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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

A forgotten book?


MikeyH

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I picked up today a first edition (1929) of 'War' by Ludwig Renn, this I now know is a novel by one Arnold Friedrich Vieth Von Golseneau.

He served in the Great War and no doubt this is based on his experiences.  I have not come across this title before,  the closing 2 pages

of the book are devoted to a precis of reviews of another unknown to me title, 'The Case of Sergeant Grischa' by Arnold Zweig.  Such

luminaries as Hugh Walople, J.B. Priestely, Arnold Bennett, and Sir Phillip Gibb amongst many others give the book fulsome praise indeed

describing it variously as 'masterly', 'magnificent', 'the greatest novel on a war theme', 'deserving of immortality as literature', and many

other complimentary phrases.  How many other now unknown WW1 'masterworks' are there out there?

 

Mike.

 

Edited by MikeyH
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Renn wrote a follow up called ‘After War’ and the Zweig is the first part of a trilogy, the others being ‘Young Woman of 1914’ and ‘Education before Verdun’.

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DJC,

 

I found an online profile on 'Renn', which contains a classic 'howler', 'A career officer in the German Army, he fought as a battalion in the First World War'............

 

Mike.

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"Forgotten" is an emotive word. It was new to you but I have read it and have a copy on my bookshelves. I had not forgotten it. I suspect one or two other pals on this forum may have a copy too. :thumbsup: 

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Ian,

My point was that a book that obviously made such a large impact upon so many at the time of publication, should have slipped from the collective memory.

I am very pleased to have discovered the Renn book, and was simply wondering as to how many other examples of nowadays similarly 'neglected' works of the period there are? 

Mike.

 

 

18 hours ago, IanA said:

"Forgotten" is an emotive word. It was new to you but I have read it and have a copy on my bookshelves. I had not forgotten it. I suspect one or two other pals on this forum may have a copy too. :thumbsup: 

 

Edited by MikeyH
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I don't if you would call it unknown but I have on the shelf a 1st edition of 'The Red Air Fighter' by Rittmeister Manfred Freiherrn von Richthofen.

 

WP_20180325_20_19_26_Pro (2).jpg

Edited by Jools mckenna
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