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The War at Sixteen: Autobiography Volume II
Julian Green was as young as the century when in 1916 his world was turned upside down by war. Encouraged by his father to 'do something' for the war effort he joined up in the American Field Service to fight for France, the land of his birth.
After a period of training as an ambulance driver, he and his comrades were sent to the Argonne forest on the North-Eastern front where, shortly after his arrival, he heard the rumble of gun-fire reverberating from the forts of Verdun. It was not long before the horrors of war began to make their impression on his young mind: his first sight of a dead soldier made him a pacifist for life.
Later, when it was discovered that he was actually too young to be at war, Green was sent home to Paris, but he soon managed to enlist in the American Red Cross and set off to serve as an ambulance driver once more, this time on the Italian front, north of Venice.
A shy, serious and intensely devout boy who had lost his mother when he was only fourteen, his sudden and violent exposure to loneliness, suffering and death, and his first experiences of self discovery and sexual awakening were to mark his rise to maturity and permanently influence his development as a writer. Written many years later, by which time, Julian Green at the age of 64 was an acknowledged and distinguished writer, The War At Sixteen recreates those early years in a moving, revealing and ruthlessly honest account of adolescence.
After a period of training as an ambulance driver, he and his comrades were sent to the Argonne forest on the North-Eastern front where, shortly after his arrival, he heard the rumble of gun-fire reverberating from the forts of Verdun. It was not long before the horrors of war began to make their impression on his young mind: his first sight of a dead soldier made him a pacifist for life.
Later, when it was discovered that he was actually too young to be at war, Green was sent home to Paris, but he soon managed to enlist in the American Red Cross and set off to serve as an ambulance driver once more, this time on the Italian front, north of Venice.
A shy, serious and intensely devout boy who had lost his mother when he was only fourteen, his sudden and violent exposure to loneliness, suffering and death, and his first experiences of self discovery and sexual awakening were to mark his rise to maturity and permanently influence his development as a writer. Written many years later, by which time, Julian Green at the age of 64 was an acknowledged and distinguished writer, The War At Sixteen recreates those early years in a moving, revealing and ruthlessly honest account of adolescence.
207 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1964
About the author
Julien Green
200 books101 followersJulien Green was an American writer, who authored several novels, including Léviathan and Each in His Own Darkness. He wrote primarily in French.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 19, 2013
Deuxième volume des mémoires de jeunesse de Julien Green, Mille chemings ouverts parcours les années de la première guerre mondiale jusqu'à son départ pourles Etats-Unis.
Comme le premier volume qui retraçait ses plus jeunes, cette seconde partie est un vrai bonheur de lecture tant le style de Julien Green et sa franchise sont passionants. Se souvenirs sont d'une rare honnêteté et l'auteur semble partagé entre tendresse pour le jeune homme naïf qu'il fût et la critique de l'arrogance innocente et l'égo-centrisme qu'il semble manifester au quotidien.
Son expérience particulière de la première guerre mondiale (engagé avant 17 ans, renvoyé chez lui lorsque son âge est découvert, son engagement ultérieur en Italie dans une section ambulancière américaine privée, ...) est tout à fait passionante et donne un éclairage intéressant d'une autre guerre qui n'était pas toujours celle des tranchées.
Comme le premier volume qui retraçait ses plus jeunes, cette seconde partie est un vrai bonheur de lecture tant le style de Julien Green et sa franchise sont passionants. Se souvenirs sont d'une rare honnêteté et l'auteur semble partagé entre tendresse pour le jeune homme naïf qu'il fût et la critique de l'arrogance innocente et l'égo-centrisme qu'il semble manifester au quotidien.
Son expérience particulière de la première guerre mondiale (engagé avant 17 ans, renvoyé chez lui lorsque son âge est découvert, son engagement ultérieur en Italie dans une section ambulancière américaine privée, ...) est tout à fait passionante et donne un éclairage intéressant d'une autre guerre qui n'était pas toujours celle des tranchées.
August 30, 2019
Des pages d’une très grande poésie où Julien Green fait percevoir avec beaucoup de force des sensations et émotions qu’il ne s’explique pas à soi-même mais qu’il vit sans encore les comprendre
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews