Under Fire (novel)

Infobox Book |
name = Under Fire: The Story of a Squad
title_orig = Le Feu: journal d'une escouade
translator = Robin Buss


image_caption =
author = Henri Barbusse
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = Flagicon|France France
language = French
series =
genre = War Novel
publisher =
release_date = 1917
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 304 pp
isbn = ISBN 1426415761
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Under Fire: The Story of a Squad" (French: "Le Feu: journal d'une escouade") by Henri Barbusse, published in 1917, was one of the first novels about the Great War to be published. Although it is a piece of fiction, the novel was based on Barbusse's own war experiences.

ummary and style

The novel takes the form of journal-like anecdotes which the unnamed narrator claims to be writing to record his time in the war. It follows a squad of French volunteer soldiers on the front in France after the German invasion. The book opens and ends with broad visions shared by multiple characters, but beyond these the action of the novel takes place entire in occupied France.

The anecdotes are episodic in nature, each with an individual chapter title. The best-known chapter, "The Fire" ("Le feu") shares the French-language title of the book. It describes a trench assault from the Allied (French) trench across No-Man's Land into the German trench.

In contrast to many war novels which came before it, "Under Fire" described war in gritty and brutal realism. It is noted for its realistic descriptions of death in war and the squalid trench conditions.

Publication and reception

Barbusse wrote "Le feu" while he was still enlisted. He claimed to have taken notes for the novel while still in the trenches; after being injured and reassigned from the front, he wrote and published the novel while working at the War Office in 1916cite book
last = Barbusse
first = Henri
others = Winter, Jay (introduction)
title = Under Fire
origyear = 1917
series = Penguin Classics
year = 2003
publisher = Penguin Books
location = New York
language = French (English translation) ] .

Critical reception of the book was mixed at its publication. Its unique position of being published before the end of the war -- the so-called "war book boom" took place only in the 1920s -- led to its being well-known and widely-read. Jacques Bertillon referred to Barbusse as a "moral witness [...] with a story to tell and re-tell".

Like many war novels, however, "Under Fire" was criticised for fictionalizing details of the war. Jean Norton Cru, who was commissioned to critique French literature of the First World War, called "Under Fire" "a concoction of truth, half-truth, and total falsehood" [cite book
last = Cru
first = Jean Norton
title = War Books: a Study in Historical Criticism
year = 1976
publisher = San Diego St. University Press
location = San Diego
language = French (English translation) ] .

External links

* [http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/wwone/underfire.html Online Version]

References