Who detailed his experiences before and during World War I in Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man, and Memoirs of an Infantry Officer? Sign up View the step-by-step solution to: Who detailed his experiences before and during World War I in Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man, and Memoirs of an Infantry Officer? This question was answered on Sep 06, 2015. View the Answer Who detailed his experiences before and during World War I in Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man, and Memoirs of an Infantry Officer? megashuinolpo23 posted a question · Sep 06, 2015 at 11:15pm Top Answer Sep 06, 2015 at 11:17pm {[ getNetScore(26243644) ]} Tutor_will_solve answered the question · Sep 06, 2015 at 11:16pm Other Answers After working on your question, I... View the full answer {[ getNetScore(26243645) ]} Attached is a detailed explanation...

View the full answer {[ getNetScore(26244155) ]} RichieReal91 answered the question · Sep 07, 2015 at 1:58am It is Siegfried Sassoon. Memoirs of a Fox Hunting Man is a novel by Siegfried Sassoon first published in 1928 by... View the full answer {[ getNetScore(26244378) ]} View Full Answer or ask a new question Related Questions 1914-1945 can be characterized as a time of _________ in America and around the world. a. conflict/tension b. peace c. acceptance and forgiveness d. isolation Recently Asked Questions Need an English Literature tutor? mathtutor1983 3 English Literature experts found online! Average reply time is 1 min Get Homework Help Why Join Course Hero? Course Hero has all the homework and study help you need to succeed! We’ve got course-specific notes, study guides, and practice tests along with expert tutors and customizable flashcards—available anywhere, anytime. - - Study Documents Find the best study resources around, tagged to your specific courses.

Share your own to gain free Course Hero access or to earn money with our Marketplace. - Question & Answers Get one-on-one homework help from our expert tutors—available online 24/7. Ask your own questions or browse existing Q&A threads. Satisfaction guaranteed! - Flashcards Browse existing sets or create your own using our digital flashcard system. A simple yet effective studying tool to help you earn the grade that you want! Memoirs of a Fox Hunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon | Book Snob Search for: Memoirs of a Fox Hunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon My WWI reading continues with this , one of the most well known memoirs of the Edwardian period. Siegfried Sassoon , who would become the writer of some of the greatest poems to emerge from the war, wrote a trilogy of fictionalised autobiographies in order to explore his life pre, during and post the Great War. Memoirs of a Fox Hunting Man is the pre war volume, though the last few chapters do describe the first two years of the war, most of which Sassoon spent either in England, training, or behind the scenes at the front.

The next volume, Memoirs of an Infantry Officer , describes his experiences as a trench soldier, and I will be getting to that next, as I am intrigued to find out how his description compares with that of Robert Graves’ in Goodbye to All That . As such, this novel is not really about the war, but about the world the war destroyed, and it truly is a fascinating account of a life that no one dreamed would end on a hot August day in 1914. Sassoon’s slightly fictionalised version of his younger self is called George Sherston, and he grows up with his kindly spinster Aunt Evelyn in a large house in a pretty, rural Kent village. George’s closest friend is his Aunt’s groom, Dixon, who is determined to make young George a gentleman and gets him on horseback as soon as Aunt Evelyn’s nerves will allow it. George adores his horse and can’t wait to be able to join the Hunt he has heard so much about from Dixon; there are a number of large country estates nearby, and the neighbourhood is well known for its excellent fox hunts. When he is about 11, Dixon takes George to his first hunt, and George is mesmerised by the glamour and excitement of it all.

The red coats, the cursing men, the skilful jumping over fences and ditches and the hurry and scurry of dogs and servants; it is a tremendous thrill for the closeted young boy, and he determines to one day be good enough to participate properly. Soon after this George is sent away to school, and then goes to Cambridge, but he doesn’t last long there. A rather lazy and directionless young man, he has no need to work due to the allowance he has from his parents’ estate, and his Aunt’s indulgent affection means that he will always have a home with her. As he moves into his early twenties, his day to day life is one of idle rambles, reading, cricket matches, horse riding, fox hunting and the occasional trip to London to buy smart new clothes. George has no interest in politics and has no awareness of the outside world at all; the war comes as a huge shock to him, and his naiveity and public school boy morals of courage and valour see him signing up to fight even before the official announcement is made. Little did he know what he was getting himself into, and how far from his cosy, cosseted Edwardian drawing room he would be forced to go..

