Frederic Manning Libri

In un romanzo considerato un capolavoro della letteratura di guerra, la battaglia della Somme, una delle più terribili carneficine della storia, rivive attraverso gli occhi del soldato semplice Bourne, alter ego dell’autore. L’attenzione è tutta rivolta agli uomini che combattono e muoiono, che marciano fino allo sfinimento, tormentati dai parassiti e dal sudiciume, che attendono nelle retrovie. Le imprecazioni, i pensieri, la paura non concedono nulla all’idealizzazione della vita militare. Il risultato è un profondo, sincero ritratto del soldato semplice di fronte alla terribile prova della guerra. Della Grande guerra e di ogni guerra.

War is waged by men; not by beasts, or by gods. It is a peculiarly human activity. Originally published in 1929 anonymously under the pen name Private 19022, The Middle Parts of Fortune follows ordinary soldiers as they fight to survive in the trenches of a raging war. It was revised and published again in wider circulation in 1930. The book details the brutalities of the soldier's experiences and their internal struggles, as well as the raw complexities of human interaction when comradeship and conflict collide. Most of the book's events are filtered through the main character Bourne, who is enigmatic and detached and considered to be a self-portrait of the author. Frederic Manning was an Australian poet and novelist who died in 1935. He had fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916 during the first World War, and his war experiences allowed him to infuse his characters and their perspectives with authenticity and fragility. While the subject matter may be bleak and grim, Manning's writing is fluid and striking in its description. Beloved by T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and Ernest Hemingway, who called it a noble novel, The Middle Parts of Fortune is regarded as a classic war novel.