Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man

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The final chapters of this, the first of his trilogy, set in the Somme, are in sharp contrast to his idyllic, carefree youth. At the author's request, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man was initially published anonymously, though his identity was soon revealed following the work's immediate success. However a change was coming and the catalyst was the slaughterhouse now known as WW1, although at the time it was known as the 'Great War' of 'The War to end all Wars. VG copy [scattered light creasing, top edge foxing] in spine toned Dust Wrapper with a few short edge tears/nicking. Faber Members get access to live and online author events and receive regular e-newsletters with book previews, promotional offers, articles and quizzes.

Sassoon is quite open in viewing these as halcyon days, but then he was one of the lucky few born to a life of privilege. In the late 1920s, Sassoon turned to the prose sequence that occupied him for nearly two decades, the trilogy published as The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston, in 1937, in which the central character is a lightly fictionalized version of the young author. This is the first of three volumes, the second and third of which focus more closely on Sassoon's wartime experiences. Stephen Colwood, Dennis Milden and Dixon are all sympathetic characters, but the rest of the hunting fraternity are a pretty grim set of cowards, bullies and reckless idiots. Some books have showed me the future, others have taken me back in the past, while others have enabled me to cope with the present.What remains is a well-written coming of age tale combined with a nostalgic picture of rural England in the Edwardian era. In response, Sassoon's name was added to the title page halfway through the printing of the second impression, and he was credited in the two works that followed.

On the other hand it can be seen as an indictment (knowing or otherwise) of the generally indolent and purposeless lives of the idle rich before an entire generation was nearly decimated. There was a moment when I suddenly realised that there was a great deal more going on than was immediately apparent on the surface. One of the most fascinating (arguably, even modern) things about the book is that there's no knowing how to judge it. In the years since its first appearance, it has regularly been a set text for British schoolchildren. Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man is a novel by Siegfried Sassoon, first published in 1928 by Faber and Faber.TE Lawrence once remarked that “if I were trying to export the ideal Englishman to an international exhibition, I think I’d like to choose Siegfried Sassoon for chief exhibit”. It will all be compressed very shortly when he finds himself among the bombs, blood, and horror of war.

I can hear the creak of the saddle and the clop and clink of the hoofs as we cross the bridge over the brook by Dundell Farm; there is a light burning in the farmhouse window, and the evening star glitters above a broken drift of half-luminous cloud. I can see myself sitting in the sun in a nook among the sandbags and chalky debris behind the support line.You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Good-humoured, unpretentious and a bit eccentric, it's more like having a well-read friend than a subscription to a literary review. The first two thirds of this book is devoted to fox-hunting, horse racing, cricket matches, reading, gazing longingly at young men he admired, and enjoying what would turn out to be the last few years of a naivety that England would never be able to reclaim. The book as a whole is a frequently humorous work, in which fox-hunting, one of Sassoon's major interests, comes to represent the young man's innocent frame of mind in the years before war broke out.