Despite his aimlessness, I found George a wonderfully endearing character. This is largely due to Sassoon’s straightforward, engaging writing style that is quite similar to Graves’, though Sassoon is more romantic and elegiac than Graves. His description of the carefree innocence of the pre war world is really rather moving; the dappled sunshine on cricket pitches, the picture hats and white lawn dresses of the ladies at village fetes, the immense care taken over social niceties and the tight knit local communities where everyone knew and cared for one another; all of this was taken for granted and no one seemed to think it would ever change. The introduction of the war in the novel is totally unanticipated and shockingly abrupt; one minute George is at a hunt, and the next he is training for combat. This structure echoes how many people must have felt when war was declared; like George, they sleepwalked into it, not knowing how completely their lives would change forever. Graves also describes this sense of obliviousness, and both men share the view of how misguided they and their fellow soldiers were. Buoyed up by their public school values of courage and patriotism, they signed their own death warrants, truly believing that they were doing a glorious thing.

‘Courage remained a virtue. And that exploitation of courage, if I may be allowed to say a thing so obvious, was the essential tragedy of the War,’ writes Sassoon, who is not shy about criticising the terrible waste of life perpetrated by cowardly leaders with no front line experience and safe office jobs, who actively encouraged young men to sign up and go to the front by shamelessly drawing on the virtues of heroism they had been taught at school and keeping them hopelessly ignorant of the true state of affairs. More a crime than a tragedy, if you ask me, and one that still makes me absolutely livid whenever I think of it. This volume goes up to 1916, just before the Battle of the Somme, and the understated grief underlying the descriptions of George’s experiences moved me to tears in the final pages. I’m both looking forward to and dreading reading the next volume, as I know it’s only going to get worse.

For a true insight into the utter otherworldly, nightmarish quality of being thrown from a comfortable domestic existence into a muddy field full of dead comrades and barbed wire, with no end in sight and longing for the chair by the fire and a nice cup of tea that you know still exists just a few hundred miles away, you can’t get any better than this. I found it illuminating, entertaining and desperately sad; it really should be required reading. Memoirs Of a Fox-Hunting Man by Sassoon, Siegfried Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man. SASSOON, Siegfried. London: Faber & Faber,, 1929. With illustrations by William Nicholson. Octavo. Original japon vellum, titles and decoration to spine and covers in red and black, top edge gilt, others uncut. With the dust jacket and plain glassine wrapper. 7 plates with laid-in tissue-guards, vignette half-title and title page, and frequent head- and tailpieces, all by William Nicholson.

Front board very lightly sprung and with one letter faintly smudged in the title, tips minutely bumped, a few spots to deckle edges as usual, Nicholson's lightly pencilled signature somewhat faded. An excellent, crisp copy in the bright dust jacket, the toned spine panel with a small section of tape repair to verso at the foot and a couple of mild nicks at the head. First illustrated edition, signed limited issue. Number 214 of 300 copies signed by the Sassoon and Nicholson on the limitation page. First published the previous year, Sassoon's "lightly fictionalized autobiography of his early years in Kent, in which he figures as the narrator George Sherston, was an immediate success, was awarded the Hawthornden and James Tait Black memorial prizes, and was quickly accepted as a classic of its kindan elegy for a way of life which had gone for ever. He continued the story in Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (1930) and Sherston's Progress (1937)" (ODNB). MEMOIRS OF A FOX-HUNTING MAN. ---- MEMOIRS OF AN INFANTRY OFFICER.

---- SHERSTON'S PROGRESS SASSOON. SIEGFRIED.; Faber and Gwyer/Faber Limited. London.,1928-36. FIRST EDITIONS. Three volumes. 8vo.(7.5 X 5 Inches). Bright and clean copies throughout in fine recent leather bindings of full dark blue morocco, the spines with five raised bands, compartments ruled, decorated and lettered in gilt. Single ruled gilt border on boards. All edges gilt. Sassoon's masterpiece of autobiographical fiction. One of the great literary works of the twentieth century. The first volume was published anonymously in an edition of just 1500 copies and is scarce. A limited edition, signed by Sassoon, was published later in 1928 and matching limited and signed volumes issued alongside the publication of the two other volumes.: MEMOIRS OF A FOX-HUNTING MAN Siegfried Sassoon London: Faber and Gwyer Ltd. , 1928. Limited ed. Hardcover. Very Good +. 6 x 9 in. 395 pp. Blue cloth boards with gilt lettering on spine.

