None But the Brave by Arthur Schnitzler (aka Lieutenant Gustl)

[Diane]

Rating: 4 stars


An Austrian soldier gets into a quarrel with another man during a visit to the opera and succumbs to cowardice. (view spoiler)[According to the military honor code of the time, he must commit suicide in order to save face. As he contemplates this next step, he learns that the man he quarreled with has died suddenly of a stroke. (hide spoiler)] Apparently, this was a controversial story in its time. It is also one of the first examples of stream of consciousness narrative.

[Amanda]

Thought I had read all of the under 100 page books on the list (other than New World) but it turns out I’d missed this one. So I amended that quickly this week. I liked it and gave it 3 stars.
I liked how this book pulled back the curtain on the upheld glamourous and righteous façade of the Austro-Hungarian Imperial army and showed the ridiculousness and pretense underneath. The kind of abrupt end worked in tone of the work as well, I felt like.

Ironically, the powers that be wanted to challenge the author to a duel when the book was first published, but after realizing that a big part of the book was about how duels are ridiculous and should be refused or gotten out of they just stripped him of his officer commission instead lol.