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17th out of 95 books
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160 voters
Her Privates We
Her Privates We Frederic Manning First published in 1930 Her Privates We is the great book of World War 1 written from the ordinary soldier's point of view. Called the "book of books" by Lawrence of Arabia, Her Privates We is an expressionist classic that magnificently captures the horror of war.
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
November 1st 1999
by Serpent's Tail
(first published 1930)
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I really enjoyed this novel set in the trenches in World War I. It provides a much more balanced view of the officer class in the British army than I have ususally read--they are often portrayed as witless elites who dined on fine food and wine while sending their troops off to certain death. The officers have some of that, and our hero, an intelligent enlisted man, certainly has moments of anger at his superiors, but often he recognizes the pressures on them and the care they take in leading th...more
This is a somewhat fictionalized account of the author’s experiences as a private in the British Army fighting the Germans in 1916 often in trenches near Somme France. Somewhat fictionalized because he calls him self Private Bourne, and doubtless some of the other names are changed. I decided to get the book after seeing it popping up on lists of great books about WWI. What I suppose makes it great is life in the trenches by the peons - what they did and what they said. It is not about the think...more
This was another of the books I was led to by reading the biography of Lawrence of Arabia. Both he and Robert Graves rated it a classic of World War 1 literature. It was indeed very good. It was not a long book (250 pages or so), but it was tightly packed with introspective thoughts about what it was to be a soldier in WW1. (The author had of course been one). It very much brought out the "hurry up and wait" that seems to be the soldier's lot. And unlike many memoirs of the 1st War, it focused o...more
I added this book to my reading list because a biography that I read of T. E. Lawrence revealed it to be one of his favorite books. I can’t say this is one of my favorite books. However, after reading this book and Lawrence’s biography, I can gain an appreciation for why Lawrence would favor this novel. In many ways, the main character is very much like Lawrence, being a man of potential well beyond that of his immediate peers and holding latent aspirations to ascend from the ranks to an officer...more
Irregular and brilliant. Tender, funny, and entirely unsentimental. Narrative is strung together from moment to acute moment, by long strands of repetitive and intensifying language (including significant and unusually effective inclusions and transcriptions of French and English dialects) and scenarios. Closely observed characters and a confusion of regimentals and sirs and glimpsed and half-remembered former sergeant-majors with a chronic deserter as a kind of central joker figure. Landscapes...more
THE MIDDLE PARTS OF FORTUNE. (1929). Frederic Manning. *****.
Manning (1882-1935) was a poet who was active around the turn of the century. He served in the trenches during WW I, and this book, although fiction, is an autobiographical account of his experiences during the war in France. The book has an interesting history which you should look up on Google. This was initially published as a limited edition, but finally published in an expurgated edition and was a best seller. It came out the sam...more
Manning (1882-1935) was a poet who was active around the turn of the century. He served in the trenches during WW I, and this book, although fiction, is an autobiographical account of his experiences during the war in France. The book has an interesting history which you should look up on Google. This was initially published as a limited edition, but finally published in an expurgated edition and was a best seller. It came out the sam...more
This book was originally published in limited release in 1929, then as an expurgated edition entitled "The Middle Parts of Fortune" in 1930. The unexpurgated version was not widely available until 1977. Commonly considered one of the best novels based on experiences of WWI, with fans such as Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound and T. E. Lawrence. Reminiscent of "All Quiet on the Western Front" and Siegfried Sassoon’s Sherston Trilogy in that it centres on Richard Bourne, a character who serves mostly a...more
Reading fictional accounts of war and violence, I have often come across the sentiment that soldiers will spend most of their time waiting for a combat situation that lasts minutes, if not seconds. Frederic Manning's semi-fictional - the place and event are fact; the characters, fiction - account of British soldiers moving from one front to another during the early stages of World War I confirms this observation. The majority of the book is about the men who fought in World War I and what their...more
Every few years I reread this book. A beautifully written book on individual experiences of a barbaric war. Each chapter is prefaced by a quote from Shakespeare. The title is Shakespearean as well: "On fortune's cap we are not the very button.....Then you live about her waist, or in the middle of her favours?....'Faith, her privates we.
Highly praised by many. I don't know if I would call it searing or noble, as the blurbs on the back does, but it is certainly an important work that has a voice not often heard in WW1 literature. Not a anti-war screed, a straight what I did the war accounting, or a heroic Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Morie (sic)... but the voice of the common soldier, mostly behind the lines, struggling to survive but mostly resigned to the futility of it all, but with most thought of what the future will bri...more
Manning has created a sadly overlooked, blunt, and moving testament to the men in the trenches and the daily tragedies they faced in the wastelands of Europe during the Great War; this book is on a plane of achievement seldom seen in war writing.
Hemingway stated that this book was, "The finest and noblest book of men in war" - although I have never been too enthusiastic about Hemingway, this really is a great piece of text. There is a lot of waiting around and little action.
Un toccante, malinconico spaccato della vita nelle trincee della WWI, senza manipolazioni ideologiche né sterile retorica. Alcuni dei suoi passaggi più poetici si fissano indelebili nella memoria del lettore.
Brilliant novel of life in the trenches in World War I drawn from the author's experiences
Absolutely one of my most very favorite books of all time. Ever.
Apparently Hemingway loved this book, he even called it "noble," a view which others seem to have shared if the quotes on the back are any indication. But it is not noble, it is the story of a filthy conscript and his crude, stupid comrades spending days stewing in shrapnel-raked mud and watching each other get blown to bits for reasons that are often never more that trivial. It's exceedingly well-written war novel, which is why Hemingway may have admired- even envied it, as his own war novels n...more
A thought provoking WW1 read, more poignant as the author himself served and suffered greatly as a consequence. Well recommended.
All Quiet on the Western Front was better. This book put me to sleep, literally.
Originally published as The Middle Parts of Fortune: Somme and Ancre, 1916. An expurgated version was published by Davies in 1930 under the title Her Privates We.
I think this is just below All Quiet on the Western Front as my favorite WWI book. Not as epic as AQWF and the prose isn't as good, but it's a very poignant snapshot of a year in the life of a WWI private. I love Bourne (the protagonist) and I thought the ending was a bit predictable, but I couldn't see it ending any other way without it being hundreds of pages longer.
If interested in WWI, give this a read.
If interested in WWI, give this a read.
An existentialist war novel, similar to The Red Badge of Courage in tone if not in particulars. Should probably be better-known.
French editor: Daniel Arsand
Bought
Finished 16 December 2006
Finished 16 December 2006
"Fortuuna niuetes"
May 16, 2013
Luke Rogers
marked it as to-read
May 13, 2013
Paul Dunn
marked it as to-read
May 09, 2013
Erika
marked it as to-read
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Frederic Manning was an Australian poet and novelist.
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“Death, of course, like chastity, admits of no degree; a man is dead or not dead, and a man is just as dead by one means as by another; but it is infinitely more horrible and revolting to see a man shattered and eviscerated, than to see him shot. And one sees such things; and one suffers vicariously, with the inalienable sympathy of man for man. One forgets quickly. The mind is averted as well as the eyes. It reassures itself after that first despairing cry: "It is I!"
"No, it is not I. I shall not be like that."
And one moves on, leaving the mauled and bloody thing behind: gambling, in fact, on that implicit assurance each one of us has of his own immortality. One forgets, but he will remember again later, if only in his sleep.”
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"No, it is not I. I shall not be like that."
And one moves on, leaving the mauled and bloody thing behind: gambling, in fact, on that implicit assurance each one of us has of his own immortality. One forgets, but he will remember again later, if only in his sleep.”
Feb 04, 2013 07:52am