A limited, signed edition on hand-made paper of 260, of which this is number 202. Condition of the book is VERY GOOD+ ; just the merest hint of shelf wear, covers extraordinarily clean and unblemished. Spine is sunned. Binding is tight and hinges have no play whatsover. The text is bright, clean and unmarked, with just a hint of foxing to the endpapers. Included is a 4 1/2 x 7 inch loose page of hand-laid paper with ink sketches of WWI officers, which was in this book when we bought it. I can't prove that they are by Sassoon, but they bear a striking similarity to a few others I researched online, notably sketches on letters from the front, circa 1917. See photograph provided and decide for yourself. A lovely copy of this rare and cherished book, with a likely terrific bonus in the sketch. Sport/Memoir. RGR. Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man Sassoon, Siegfried London: Faber & Faber, 1929. First edition with the Nicholson illustrations. Illustrated by William Nicholson. 296 pp. 1 vols.

8vo. Bound in full red morocco, spine gilt, gilt hunting scene after Nicholson on upper cover, lemon biscuit cloth covers bound in at rear, by Riviere & Son for Henry Sotheran. Front hinge deftly repaired, spine slightly toned, else near fine. Nicholson, William. First edition with the Nicholson illustrations. Illustrated by William Nicholson. 296 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. A finely bound edition of this sporting classic, first published without illustrations the preceding year. The upper cover reproduces the Nicholson illustration at p. 126, of a hunstman taking a fence, titled "With the Ringwell". Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man Sassoon, Siegfried London: Faber & Faber, Limited, 1929. Book. Illus. by Nicholson, William. Near Fine. Hardcover. 2nd Edition. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. The second impression (November 1929) of the trade edition illustrated by William Nicholson. A signed limited edition was issued in 1928. Original white cloth hardcovers illustrated and printed in red and black.

Slight bumping to corners; tail of spine mildly crimped. Upper edge of text-block lightly toned. Endpapers show a hint of offsetting. Otherwise a clean, tight and unmarked book in dust jacket showing some mild loss and short closed tears to edges, and a smallish chip to lower panel at spine. Illustrated -- seven plates, along with numerous chapter head- and tail-pieces by Nicholson, not to mention the endpapers and rare illustrated dust jacket. A really handsome, bright and well-preserved volume! 296pp.. Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man Sassoon, Siegfried Faber and Gwyer, 1928; First edition, second issue; mixture of indices as follows; no author name present, front blank has "A" present (the page also has partial newsprint shadow), fore-edges are trimmed, "merey" is present on page 191, "plato n" is present on page 365; octavo, 395pp; VG hardcover, very tight binding and text block, moderately bright spine title, light horizontal abrasion line across front board; light, nearly horizontal abrasion line across rear board; prev.

owner's book plate on front pastedown; in Good, corners' clipped as issued but not price-clipped dust jacket, slightly edgeworn at head of spine, which also suffers from darkened, rippled spine that has small hole two inches from lower edge, one inch long closed tear between spine and front panel, and is also chipped with some paper loss at foot of spine; overall, a good dust jacket considering age and fragility. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Good. MEMOIRS OF A FOX-HUNTING MAN Sassoon, Siegfried New York: Coward-McCann, Inc.. Hardcover. Very good/very good. Nicholson, William. No date. With seven illustrations by William Nicholson. Ivory-colored cloth stamped in black and coral. 296 pages. Some pages unopened. Light scattered browning on illustrated endpapers; small crack at front hinge. Dust jacket has a little wear at top edge of rear panel, Very Good. Also includes scarce glassine wrapper over dust jacket, and lightly-worn slipcase. Made and printed at the Chiswick Press, London.

