The Middle Parts of Fortune (1929)

Even in the expurgated 1967 reissue version, I can see this must have been very, very different in tone at the time of original UK publication.

One might think that a book about WWI would offer little that a reader today could relate to. Not true. I found much in Her Privates We with which to identify. In his modern intro to the book first published in 1929, William Boyd notes that the unexpurgated version, with its vivid and vulgar language typical to the talk of rank and file soldiers, makes the book curiously contemporary, and he's right. The usual Anglo-saxon crudities used by the British soldiers in the book are the same ones still used by soldiers in any army in the world.

Hemingway remarked that Her Privates We was one of the best books he'd ever read about men at war, and that he read it often.

I have to agree with Boyd and Hemingway. There is something so very real, so 'now' about the story Manning tells, about his main character, Bourne, and the other soldiers he befriends and observes throughout the narrative. There was one particular anecdote, one in which Bourne and another soldier had to escort a couple of large stupid Lancashire men to a military prison which reminded me almost immediately of the plot of a popular novel (and film) of the 70s Vietnam era, Darryl Ponicsan's The Last Detail. I wondered idly as I read this section whether Ponicsan had ever read Manning's book.

Another passage which struck me deeply, was a passing comment Bourne made about friendship versus the comradeship the military life often forces upon you.

"I have one or two particular chums, of course; and in some ways, you know, good comradeship takes the place of friendship. It is different; it has its own loyalties and affections; and I am not so sure that it does not rise on occasion to an intensity of feeling which friendship never touches."

And that is exactly what the phrase "old army buddies" is all about. It can't be explained to someone who has never served, but friendships made outside the military rarely rise to that level, to that lasting feeling of "comradeship."

There were many such passages here - truisms and even casual conversations between chums that I understood easily. My own experiences in the US Army in the 60s, then 70s and 80s, were the same. I had my own Bournes, Martlows and Shems, and the end of the story, as heartbreaking as it is, seemed inevitable. That's how real and immediate this book still is. So I understand why Hemingway, Arnold Bennett, T.E. Lawrence and others marked this book for greatness. It is deserving of its status as a classic of war literature. Terrific stuff. I cannot recommend it highly enough. ( )

1107 Her Privates We, by Private 19022 (Frederic Manning) (read 21 Mar 1971) This book drips with authenticity, even though it is told as a fiction. I should say, rather, that it actually happened in the latter half of 1916 but the names are fictitious. Only a little of the book actually deals with front line life, but it all deals with Britons in France, and one feels the book tells how it really was: and gives one a little insight into how men thought and were able to endure. I thank God I was never put to the test of something like 1916 in France. This book is fantastic. Only one experiencing it could have written this book. ( )

The First World War in literature makes me think of Farewell to Arms and All Quiet on the Western Front. Manning's Her Privates We is perhaps less known, but deserves a place with those classics. The book tells the story of Bourne, a simple soldier fighting in France, apparently quite like the author did.

As this is an honest book, it's not much about fighting and a lot about what happens in between. The life behind the front is boring, though the alternatives aren't charming either. Bourne is an intelligent man, perhaps somewhat unlike his fellows, yet he fits in and doesn't really want the promotion they want to give to him. There's the futility of the war, and then there's the strong companionship between the men.

Manning paints a beautiful literary picture of a horrid thing. The crude language of the soldiers (at least in the non-bowdlerized editions), the vivid descriptions of mud and ruins, of all the uncomforts of military life, it is all described in detailed, beautiful prose. If you're looking for a good book about war, particularly the First World War, look no further. (Review based on the Finnish translation.)

(Original review at my review blog) ( )

Very good, a book that leaves an intense memory of atmosphere, place and the grimy, utterly unromantic business of war. Ideally to be read in conjunction with All Quiet on the Western Front: two sides of a conflict suffering precisely the same needless misery. ( )