#4307000 - 10/28/16 03:19 AM
WWI in fiction
|
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 93
Mortuus
Junior Member
|
Junior Member
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 93
Ottawa, ON
|
Hey folks,
I got to thinking the other day that I've really never looked at much of the fiction surrounding the Great War. I recently started watching an old BBC show called "Wings" (and to those who might object to me calling the show old, perhaps "ancient" is better - my mother was only 6 years old when the first episode aired!), but other than that the only other work of fiction set in that period that I have read is Donald Jack's Bandy Papers, albeit only the first three novels. Are there any other films, tv shows, books, et cetera, that you would recommend? Or, if you prefer, what are your opinions on the ones I've already mentioned?
|
|
|
#4307010 - 10/28/16 04:32 AM
Re: WWI in fiction
[Re: Mortuus]
|
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 100
zifnow
Member
|
Member
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 100
|
The old movies are somehow better than the new ones. Check www.theaerodrome.forum, books and cinema section. That site is the best resource on everything concerning WW1 in the air
|
|
|
#4307088 - 10/28/16 01:02 PM
Re: WWI in fiction
[Re: Mortuus]
|
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 350
actionjoe
Member
|
Member
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 350
Nord, France.
|
Derek Robinson trilogy is a must read. Goshawk Squadron, War Story and Hornets Sting. I have read the first one (the only that has been translated in french), and I found it quite good (well, except the numerous anti-frog comments ) I also received today "One Spring in Picardy", found it for a couple of euros at Abebooks. It is about a night bombing FE2 squadron. Don't know what it worth, but I like the cover. And if we talk about fiction, there is also this one (which suits well the Halloween mood) Manfred is a vampire, Edgar Allan Poe is sent by the Kaiser(who fell under Dracula's control) to help him writing "Der Röte-Töt Kampfflieger". Adventure/detective novel, with WW1 background but a lot of historical characters. It was a fun read. On french side, there is "The Crew" by Joseph Kessel, a "sentimental" fiction with the air war on the background. Kessel was gunner in SAL 39 in 1918, and he puts some of his experience in the book, and he pays hommage to his former Commandant in it. Some found the writing a bit "dated", but there's cool parts, especially at the end.
|
|
|
#4307357 - 10/29/16 06:31 PM
Re: WWI in fiction
[Re: Mortuus]
|
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 209
olddog
Member
|
Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 209
england
|
I know this is a posting for fiction, but I have had the remastered version of the 1927 movie wings https://willmckinley.wordpress.com/2012/...-ive-ever-seen/even if you have the none Blu-ray version this latest is like a new move I have watched it over and over also they have released All quiet on the western front in remastered another must have.
|
|
|
#4307688 - 10/31/16 12:56 PM
Re: WWI in fiction
[Re: Mortuus]
|
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 4,879
RAF_Louvert
BOC President; Pilot Extraordinaire; Humble Man
|
BOC President; Pilot Extraordinaire; Humble Man
Senior Member
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 4,879
L'Etoile du Nord
|
.
Lots of good WWI fiction out there and the list already going here is a good one. I agree about the "Wings" series being one of the better representations of what it must have actually been like.
I don't tend to read a lot of WWI fiction as I prefer the firsthand accounts written by those that were personally involved in the whole affair. A few such works have also already been listed in this thread and I agree with them being very much worth the read. And, as James Norman Hall was just mentioned in the previous post, I will say that I have just scored a pristine first edition, in original dust jacket, of his autobiography, "My Island Home". Another excellent read by the way, and in several chapters he talks further about his time with the Lafayette Escadrille.
.
Three RFC Brass Hats were strolling down a street in London. Two walked into a bar, the third one ducked._________________________________________________________________________ Former Cold War Warrior, USAF Security Service 1974-1978, E-4, Morse Systems Intercept, England, Europe, and points above. "pippy-pahpah-pippy pah-pip-pah"
|
|
|
#4312146 - 11/15/16 01:19 AM
Re: WWI in fiction
[Re: Mortuus]
|
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 223
SteveW
Member
|
Member
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 223
Albuquerque, NM USA
|
Not aircraft related: I just came across a trilogy by an author named Pat Barker. The Regeneration Trilogy: 'Regeneration, The Eye in the Dust, The Ghost Road'. Very interesting, comes from sentiments of the British anti-war writers. Also one of my favorites, 'Three Day Road', by Joseph Boyden. About two Cree Indians who join the Canadian army. Being dissociated from the rest of the men by their race they take on the sniper role, being in those very lonely dugouts waiting for the target to appear. And what happens to them after being injured and use of morphine, etc. And coming back home and all that. Well written, very thoughtful.
Rockmedic, I'm with you, as a kid Arch Whitehouse was practically the only WWI aircraft author my very small library had on the shelves. I remember The Years of the Sky Kings, and The Early Birds. He kinda set my knowledge in place of WWI aviation.
Also loved Nordhoff and Hall, Falcons for France. And that of course got me to read The Bounty trilogy, (hm, must be attracted to trilogies), which are still my favorite sailing era stories.
|
|
|
|
|