In his decription of the English edition (A30d) Keynes refers to this book and notes that a "limited edition" of 1500 copies with Nicholson's illustrations was published in New York 1929 by Coward McCann Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man: Amazon.co.uk: Siegfried Sassoon: 9780571064540: Books Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man One of these items is dispatched sooner than the other. Show details Buy the selected items together This item:Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon Paperback Â£9.99 Only 9 left in stock (more on the way). Sent from and sold by Amazon. FREE Delivery on orders over Â£10. Details Goodbye to All That (Penguin Modern Classics) by Robert Graves Paperback Â£8.99 In stock. Sent from and sold by Amazon. FREE Delivery on orders over Â£10. Details Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1 This shopping feature will continue to load items.

In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Apple To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. or Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here , or download a FREE Kindle Reading App . Product details Publisher: Faber & Faber; 2nd edition (31 Jan. 1974) Language: English Product Dimensions: 14 x 2.5 x 19.7 cm Average Customer Review: Product Description Review * One of the most exquisite literary products of the early 20th century...James Wilby reigns in his narrative to start with, adopts a hectic pace for gallops over gorse and heathland, then slows again for the elegiac wartime coda. The Times * The war we're told changed everything. Learning, as we begin to do here, how it changed the infinitely complex Sassoon is fascinating.

Sue Arnold, The Guardian --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Book Description Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon is a superb evocation of the Edwardian age from one of Britain's best-loved war poets. By fields21 on 10 Jan. 2003 Format: Paperback Being Dutch, I took an interest in this strange habit (no room for foxhunting in Holland)which creates so big a fuss these days was all about. This novel depicts the Great Days - the Edwardian era - of this British event, with hunting parties all over the country. . Clearly, a hunt or a 'event' was in those days as much a jolly social event as was village cricket. Though even then, there were protesting farmers. But the fox-hunt is not what this book is about (I suspected that much). The book is great reading about the England John Major famously once wanted to return to. Sunny leasure days, village cricket, tailors in London, slow trains, hores races, stable grooms & no worries in the world. People were never in a hurry and had much more time on their hands.

No shopping malls, no traffic jams, no rush. Halfway through the book there's mention of a character who 'is something in the City' as if this is extremely odd. Furthermore, your classic retired Army Colonels, Country Mansions and Village Vicars are all over the pages. Fantastic! The hunt is the only passion of the author - more precisely riding his horse through the fields, jumping fences & being out in the open with a troop of dogs is what it was all about. The Great British Passion for Horses & everything that comes with it is vividly described all through the book. And then came to war - The Great British Army stumbling into their worst nightware in the same carefree Edwardian way. People dying, but the author makes it perfectably understandable he only cares about his favourite horse. Still, his tone remains lighth hearted about the whole thing until the very end of the book, when personal losses enrage the author. Great book, with a nice melancholy touch, depicting in detail a way of life which is - sad to say - forever gone - no point in arguing about it. A great historical classic. Recommended!

Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man By Siegfried Sassoon Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Ships from and sold by Amazon.com ( 18 customer reviews ) Product Description The first volume in Siegfried Sassoon’s beloved trilogy, The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston, with a new introduction by celebrated historian Paul Fussell A highly decorated English soldier and an acclaimed poet and novelist, Siegfried Sassoon won fame for his trilogy of fictionalized autobiographies that wonderfully capture the vanishing idylls of Edwardian England and the brutal realities of war. In this first novel of the semiautobiographical George Sherston trilogy, Sassoon wonderfully captures the vanishing idylls of the Edwardian English countryside. Never out of print since its original publication in 1928, when it won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Sassoon's reminiscences about childhood and the beginning of World War I are channeled through young George Sherston, whose life of local cricket tournaments and fox-hunts falls apart as war approaches and he joins up to fight.

Sassoon's first novel, though rife with comic characters and a jaunty sense of storytelling, presents his own loss of innocence and the destruction of the country he knew and loved. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. Product Details Amazon Sales Rank: #184556 in Books Brand: Brand: Penguin Classics Dimensions: 7.71" h x .54" w x 5.02" l, .45 pounds Binding: Paperback Used Book in Good Condition Editorial Reviews About the Author Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967) was a poet and novelist whose novels include the James Tait Black Award–winning Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man. He is recognized as one of the great poets of World War I and one of the war’s most influential opponents.

