Lynn Patrick Doyle wrote:
> Today (Thursday, the 22nd) is the birthday of Erich Maria Remarque.
> His NY Times obituary from September 26, 1970 is here:
> http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0622.html
i would like to take this opportunity to call attention to Helen Zenna
Smith book NOT SO QUIET. This book was written by Evadne Price a well
known writer from the late 1920's under the name Helen Zenna Smith. She
was approached by a British publisher to write a reply to ALL QUIET as a
spoof. Appalled by this idea, she offered instead to produce a
realistic account of a woman's experience of war. She made contact with
Winnifred Young who'd kept a diary of her work as an ambulance driver at
the French front and thus NOT SO QUIET was born. As a searing
indictment of the brutalities of war, the novel denounces armchair
patriotism, showing that for those who witnessed the consequences of
battle, war service was a passkey to scenes of devastation and atrocity
which civilian glory seekers could never visualize. A first person
account of this wreckage, NOT SO QUIET makes an important and
unforgettable contribution to war literature.
from the Virago Modern Classics # 305 preface of the reprint.
i would add that the story gives wonderful insight and history of the
role of women in war in particular WW1. This is one of the most
powerful war book i have ever read. Its climactic ending will leave you
stunned for sure and takes away all thoughts of women not experiencing
direct violence and terror in their war service.
cheers, country joe mcdonald
-- "Ira Furor Brevis Est " - Anger is a brief madness
country joe Home Pg <http://www.countryjoe.com>
country joe's tribute to Florence Nightingale
<http://www.countryjoe.com/nightingale>
Berkeley Vietnam Veterans Memorial
<http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Links/Comm/vvm>
Rag Baby Online Magazine <http://www.ragbaby.com/magazine>
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