1109 Under Fire, by Henri Barbusse (read 7 Apr 1971) This book was first published in French in 1916. It is a story of a French soldier in World War One. It is full of hyperbole and frenzied declamation. It dwells long on the most repulsive aspects of the war. It is a mission book--it aims to horrify. I liked much better the book I read shortly before I read this: Her Privates We, by Private 19022 (Frederic Manning). ( )

Under Fire is considered the best WWI novel by a French author. It was also the first major novel of the war, published in 1916 just two years into the conflict, making it very influential with later authors. It's a grotesque and graphic portrayal of life in the trenches. It is devoid of contemporary propaganda, the German enemy is an abstraction of metal shrapnel, explosions and pointed helmets - it is irrational senseless horror.

To truly appreciate this book is to understand French culture in the period 1871-1914 - Barbusee tears down many of its cherished ideals and beliefs. For example, France was a colonial power which rationalized its overseas exploitations based on the notion of a "civilized mission". Europeans were naturally, they believed, superior to the primitive peoples they subjected. WWI exposed the lie, Europeans were the most barbaric of all. Barbusse was among the first to say it and spares no prose in describing the cave man like existence on the front lines - in one scene a soldier even finds an ancient archaeological axe and uses it as a weapon. Other beliefs like honor and duty are seen as hypocrisy and class warfare.

WWI was a wrenching change, a train wreck from which the trajectory of Europe was forever altered. Barbusse's book goes a long way in showing how those in the middle of the fire were aware of the change. Straddling the old world and the new at the same time. Looking backward and at the present. Many fine WWI novels have been written by veterans who experienced the war, but mostly after the war ended. Under Fire is unique in that it was written with such close perspective, not knowing the outcome, or even caring, stuck in the trench and lamenting how the world had changed.

--Review by Stephen Balbach, via CoolReading (c) 2008 cc-by-nd ( )

Some say this is the best fictionalised account of the horrors of World War I. I would agree with that for the ones I have read, although Sebastien Japrisot's Long engagement is marvellous too. ( )

I found it to be a hard book to get through, but it is as vivid a depiction of life in the trenches as you can find. He accurately depicts the difference in perspectives that people had, depending to their proximity to the front. For anyone who is interested in life in the trenches during the Great War, this should be a must read. ( )

In my opinion the best World War I book I've read. Barbusse puts the reader right in the trenches along with his squad of poilus--all of whom are ordinary human beings from a wide variety of occupations--urbanites mixed in with rural folk, bank tellers with farmers, miners and factory workers. Barbusse's eye roves around much like a camera seeing through the eyes of his anonymous narrator as he describes his comrades, the system of trenches, the ruined towns and blasted landscapes--what's it's like to cross an open crater filled field with artillery shells dropping on your head and bullets flying everywhere. Much of the story told here is with the other senses especially of sound and smell. There are uneventful times to go with the more eventful--the more eventful always leading to some tragedy or another. This is not a sugar coated war story--it is often very grim and Barbusse is very subtle in how he portrays the sense of loss coming with the death of a comrade. Barbusse himself fought in the war (he was in his 40's) and wrote this book while recovering from a gunshot wound to the chest. The book won the Prix Goncourt and he returned to the front to fight on and survive the war. ( )