Sound the Retreat

Alms for Oblivion #2

by Simon Raven

"In 'Sound the Retreat", Simon Raven details the hectic death throes of the Indian Empire, when tradition and honor were giving way to riot, nationalism, and hatred. The second part of Simon Raven's acclaimed Alms for Oblivion series begins in 1945, at the end of World War II. British colonial rule in India is slowly disintegrating. Peter Morrison arrives at the Officer Training School as one of a batch of one hundred Indian Army Infantry Cadets during turbulent times, just as the army leadership is turned over to the Indians. With the Empire's demise at hand, only a few of the cadets will ever be officers in India or anywhere in the Far East."

Genres: Fiction

208 pages, Hardcover

First published July 11, 1974

About the author

Simon Arthur Noël Raven (28 December 1927 – 12 May 2001) was an English novelist, essayist, dramatist and raconteur who, in a writing career of forty years, caused controversy, amusement and offence. His obituary in The Guardian noted that, "he combined elements of Flashman, Waugh's Captain Grimes and the Earl of Rochester", and that he reminded Noel Annan, his Cambridge tutor, of the young Guy Burgess.

Among the many things said about him, perhaps the most quoted was that he had "the mind of a cad and the pen of an angel". E W Swanton called Raven's cricket memoir Shadows on the Grass "the filthiest cricket book ever written". He has also been called "cynical" and "cold-blooded", his characters "guaranteed to behave badly under pressure; most of them are vile without any pressure at all". His unashamed credo was "a robust eighteenth-century paganism....allied to a deep contempt for the egalitarian code of post-war England"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_R...

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

"In the evening of the empire a batch of 100 British Indian Officer cadets arrive at Bangalore to undergo training for a job they will never do. The last uneasy days of the Raj bring intolerance and scandal to the formerly close-knit, tightly disciplined brother officers...Blackmail and brutality follow fast (along with) a full scale riot..."From the 1974 Panther paperback edition of the novel.

"...100 British Indian Officer cadets (arrive at Bangalore to discover) only a handful will ever be officers in the Indian army (because it will) now have Indian officers...(almost immediately) there is a row about about the officer training them who is a 'wog' (which most of the cadets find offensive)..."
From the jacket flyleaf of the original 1971 uniform library edition from Bling & Briggs in which this novel is labeled the seventh (see later in the review for my views on this) in Simon Raven's Alms for Oblivion' series.

I have provided these two synopsis because there is no synopsis on Goodreads (as of March 2023) and I thought it interesting that the racism which was apparently all right in 1971 was clearly felt to be no longer appropriate in 1974.

The seventh novel in the Alms for Oblivion series takes us back to 1945-46 and the beginnings of Britain's withdrawal from its Indian empire, or at least that is how Raven presents it, apparently in 1945 Britain decided to cut and run and abandon a large number of Indians who wanted them to stay and who were relying on them to keep the peace. According to him the whole withdrawal from India was shabby and dishonorable with plenty of decent chaps holding their noses while doing some pretty unpleasant things.

Let me be clear Raven's understanding of Britain's withdrawal from empire in India is as absurd, limited and fantastically fictitious as his understanding of what happened in Cyprus (see my review of 'The Judas Boy'). While making allowances for what had been published and revealed at the time he was writing it is clear he spoke to no one who had actually been in India at the time. Indianisation of both the Civil Service and the Indian Army Officer corp had been going on since the mid 1920s. Even before the second world war both the Indian Army and Civil Service were having trouble recruiting sufficient young English candidates starting out in their careers because they believed there was no secure long term career future for Englishmen (oh lets be honest they meant white men) in either the Indian Army or Civil Service. This wasn't a rumour whispered in dark corners it was what they had been advised by their schools, universities and family connections such as retired Indian Army officers and civil servants. No young Englishman left the UK to join the Indian army as an officer cadet in 1945 and suddenly arrived in India to discover that Britain was calling it quits. The UK was handing over control in the 1930s, although the control they relinquished was a long way from real freedom, but things had changed before the war and WWII had only hastened these changes. The whole premise of Raven's novel bears no resemblance to reality in 1945 or what was known in 1971 when this novel was first published. But I think that aside from airing some old fashioned views about empire Raven's real purpose with this novel was something else.

