Zero Hour
by Georg Grabenhorst
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An autobiographical novel of World War I experiences in the German ranks, ""Zero Hour"" equates duty with camaraderie and finds a balance between bitterness and hawkishness. The war is experienced here through the keen eyes of Hans Volkenborn, a well-bred officer-candidate whose youthful enthusiasm turns to angst and disillusion. The sole comfort of his experience is fellowship with his comrades, but even that abates over time. Grabenhorst recalls specifics of battlefield actions on the show more Western Front with a visceral language that resonates still today. Of particular historical importance are accounts of combat in the Ypres campaign in 1917, and the futile clashes in the woods of Aveluy in northern France the following summer as German hopes for victory faded. But the novel's greatest success is a vivid description of shell shock, the result of being briefly buried alive by a mortar round. The condition ultimately engulfs Volkenborn's ailing psyche and leaves him tormented, isolated, and blinded at the war's end. ""Zero Hour"" was first published as Fahnenjunker Volkenborn in Germany in 1928 and was translated into English under the current title in the following year. This reissued edition features a new introduction by Robert Cowley and a new afterword by Casey Clabough to place the novel in its proper literary and historical contexts. show lessTags
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Zero Hour
- Important events
- World War I (1914 | 1918); The Battle of the Dunes (1917-7-10)
- First words
- The coast of Flanders shimmered in July sunshine.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Then, as his tortured eyes sought to pierce through this confusion and obscurity, the pain became more intense, and from the blinding white glare shot up the dread, beautiful violet sphere; like a blinding violet star it hung suspended before him, while beyond it lay the night, cool, peaceful and at rest.
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- Members
- 9
- Popularity
- 2,295,850
- Rating
- (4.00)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
- ASINs
- 1