Paul Fussell (1925–2012) was a writer, editor, and historian whose experiences in World War II led to his writing the award-winning classic The Great War and Modern Memory. He was also the editor of the collection Sassoon’s Long Journey. Customer Reviews 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Foxes, Horses, War By JAK It's a good idea to read the introduction to the book first.Prior to reading it I hadn't realized it was a novel not "straight" autobiography.Paul Fussell explains that Sassoon's life was in some substantial ways different from what is depicted here.He didn't grow up with a maiden aunt and his environment was more intellectual and cultural than he lets on.This is clearly deliberate.Sassoon obviously wanted to create an alter ego who was quite a bit more naive and bumpkinish than he ever was; I suspect to highlight the changes ,in him and in his country wrought, by war.

One thing that will probably hit most readers is , this is a strange book about a very strange man.It really hit me when the book begins to depict its lead character and narrator at around 24 years of age.George Sherston is a university drop out without a job who has no intention of working or going back to Cambridge.Sure he can get away with this because he has an income and his aunt, who he still lives with, covers his expenses anyway.Still, while well off, he's not really rich.Most people in his position are expected to do something.George plays golf by himself and plays in the occasional cricket match.Finally he takes up fox hunting on a serious basis, which of course is expensive.That is his main activity until the War breaks out and he enlists.The book ends with him at the front in France. This is a languid book about a fundamentally lonely , disconnected man who has no real focus.The material on fox hunting is actually rather interesting.Sassoon eschews the didactic but the book is far from empty of thought.He has genuine affection for what he depicts and sufficient awareness to know he and it are a bit ridiculous.But for him , before the war, that's how it was.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. The calm before the storm By David Roberts This is a wonderful descriptive look at English upper class life before the WW1, he writes evocatively and with passion for a time gone by never to return after the horrors of trench warfare. This is part one of the trilogy which leads to the beginning of the war and the beginnings of his dissolving patriotism and anger against the architects of war. Its not a gung ho war story its a compassionate look at the human side of war from the perspective of the actual combatants. 0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. It is beautifully written. Sassoon is a first-rate poet By PatOR It is beautifully written. Sassoon is a first-rate poet. But I missed more interpersonal relationships. It is a memoir that is largely consumed by the author's thoughts on his own life and predicaments. Also, the book is touted to be the memoirs of George Sherston. This allows Sassoon to make things up. One constantly wonders whether what one is reading really happened to Sassoon. He was a war hero; he was wounded; he did love fox hunting. But how much is true.

If the reader is interested most of all in first rate rhetoric, this is a good read. Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man (Faber Paperbacks): Amazon.es: Siegfried Sassoon: Libros en idiomas extranjeros Libros en idiomas extranjeros EUR 11,66 Precio final del producto Elige envÃ­os GRATIS mÃ¡s rÃ¡pidos con Amazon Premium o elige envÃ­o GRATIS en 4-5 dÃ­as en pedidos superiores a 19â¬ en libros En stock. Vendido y enviado por Amazon. Se puede envolver para regalo. Cantidad: Para ver las direcciones, por favor Iniciar sesiÃ³n Usar esta ubicaciÃ³n: Actualizar Introduce un cÃ³digo postal vÃ¡lido. Introduce un cÃ³digo postal vÃ¡lido.

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Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man (Faber Paperbacks) (InglÃ©s) Tapa blanda – 31 ene 1975 de DescripciÃ³n del producto Reseña del editor George Sherston develops from a shy and awkward child, through shiftless adolescence, to an officer just beginning to understand the horrors of trench warfare. The world he grows up in, of village cricket and loyal grooms, had vanished forever by the time Sassoon wrote this book, but he captures it with a lyricism and gentleness that defy nostalgia. A bestseller on publication in 1928, this superb evocation of the Edwardian age has remained in print ever since. It was the first volume of a classic trilogy, completed by Memoirs of an Infantry Officer and Sherston's Progress, that charted both the destruction of the world for which Sassoon fought, and his own emergence as one of Britain's finest war poets. Biografía del autor Siegfried Sassoon was born in 1886 and educated at Clare College, Cambridge. He served in the trenches during the First World War, where he began to write the poems for which he is remembered.

