Edmund Blunden (1896–1974)

I am very thankful to have reached the end of this. I am studying it for my OU course and would otherwise never have chosen to read it. I appreciated the character of the narrator and his perspective on war in the trenches, but found it slow going, as I had to look up the meaning of so many specialist WW1 and military terms. It was also repetitive and relentless (obviously not to be compared with actually having to live through it) and although I learnt a lot from reading it, it wasn't really an enjoyable experience.… (mais)

This is a war memoir written by a man with an eye to the natural world. He views the landscape with the eye of someone who can see its potential and how it is ruined and abused causes him almost as much pain as the death of those around him. At times this focus on the natural means that the impact of the war is barely noticeable. Blunden participated in some of the major battles of WW1, and these are described in a very sparse, understated way. At times the horror creeps up on you as it is certainly not overt in the style of writing he adopts. In the introduction it is noted that this can be difficult for the later reader, in that this was almost written with those who were there in mind, not for posterity. We have not experienced anything like what these men went through, and so the gulf between our imagination and their reality is hard to bridge.
It feels wrong to say I enjoyed this based on the subject matter, however I certainly enjoyed his style of observational writing.… (mais)

The "Britain in Pictures" series, published primarily during World War II, featured many prominent writers and was intended to boost British morale by celebrating English culture and history. This volume, English Villages by poet and author Edmund Blunden, is a fine example of the high quality of these books. Blunden paints a loving portrait of village life: its people, landscape, architecture, and sensibilities. His lyrical prose is accompanied by beautiful illustrations, particularly the full-colour plates.… (mais)