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A review by justabean_reads
1914 - Goodbye to All That: Writers on the Conflict Between Life and Art by Lavinia Greenlaw
4.0
Enjoyable and interesting if somewhat puzzling. I'm pretty sure the solicit was "How you personally view the intersection of art and the first world war," which brought a predictably varied group of responses. Some essays are reflections of the difficulty of connecting with things that happened five generations ago; some on specific things that happened; some on the moral demands on an artist in that conflict, or in current conflicts; some a mix of those elements. Many included the work of the war poets.
I appreciated the effort to include the voices of more than England, France and Germany, and the book did contain a wide variety of perspectives, including Turkey, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and China, to remind the reader that it was a world war. I did feel that it could have included a handful more essays; there was nothing from the Americas, Australia or Eastern Europe made it in, for example. It's a slim volume, with each essay packing a punch, but a little more wouldn't have hurt.
I appreciated the effort to include the voices of more than England, France and Germany, and the book did contain a wide variety of perspectives, including Turkey, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and China, to remind the reader that it was a world war. I did feel that it could have included a handful more essays; there was nothing from the Americas, Australia or Eastern Europe made it in, for example. It's a slim volume, with each essay packing a punch, but a little more wouldn't have hurt.