Despatched as 'shell-shocked' to hospital, he organised public protest against the war. His poetry initially met with little response, but his reputation grew steadily in the following decades. Apart from the War Poems of 1919, he published eight volumes of verse during his lifetime. But it is as a novelist and autobiographer that he is perhaps better known. Sassoon's semi-autobiographical trilogy, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man (1928), Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (1930) and Sherston's Progress (1936), was outstandingly successful. He published several more volumes of autobiography, including Siegfried's Journey (1945), before his death in 1967. No es necesario ningÃºn dispositivo Kindle. DescÃ¡rgate una de las apps de Kindle gratuitas para comenzar a leer libros Kindle en tu smartphone, tablet u ordenador. Apple ObtÃ©n la app gratuita: o Â¿No tienes un Kindle? Consigue un Kindle aquÃ­ o descarga una aplicaciÃ³n de lectura Kindle GRATUITA.

Detalles del producto Tapa blanda: 320 pÃ¡ginas Editor: Faber & Faber; EdiciÃ³n: Main (31 de enero de 1975) ColecciÃ³n: Faber Paperbacks Idioma: InglÃ©s Â¿Quieres actualizar la informaciÃ³n sobre un producto o dar tu opiniÃ³n sobre las imÃ¡genes ? Amazon Premium: EnvÃ­o 1 dÃ­a GRATIS y mucho mÃ¡s Los clientes Premium disfrutan de EnvÃ­o 1 dÃ­a GRATIS en mÃ¡s de un millÃ³n de productos, Acceso Prioritario a Amazon BuyVIP y Ofertas flash, Almacenamiento de fotos gratis e ilimitado y acceso a las series Amazon Originals, entre otras pelÃ­culas y series. TodavÃ­a no hay opiniones de clientes en Amazon.es 5 estrellas 4.0 de un mÃ¡ximo de 5 estrellas The twilight years 10 de junio de 2012 Por R. M.

Peterson - Publicado en Amazon.com Formato: Tapa blanda Compra verificada I have seen MEMOIRS OF A FOX-HUNTING MAN described variously as a memoir, a semi-fictionalized autobiography, and a novel. Which is it? I don't know for sure, but "semi-fictionalized autobiography" probably is the closest. On the surface it is the memoir until age twenty-eight of a British gentleman named George Sherston, who had been orphaned as a lad and raised as a single child by his spinster aunt Evelyn in rural Kent. Some of the biographical information of George Sherston coincides with that of Siegfried Sassoon, but not all. For starters, there is the different name and the fact that Siegfried Sassoon was raised by his widowed mother along with two brothers. MEMOIRS was first published in 1928. By that time Sassoon already was quite famous as a poet, one of the greatest that the Great War had produced. MEMOIRS was his first attempt at serious prose. A measure of doubt about how his prose would be received surely contributed to Sassoon's decision to lightly fictionalize MEMOIRS and, initially, to publish it anonymously.

My advice on reading MEMOIRS is to forget about whether or not it describes the life of an historical person, and read it instead as the portrait of a time and place (rural England circa 1895 to 1915) and the coming-of-age of a country gentleman typical of his time and place. George Sherston is a youth of privilege, although not great wealth. He lives in a bucolic setting, and he avidly pursues such activities as horse-riding, cross-country horse-racing, fox-hunting, cricket, and golf. Thinking no further ahead than the next ride-to-the-hounds, he drops out of Cambridge and becomes the right-hand-man to an up-and-coming Master of the Hunt. But ever so slowly he also begins to develop class-consciousness and a measure of social conscience. His education in that regard is then accelerated remarkably by the outbreak of the Great War. He first enlists in the Sussex Yeomanry and then he is commissioned into the Royal Flintshire Fusiliers. He goes to France in November 1915. His Memoir ends as his battalion is moved into position for the Battle of the Somme in the spring of 1916.

