'Old Soldiers Never Die'

[Mark Hone]

Another thread has reminded me of a question to which I've never found a satisfactory answer. I know that Robert Graves assisted Frank Richards with the publication of 'Old Soldiers Never Die' , but I have seen and heard the implication that in fact the book was effectively 'ghostwritten' by Graves. Does anyone have more information on this?

[ianw]

I think Graves praised the simple effective story telling of Richards. However , whilst assistance was given , I doubt that he was actively involved in the writing. The follow up volume "Old Soldier Sahib" has a foreword by Graves and reading it makes clear that the book is all Richards' work, I think

[Muerrisch]

I believe that any suggestion that Graves ghost-wrote 'Old Soldiers Never Die' [OSND] and 'Old Soldier Sahib' is a calumny, often repeated by booksellers .... indeed, 'Old Soldiers' is often to be found under Graves, Robert.

Graves's overlaps of experience with FR were brief [three periods] during the war, and non-existent before it.

There is so much in both books that was unknowable to Graves, not by experience, not by anecdote, not by reading any useful reference published before 1933 or 1936 respectively.

Both books are a tour-de-force of Richards's memory, never mind the style.

Graves's involvement was, I believe, honestly described by himself in the two introductions, and by Richards in his famous BBC interviews. It was primarily about presentation, not content. Of course, it is always difficult to draw the line between editorial assistance and re-writing, but I believe both men's accounts of the process. Several anecdotes in OSND appear in Graves's 'Goodbye to all that', unsurprisingly, as they were both writing about the same battalion.

I have evidence from Richards's relatives and acquaintances as to how the books were written, and they were complete in the sense of content before Graves ever saw them. Graves is to be credited with achieving publication, and for this we must be truly grateful.

The fact remains that any bibliography on any subject remotely concerning the Great War is almost certain to have OSND listed. It is, for me and many, the 'Desert Island' book.