By the time he wrote this novel Simon Raven had abandoned the original idea of the 'Alms for Oblivion' cycle as an examination of Britain's upper and upper middle classes in the post war world and how they continued, or failed to continue, to exercise power and influence. That was very much the subject of the first two novels in the sequence, 'The Rich Pay Late' and 'Friends in Low Places' and one of, if not the central characters was Peter Morrison. He is also one of the central characters in 'Sound the Retreat' and this is clearly the his 'backstory'.

It is also clear by this stage that Raven saw 'AfO' much more as the picaresque adventures of Fielding Gray, who had played only a minor role to beginning of the series, but had come to dominate the sequence, even in the novels in which he had a small role. All the characters that dominated the first two novels, 'TRPL' and 'FILP', had disappeared or been reduced to supporting or walk on roles. To salvage the sequence Raven decided it would eventually be read chronologically with 'Fielding Gray' as the first novel and this one as the second.

One thing stands out in this novel, it contains one of Raven's finer pieces of characterization and reminds me, that when he tried, he could was not just an amusing or readable writer, but one with the potential to the plunge in and examine his characters in a way that brought them to light as people, not as clichés, or collections of prejudices and sexual perversions.

It is a very small section and deals with the Marquis of Canteloupe, who was introduced in the novels 'TRPL' and 'FILP' as a man who has turned his ancestral home into a vulgar but money spinning 'historic' attraction and himself into a celebrity and popular showman and who because of his popularity is a minor government minister. Away from the cameras and public he is a drunken buffoon who despises everyone, himself most of all. In 'Sound the Retreat' we meet him before all that with his only son and heir who he clearly adores and then the boy dies a pointless squalid death from food poisoning. Of course it was the death of his son that creates the man in the other novels and in giving Canteloupe this human side Raven creates a character of greater depth and interest not because we needed a reason to sympathize with him but because he was made more real. It is a reminder that Raven was, when he bothered, a good writer who showed tremendous promise of doing great and interesting things (see also my review for 'The Sabre Squadron').

It is not a bad novel, in terms of simple action and characterization the novel has a great deal going for it, which is why it can still be read, despite its ridiculous premise and silly posturing.

I don't know when I first read this novel, probably in the 1980s. I have certainly read it more than once - the last time as a prelude to writing this review. Also although I have shelved it as queer-interest it is not a gay or even a queer novel. Raven was an old school closet queen with a line in nudge-nudge, wink-wink, naughty innuendo. Everyone 'knew' he was a 'poof' and there were 'poofs' in his books but it was all kept well within confines so as not to frighten the heteros.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chronologically (and that's how I'm reading them), this is the second in Raven's 10-volume 'Alms for Oblivion' series, although was actually the 7th written/published. It picks up with some chums of Fielding Gray from the first novel, who have been dispatched to the Officer Training School for the Indian Cavalry in the waning days of the Raj (1946-ish). Although utter twaddle as far as historical accuracy goes, it is still quite a fun and quick-paced read, with Raven's characteristic hijinks at the expense of the British upper/middle classes.

[Alex Sarll]

The end of the Raj as seen by the last British officer cadets to be sent out to India, despite nobody being quite sure what to do with them. A great idea, that; as with the end of any empire, it's easy to think in terms of the packing up and heading home, but what about the poor sods who turn up - as some poor sods always will - right when the party is winding down? Some are better men than others, but all are ultimately tainted by the sordid compromises of the era. One can very easily detect a contempt for the postwar Labour government - and for democracy itself - which even an Osborne wouldn't openly express now, and while much of it can be attributed to the characters, there's a residue which seems authorial. But, his most noble character is an Indian officer, and the stodgy regiment which embodies a certain prominent strand of old-fashioned Britishness hardly comes out of proceedings as any advertisement for the old ways. Ultimately, one must conclude that Raven, like the characters in whom he takes most interest, is primarily "a genuine student of human folly".

