Here is a book about the First World War that never mentions the British. I notice it as part of this columnâ??s occasional efforts, in this centenary year, to look at the Great War more widely.
Four weeks ago, I wrote about Storm of Steel by the German combatant and writer Ernst Junger. Maurice Genevoix was, in a way, his French equivalent. He was mobilised on August 2 1914 and fought from that month until badly wounded at Ã?parges in April 1915.
Junger fought in the same battle, and sustained the first of his 14 war wounds there. Both men lived to a great age, and achieved great distinction. Genevoix became a famous novelist and secretary of the Academie Francaise.
Like Storm of Steel, â??Neath Verdun is based on the authorâ??s diary of the war. Unlike Junger, though, Genevoix published almost immediately. The book first appeared in 1916. This makes it artistically slightly less satisfying than Jungerâ??s work (though certainly beautifully written), because it expresses wartime attitudes unfiltered by the return of peace. On the other hand, it is especially interesting because it reveals the attitudes of the moment.
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