By that time, of his four closest friends, three had already died in France. He is repeatedly struck by the courage of the young men of Great Britain as they go to War, even by his own courage. Looking back from the perspective of 1928, he writes: "[T]o me, the War was inevitable and justifiable. Courage remained a virtue. And that exploitation of courage, if I may be allowed to say a thing so obvious, was the essential tragedy of the War, which, as everyone now agrees, was a crime against humanity." MEMOIRS OF A FOX-HUNTING MAN contains marvelous descriptions of cricket, fox-hunting, and point-to-point cross-country horse-racing. It is almost de rigueur for a member of the post-WWII American middle class to deprecate those activities, but Sassoon helps me understand how and why they could be so invigorating for men of his time and place. MEMOIRS also contains numerous sketches of quintessential British characters. Here's one, Miss Clara Maskall: "She was reputed to have been kissed by King George the Fourth. * * * With her piercingly alert eyes and beaky nose she looked like some ancient and intelligent bird.

* * * She had old-fashioned ideas about education, and she usually inquired of me, in creaking tones, whether I had recently been flogged by my schoolmaster. But the menace of Roman Catholicism was her most substantial and engrossing theme; and up to the age of ninety she continued to paste on the walls of her bedroom every article on the subject which she could find * * *. Aunt Evelyn told me that the walls were almost entirely papered with printed matter, and that she had more than once found Miss Maskall sitting on the top step of a library ladder reading some altitudinous article on this momentous question of `the Scarlet Woman'." I can't say that MEMOIRS OF A FOX-HUNTING MAN is essential reading, but it is very instructive as regards the twilight years of rural Edwardian England before the Great War and the terrible birth of the Modern Age. Plus, while perhaps it need not be mentioned, the book is superbly written.

P.S.: As of the date of this review, the Faber paperback edition is in print and can be bought new for about $15; it is quite satisfactory, especially given that the hard-cover edition published by Obscure Press costs more than $40. 2 de 2 personas piensan que la opiniÃ³n es Ãºtil 4.0 de un mÃ¡ximo de 5 estrellas Remembering WW I 26 de febrero de 2013 Por John D. Casey - Publicado en Amazon.com Formato: Tapa blanda Compra verificada In the list of books about World War I, this is a good one. It's slightly fictionalized , but corresponds to Sassoon's real life. His Memoirs of an Infantry Officer is a continuation. There is a third volume, but I haven't read that one. Sassoon's friendship with Robert Graves author of Good-bye to All That ( 5 stars) is of great interest.

Other key memoirs about WW I are Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger (5 stars) , Undertones of War by Edmund Blunden (4 stars) (also a friend of Sassoon), Under Fire by Henri Barbusse, badly translated but worth it--in French the title is simply Feu, and it's better to read it in French until a better translation comes along. I'd also include A German Deserter's War Experiences, anonymous. It's available still. I bought n early edition from Lowdermilks' Used Bookstore when I was 11 or 12. There are more on my list, but that's a good start for considering WW I on its centennial. 5.0 de un mÃ¡ximo de 5 estrellas Required reading for young people who are too "into" modern violence and military heroics 25 de enero de 2015 Por Gromer - Publicado en Amazon.com Compra verificada Brilliantly elegiac and beautifully written. If you already like his poems you have to read this and it wouldn't disappoint. I don't know why it's not more famous.

This is book 1 - you will want to read books 2 and 3 as well (which are titled, "Memoirs of an Infantry Officer" and "Sherston's Progress"). While book 1 is about childhood, being a young man, and being (foolishly) into cricket and fox hunting, it segues very beautifully, and deliberately, into the horrors of WWI trench warfare. It captures the mindset of this naive generation perfectly - much more so than any anthology of Great War poets. If more young people of every nation read this thoughtful trilogy, written by a smart guy who experienced true war, they wouldn't think warfare, gunfighting and military heroics were so drop-dead cool. 1 de 1 personas piensan que la opiniÃ³n es Ãºtil 5.0 de un mÃ¡ximo de 5 estrellas A Classic 20 de marzo de 2013 Por Roland Park - Publicado en Amazon.com Formato: Tapa blanda Compra verificada "The Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man" has been in print ever since it first appeared.

