We That Were Young

[MichaelBully]

One new year's resolution that I made was to have a second attempt at reading this 1932 novel after just giving up on it last year. I have managed to read half of it now and think that this time I can make it to the end! So far I still stand by my earlier view that it would worked better as an autobiographical account of the writer's experiences during the Great War rather than as a novel, and Irene Rathbone drew heavily on her experiences of working in the YMCA cafes for soldiers in France and later as a VAD nurse.

Of course it is hard not to make comparisons with Vera Brittain's 'Testament of Youth' ; the themes of women's roles in the Great War and the destruction of youth, also nursing appear in both works, but whilst 'Testament of Youth' was successful in its time, and re-appeared again in the early 1980's on a new wave of interest that continues to grow, ' We That Were Young' was not so successful first time round and has not stood the test of time. The edition I have is from 1988 and published by The Feminist Press at the City University of New York'.

Vera Brittain and Irene Rathbone were both VAD nurses during the Great War at Camberwell hospital but don't seemed to have met; Vera went on to praise 'We That Were Young' and the two writers seemed to have been on good terms in the 1930's.

Anyone else read 'We That Were Young' ?

[Michelle Young]

They did meet Michael- in 1933 after T of Y was published, but not to my knowledge at Camberwell. (Chronicle Of Youth diary entry) I like the book; not read it for some time but I have read it a couple of times and found it a good book. One book I do want to get hold of sometime is Diary Without Dates by Enid Bagnold.

Michelle

[MichaelBully]

Hi Michelle

Yes Vera Brittain mentions meeting Irene Rathbone in 'Chronicle of Friendship' her 1930's diary. Irene Rathbone is hardly mentioned in the main Vera Brittain biography by Paul Berry and Mark Bostridge.

Perhaps if 'Testament of Youth' had been a novel rather than autobiography, as Vera first intended, it may have gone the same way as

'We That Were Young' and marginalised over the years.

According to the forewood to the edition I have of 'We That Were Young', Vera Brittain and Winifred Holtby both admired this novel.

From reading 'We That Were Young' , one part I found very interesting is the scenes in munition factory where it is mainly women workers at the machines.

They did meet Michael- in 1933 after T of Y was published, but not to my knowledge at Camberwell. (Chronicle Of Youth diary entry) I like the book; not read it for some time but I have read it a couple of times and found it a good book. One book I do want to get hold of sometime is Diary Without Dates by Enid Bagnold.

Michelle