I began reading this yesterday, quite unaware that it was India's Independence Day, but I could hardly have timed that better. After the effectiveness of the seesawing timeline in It, I am slightly questioning my decision to read Alms for Oblivion in order of internal chronology - would publication order provide more interesting angles and contrasts? - but after the series' completion, the books seem to have been released that way at least twice within Raven's lifetime, so it can't be too much of a bad idea.

[Heep · Rating 3 out of 5]

The misogyny and racism are overt, and impossible to ignore even if the story is frequentlty engaging and thoughtfully constructed. The rejoinder might be that this is how it was in the dying days of the British Raj. Furthermore, no one is presented as a paragon - the whole administration is built around a scheming duplicitiusness and heavy reliance on the idea that the "locals" are just lucky we are here. Goering's remarks at the Nuremberg trials comparing Nazi atrocities with Allied treatment of their Colonial "possessions" is not as far from the mark as some histories care to admit. This book is a journal of its times and attitudes. It is interesting to read after my recent completion of "The Silk Roads" by Frankopan, who is able to contextallize Asian history so differently.

[Sadig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite the easygoing atmosphere the book creating, it is hard to miss how straight down disgusting the colonialism is. Even when so lightly put to description from a British perspective, the entire thing makes one’s stomach churning!

[Corto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easily the best Simon Raven book I've read yet.

While he includes the usual, customary scene[s] that evoke moral repugnance, we see him flesh out a character hitherto I haven't felt that he liked very much. The main character here illustrates Raven's exemplary moral code: the practice of evaluating a situation, and employing honor, duty, class and pragmatism in the right time and at the right measure.

Paradoxically, while I have read Raven that didn't like the military as an institution, his writing betrays a fondness for certain facets of its culture.

Raven's crisp style is at its pinnacle here, and his characters in this particular novel, are more likeable than the previous tomes in this series.

Recommended if you have an interest in the transition to Indian Independence (from the British perspective), and British military fiction.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sound the Retreat by Simon Raven

10 out of 10





It is a supreme joy to find a fantastic, marvelous writer like Simon Raven and it is equally enchanting to know that there will be another eight volumes to read in exquisite bliss, for Sound the Retreat is only the second of the series and the first was the sublime Fielding Gray https://realini.blogspot.com/2020/09/... ...it is nonetheless baffling to find that both volumes have only about twenty five ratings on goodreads and Sound the Retreat only four reviews, five once this one will have been posted.



The background of the narrative is British India, between November 1945 and June 1946, a period of unrest, as the local population is pressing the ‘colonialists’ to retire, though not everybody is so enthusiastic about that, indeed, trouble will be caused in the story by the group that is protesting in order to…keep the British in, aware of the bloodshed that may – and in fact would – take place, once order is replaced by chaos and the Hindu majority would slaughter the Muslims that are in a minority and then the other way round…this is problem that plagues India to this day, as it is led by Modi, an individual with some skills, but a whole lot of shortcomings, one who had been a leader in one of the large states and in that position he had allowed the Hindu nationalists cause a lot of pain and eventually erase – if memory does not fail me here – one mosque and then the consequences would be dire.

It is politically incorrect to doubt in any way the catastrophic role played by the colonial powers that have been exclusively concerned with extracting riches and enslaving the natives, at least according to many, if not most of the new wave of thinkers, but since we are privileged to have such a small, maybe nonexistent audience, why not bask in that glory and say whatever we think, knowing that there is no reader out there – to reach this point anyway – that will be outraged and then protest – it did happen recently, when I posted a video stating that I boycott Mulan, because the actress in the main role had shown her support for the Chinese communists and that I do not care what her name and work is, she is of no consequence to me from now on and I was called an idiot and racist, only the stand I took is not against her race, it is because I have lived under communism and still pay the price today and hate communism, be they white, green or any color or race…



The British have brought some order and have done some good in India and elsewhere, this is my view, albeit yours truly is aware that they have also taken disastrous decisions and they have done a lot of harm – when one considers Brexit and the latest catastrophic mistakes, one has to admit that it seems unlikely that Boris Johnson would be able to manage a country as big as India, even if he could be a bit better than Modi – and this is debated in Sound the Retreat, title that indicates the most important act that will take place in the background, the end of the British Empire as such and the convulsions, conflicts that would ensue as a result – at the end of the rule of the Raj, the war between two parts of India would have cataclysmic results, many would die and the two countries, now nuclear armed, have been clashing ever since, the latest conflict taking place only recently, maybe it is less than a year since they have attacked each other…and alas, it is sure to happen again, we can only hope they will keep it at a low intensity.