If you enjoyed "Upstairs, Downstairs" or "Downtown Abby" don't miss this classic view of the Edwardian world, written by one of the soldier authors of World War I, looking back on those happy days when the railways of England had little better to do than assure that horses were delivered to out-of the -way locations so gentlemen could join the local hunt. 2 de 3 personas piensan que la opiniÃ³n es Ãºtil Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon – BooksPlease What’s in a Name 2017 Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man by Siegfied Sassoon is a perfect choice for the Turn of the Century Salon . It’s the first part of his fictionalised autobiography. The other two books in his trilogy are Memoirs of an Infantry Officer and Sherston’s Progress. The Book Siegfried Sassoon was born in 1886 and in Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man he relives his childhood, youth and experiences as an officer during the First World War.

He wrote it in 1928, ten years after the War had ended, calling himself George Sherston. Life for young George/Siegfried was almost idyllic, living in the country as part of the privileged upper class, although his lifestyle exceeded his income. His aunt’s groom, Dixon, taught him to ride and introduced him to the fox-hunting world. At first Siegfried’s sympathies were with the fox and, at one of his first hunts, on spotting a fox he was alarmed so much that when his companion shrieked ‘Huick-holler’ (meaning the fox has been seen) he uttered the words ‘Don’t do that; they’ll catch him.’ Sassoon paints a beautiful picture of the English countryside and country life at the turn of the century.

In the passage quoted below he wakes early on the morning of the local village flower show, looking forward to playing in the Flower Show Cricket Match: When I unlocked the door into the garden the early morning air met me with its cold purity; on the stone step were the bowls of roses and delphiniums and sweet peas which Aunt Evelyn had carried out there before she went to bed [in preparation for the Flower Show]; the scarlet disc of the sun had climbed an inch above the hills. Thrushes and blackbirds hopped and pecked busily on the dew-soaked lawn, and a pigeon was cooing monotonously from the belt of woodland which sloped from the garden toward the Weald. Down there in the belt of river-mist a goods train whistled as it puffed steadily away from the station with a distinctly heard clanking of buffers. How little I knew of the enormous world beyond that valley and those low green hills. (page 53) The first part of the book is carefree, as Siegfried passes through his school years and time at Cambridge University, which he left before completing his degree. Not a lot happens.

His life, despite his lack of funds was a seemingly endless round of riding and hunting. He describes his friends and fox-hunting companions with affection and realism – the old country gentlemen, the benevolent gentry, the newly rich and the dare-devil younger riders, who were ‘reckless, insolent, unprincipled and aggressively competitive; but they were never dull, frequently amusing, and, when they chose, had charming manners.’ (page 235) Siegfried, himself comes across as a likeable young man, shy, reserved, and modest, happy-go-lucky but aware of his own shortcomings. All this changed with the onset of the First World War. He enlisted and was eventually posted to France, where because of his connections and abilities, he was appointed as a Transportation Officer stationed behind the trenches and the Front Line. But war brought him face to face with the grim realities of life and death. At first he was philosophical about the War – it seemed ‘inevitable and justifiable.

Courage remained a virtue.’ But writing in 1928 he considered: And that exploitation of courage, if I may be allowed to say a thing so obvious, was the essential tragedy of the War, which as everyone now agrees, was a crime against humanity. (page 256) He sees men under his command die and suffer appallingly, his friends die, and Dixon his former groom who had enlisted died of pneumonia. Whilst home on leave as he talked to an old friend of Dixon’s he realised the past had gone … Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Faber and Faber; 2nd edition (31 Jan 1974) Language: English The Author Siegfried Sassoon 1915 (from Wikipedia) Sassoon is one of the of the War Poets. Unlike others, such as Rupert Brooke, he survived the War. He came to the conclusion that the war was being needlessly prolonged. In 1917 he wrote a protest to his commanding officer. Its impact was reduced because rather than facing a court martial he was tried by a medical board and was judged to be suffering from severe shell shock.

His account of the ruling is in the second part of his trilogy Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (1931). He was sent to Craiglockhart military hospital where he met Wilfred Owen, also one of the War Poets. It was in the hospital that Sassoon published some of his war poems. I’ll write more about those in another post and also more about his life when I’ve read Siegfried Sassoon: a biography by Max Egremont (which I’ve reserved at the library). In his later years he wrote The Old Century, The Weald of Youth andSiegfried’s Journey, three volumes of non-fictionalised autobiography. Author: Margaret

Question: Who detailed his experiences before and during World War I in Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man, and Memoirs of an Infantry Officer?
Answer: Siegfried Sassoon