[translated with an introduction by Michael Hofmann]
New York : Penguin Books, 2016.
xxx, 288 p. ; 22 cm.
A couple of years ago I was reading several books on WWI, and I came across references praising this remarkable memoir of trench warfare by Ernst Jünger. I thought I would get to it sooner, but it's not always easy to find - even though recognized as a classic work of the "Great War." I finally added this new edition to our library and just finished reading it.
It is a stunning work. As others have pointed out, Jünger makes almost no judgments about the war, but simply presents the events and his participation in them over the course of virtually the entire war. He is able to offer us an unvarnished look at life in the German trenches on the Western Front. His passages really convey the unimaginable intensity of massive bombardment and the ever present threat of death or horrific maiming.
And strangely, he doesn't really dwell on the deeper meanings of such violence and horror. Instead he writes rather matter of factly about his and his comrades actions and situation before, during and after many battles - including the Somme and Passchendaele.
I wouldn't recommend this book to a reader as a first book about WWI, since it provides almost no explanations of the where's, how's and why's of the fighting. But for a student who has read some about the war and wants something visceral and intense, then this is a book I can highly recommend.
