1914: A Novel (English Edition)
Five Frenchmen go off to war, two of them leaving behind a certain young woman who longs for their return. But the main character in <i>1914</i> is the Great War itself. Jean Echenoz, the multi-award-winning French literary magician whose work has been compared to Joseph Conrad and Lawrence Sterne, has brought that deathtrap back to life, leading us gently from a balmy summer day deep into the insatiable—and still unthinkable—carnage of trench warfare.<br /><br />With the delicacy of a miniaturist and with irony both witty and clear-eyed, the author offers us an intimate epic with the atmosphere of a classic movie: in the panorama of a clear blue sky, a biplane spirals suddenly into the ground; a tardy piece of shrapnel shears the top off a man's head as if it were a soft-boiled egg; we dawdle dreamily in a spring-scented clearing with a lonely shell-shocked soldier strolling innocently to a firing squad ready to shoot him for desertion.<br /><br />But ultimately, the grace notes of humanity in <i>1914</i> rise above the terrors of war in this beautifully crafted tale that Echenoz tells with discretion, precision, and love.<br />