvest' to the list! I suppose that I caught the virus... I've purchased also Hitchcock's 'Stand to', Downing's 'To the last ridge', Plowman's 'A Subaltern on the Somme', Martin's 'Sapper Martin', Chapman's 'A passionate prodigality', Dunn's 'The war the infantry knew'... Excellent choices if I may say so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamRev Posted 12 July , 2014 Author Share Posted 12 July , 2014 I know, I was trying answering Last Puttee's question , we have discussed/ mentioned lots of memoirs in this thread. Sorry BlackMaria - I meant my post to sound helpful, but reading back I realise that it sounds tetchy - not my intention at all. I started this thread 18 months ago, and through it I have discovered and read at least 25 memoirs/autobiographies that would otherwise have escaped my notice, with around 20 waiting in a pile by my bed, still to be read. I must confess that I have found fictionalised accounts of the war far less interesting, (even when written by men who fought in the war and made it to the front line for a decent length of time), when there are simply hundreds of memoirs which contain provable facts about actual events. William Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last_Puttee Posted 12 July , 2014 Share Posted 12 July , 2014 Blackmaria, if I may say so, these choices were made with the help of the most enlightened posts of you all... I do agree with William Rev that on my side I do have some problems also with fictionalised accounts even if the author is known for being a former combatant. I want pure real accounts, pure real experiences, it bothers me to know that things have been rearranged through an artistic writing process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Jacket Collector Posted 12 July , 2014 Share Posted 12 July , 2014 I suspect that all memoirs are fictionalised to some extent. Unless the author kept a daily diary, it's all a matter of recall. I'm not sure I could produce a half-way accurate account of a series of events from some years back, no matter how traumatic they were. All of which is just to say don't dismiss those memoirs that are in some way novelised - you'll be missing some truly great accounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last_Puttee Posted 12 July , 2014 Share Posted 12 July , 2014 You're right, we reach here a philosophical topic, to which extent memoirs are faithful to reality? Memory has already made some kind of selection. But still... I do prefer the 'I' of the one who was there in the midst of the events than the built character of a novel. But farther than this you're also right that in a way, I suspect that some former combatants chose to write novelised accounts because they felt that they would be more free to tell everything under the disguised 'fiction' label. They would have had may be some problems by saying everything in their name in a non-fiction account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Maria Posted 12 July , 2014 Share Posted 12 July , 2014 Sorry BlackMaria - I meant my post to sound helpful, but reading back I realise that it sounds tetchy - not my intention at all. That's okay, interpreting the written word can be a bit of a nightmare sometimes, my apologies also for taking it the wrong way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Maria Posted 13 July , 2014 Share Posted 13 July , 2014 I suspect that all memoirs are fictionalised to some extent. Unless the author kept a daily diary, it's all a matter of recall. I'm not sure I could produce a half-way accurate account of a series of events from some years back, no matter how traumatic they were. All of which is just to say don't dismiss those memoirs that are in some way novelised - you'll be missing some truly great accounts. I agree, Tilsley's 'Other Ranks' being a good example. When I first started to read/ collect memoirs I also steered clear of so called fictionalised accounts written by those who had fought in the war but now realise that most of them are really memoirs and contain some of the most graphic and descriptive writing about that conflict . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last_Puttee Posted 14 July , 2014 Share Posted 14 July , 2014 But to modify slightly what I said in my previous post, I'm sure that many memoirs are really acurate though. For one particular reason: in those moments of extreme danger, extreme tension such as those that one can experience on the front line, all the senses are so sharply heightened that human conscioussness record absolutely everything in its tiniest details. In those moments the power of consciousness is extraordinarily augmented. That's why some soldiers upon their return could write their memoirs in one draft without any pause because everything was fixed in their minds. This kind of memory is totally different from the one of our peace time daily routine. Many soldiers mentioned how they felt that they were actor and spectator at the same time while involved in war actions, just as if some part of their consciousness could detach itself from the action in order to record it. I think this really sharp self-consciousness is a kind of self-preservation, it helps the mind not to tumble into insanity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Jacket Collector Posted 14 July , 2014 Share Posted 14 July , 2014 Agreed, but when a soldier is recalling the events of several years, where most of the time was spent in routine operations, then varying degrees of invention, compaction and time compression are bound to be involved. Sassoon presents an interesting case where we have the lightly fictionalised account of Memoirs of an Infantry Officer alongside the supposidely factual 'Siegfried's Journey'. I've always found the former to be the better read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Filsell Posted 14 July , 2014 Share Posted 14 July , 2014 As a warning There is very considerable evidence that, like a number of similar accounts by 'German soldiers' like 'Warrior Against his Will' published. in the US early in the war were quite simply forgeries probably written in the UK. Each has a very simple evil Hun approach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last_Puttee Posted 17 July , 2014 Share Posted 17 July , 2014 @Dust Jacket Collector I keep in mind your wise advice... @David Filsell Thanks for the warning and sad indeed if this is true...Glad to know at least that I got it for a very cheap price. Do you know then some worth reading and reliable German memoirs translated in english? Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Filsell Posted 17 July , 2014 Share Posted 17 July , 2014 I have a very long list of German books translated into English. Mainly memoirs, novels - or novelisations - of experiences. Many are hard to find and most are expensive. I will post a few thoughts if you can give me a few days. But start with the original the original translation of Storm of Steel - not the recent one - by Junger or Copse 125. The list covers air, land and sea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Black Posted 22 October , 2014 Share Posted 22 October , 2014 Whilst googling for Black Watch memoirs i found on Abebooks two copies of this. A.W. McGregor: Rhodes Scholar - Oriel College, Oxford 2nd Lieutenant, 9th Black Watch, A Memoir. by A.J. McGregor Description: Cape Town: Privately Published, 1917. "The greater portion of the book (pp.75-175) consists of his letters while serving with the Black watch in France." I was wondering if any of the collectors have this, and if it's any good regarding the 9th Btn? ta' Derek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamRev Posted 10 November , 2014 Author Share Posted 10 November , 2014 I have just finished reading "Nothing of Importance, a Record of Eight Months at the Front with a Welsh Battalion" by Bernard Adams. Someone, either on this thread or another on the forum, recommended it saying that it was his favourite WW1 memoir. Adams survived his eight months (Oct 1915 to June 1916 at the Somme), and was recovering from a bullet through his left arm when he wrote it back in Kent, listening to the soft rumble of guns on the wind from over the channel. Going back out to France in January 1917, he was fatally wounded on Feb 26th. The book is poignant on that account, and, written and published whilst the war was still being waged, is blissfully free from the dull hindsight that makes some authors of memoirs written a decade or more after the war, start to sound like pub-bores with their well-worn rants about futility and Haig's butchery. It is genuinely well-written, and he often has a witty turn of phrase which makes one smile - whilst transporting the battalion by train: "the men were in those useful adaptable carriages inscribed 'Chevaux 10. Hommes 30.' Our Tommies were evidently a kind of centaur class, for they went in by twenties". He was a quiet, clever man, and this book leads one to think that he may have become a great writer, or great at something, had he survived the war. At £10.47 for a 308 page paperback, on Amazon (Here), it isn't particularly cheap, but it is a wonderful book. William Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Jacket Collector Posted 11 November , 2014 Share Posted 11 November , 2014 William : So glad you liked the Adams. It's long been a favourite of mine every since chancing upon a copy inscribed by his sister who was responsible for getting the book published in the first place. £10.47? Maybe dear for a paperback but an absolute snip compared to an original copy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scorer Posted 11 November , 2014 Share Posted 11 November , 2014 William : So glad you liked the Adams. It's long been a favourite of mine every since chancing upon a copy inscribed by his sister who was responsible for getting the book published in the first place. £10.47? Maybe dear for a paperback but an absolute snip compared to an original copy! I've just bought it in paperback for £7.20 plus £2.80 postage .... looking forward to reading it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Maria Posted 11 November , 2014 Share Posted 11 November , 2014 The first copy I purchased was the excellent 14-18 collection, Strong Oak Press 1988 hardback reprint with the new introduction by Peter T. Scott , when I decided to collect original copies I was lucky enough to discover two jacketed copies for sale and purchased one for £75 , which I thought was a bit of a bargain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Jacket Collector Posted 11 November , 2014 Share Posted 11 November , 2014 I was lucky enough to discover two jacketed copies for sale and purchased one for £75 , which I thought was a bit of a bargain You should have bought both of them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Maria Posted 11 November , 2014 Share Posted 11 November , 2014 You should have bought both of them! Yes, that thought crossed my mind as I was writing the post, it's funny but because there were two for sale I suppose I didn't realise how rare they were , as we have said before collecting rare books is like waiting for ages at the bus stop and then two or three come at once. A bit off topic but watching the prices that the memorial volumes are fetching on e-bay at the moment I wonder if I should have started collecting them instead of memoirs ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Jacket Collector Posted 11 November , 2014 Share Posted 11 November , 2014 A bit off topic but watching the prices that the memorial volumes are fetching on e-bay at the moment I wonder if I should have started collecting them instead of memoirs ! Yes, all very weird. I think it's just a case of 2 passionate collectors prepared to pay way over the odds to get what they want. They should have looked elsewhere first - several of the ones sold so far could have been bought on ABE for less than half the final price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Maria Posted 11 November , 2014 Share Posted 11 November , 2014 Yes, all very weird. I think it's just a case of 2 passionate collectors prepared to pay way over the odds to get what they want. They should have looked elsewhere first - several of the ones sold so far could have been bought on ABE for less than half the final price. The sale that amazed me was £337.76 for 'Diary of a Dead Officer', which I didn't think was particularly rare , I purchased mine from T.D for around £50 , but like you say I think the two bidders may have got a bit carried away, still I bet the seller isn't complaining ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
other ranker Posted 18 November , 2014 Share Posted 18 November , 2014 An old library copy of 'Diary of a Dead Officer', has arrived in the post today after seeing you mention it above. Even more exciting to me, on the 'Want List' for ever, 'The Winding Road Unfolds' 1937 edition was purchased off ABE today at a reasonable price! The copies that have been on there for years at £300+ are way out of my range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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