Peter Morrison is the main character of this second novel and he is dispatched with his friends, Alister Mortleman and Barry Strange to a cadet officers ‘training unit, only to find that with the labor party now in power back home, the priority is to leave the subcontinent to its own people and try to enact a transition that will be as peaceful as possible, which would be a daunting, if not impossible task, given the magnitude of the problem, the existence of a Hindu majority bent on taking the minority out, physically, if not always, this is the ‘solution ‘they seek for most of the time, as the British troops will try to use restrain – indeed, they should take training in a different strategy, instead of learning how to fight the enemy, with tanks and heavy artillery – which is anyway pointless, as Alister opines, given the Armageddon capability of the new, atomic bomb that had been used in Japan – they should see how to face rioters.

Alas, the head of regiment where the three friends are posted does not see facing crowds of natives as a dignified enough task for his men and thus he does not allow for lectures on this type of exercise to be given, until his adjutant would try some lessons, under the guise that it would keep headquarters happy…only when the time comes, what he teaches, drawing a line in the middle of the street, getting behind the cover of some fixed barrier, would not apply in situations where troops had not had enough time to prepare and anyway, the configuration of the area is not such as to allow conservative, well defined rules to be imposed…



Sound the Retreat is enticing as both a comedy – and it is included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, in the comedy section, under Alms for Oblivion, which is title of the whole Magnum opus, comprising ten volumes – and a splendid landscape, a fresco of the British ‘occupier’ just as they prepare to give the keys back, the various attitudes of the locals, the conflict that would soon become a tragedy, when masses of people of different faiths will attack each other, on a background where the British do not know exactly what to do and eventually might resort to abominable acts, like political assassination, eventually trying to eliminate the leader of a faction of Muslims that is creating unrest, in order to keep the colonial power in the country, for its army would be the only one that could prevent genocide.

Indeed, once the Viceroy is gone, the massacre of Muslims and Hindus would start and even the great leader, Mahatma Gandhi, would be murdered by one of the multitude of fanatics, and the Magnum opus is ever more outstanding in that it combines the humor with the depiction of a large scale Apocalypse, treating the reader to the humor of the competition between Gilzai Khan, the Moslem commander of the cadets for a good while, and Alister Mortleman, wherein the two have sex with prostitutes – called today sex workers – to establish who is more ‘manly’, we follow the antics of the same Khan, who has an intimate affair with Barry Strange – until superior officers find about it and , though they are tolerant of many things, homosexuality is anathema at that time, albeit technically the man is actually bisexual.

Meanwhile, Peter Morrison, is nearly trapped by another prostitute, who claims to have a child from him, she sounds the alarm with the authorities that in the climate where any such act from the intrusive colonial masters could create widespread riots are ready to discharge the young man in disgrace, until the creative Khan finds a way out…this would still be used as pressure later on, in order to make the now Intelligence officer find a way out for the same Gilzai Khan, rebel leader once he is out of the British Army…what a superb book!

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel of 1945-46 India and British Indian Army Officer Cadets is strongly reminiscent of Waugh’s Sword of Honour Trilogy but much more pungent. There’s little action as the story focuses on a few upper and upper-middle-class recruits, their training under a Muslim officer and their subsequent appointment to a Regiment soon to hand over control to the locals. It fades a bit towards the conclusion but there’s enough Pythonesque, Catch 22-type military humour to ensure an involving read. 3.5 stars.

[Robert Ronsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second (chronologically) in the Alms for Oblivion series is focussed on Peter Morrison's service as a junior officer in the British Army in India before independence. Raven imbues the story with a mixture of comedy, action and suspense that is irresistible. The way he accurately documents and yet satirises the ways of army officers in the dying days of the Raj is a delight.
It's froth rather than the serious literature of its contemporaries Books Do furnish a Room (Anthony Powell) and Strangers and Brothers (CP Snow) but much more fun. I am so glad I decided to come back to this series.