Adrian Barlow Writes of Susan Hill’s Strange Meeting: “at the Time of Its Publication, to Write a Novel About Intense Relationships Between Men in the First World War Was Considered an Ambitious Risk for a Woman Writer.”
Adrian Barlow writes of Susan Hill’s Strange Meeting: “At the time of its publication, to write a novel about intense relationships between men in the First World War was considered an ambitious risk for a woman writer.” Compare and contrast the ways in which your three writers present relationships between men.
'One of the paradoxes of the War - one of the many - was that this most brutal of conflicts should set up a relationship between officers and men that was... domestic. Caring. As Layard would undoubtedly have said, maternal.' -Pat Barker: Birdsong
Susan Hill’s Strange Meeting, published in 1971, Sebastian Faulks ‘Birdsong’, published in 1993 and Siegfried Sassoon’s poetry written during ‘The Great War’ are all set in World War One. A significant theme that all three texts have in common is the relationships between the soldiers and their development throughout the novel or poem. Strong relationships between men play a key part in any war literature and comradeship is an element of the First World War that is often dramatised or written about. The government even used the idea of comradeship in their ‘Pals Battalion’ scheme, the plan being that men would fight harder if they fought with their friends. War fiction literature often focuses on the friendships between men at war, and the contrast of the relationships on the front line compared to those at home. The intensity of the relationships between the men is emphasised by the extraordinary circumstances they are placed in, which causes masses amounts of pressure.
Susan Hill’s Strange Meeting deals with aspects of youth, experience, friendship and love. The representation of relationships between the men in the trenches is a key focus in this novel. Hill shows the positive impact of war upon the men’s relationships through the friendship of the two central characters, John Hilliard and David Barton, who would not normally be friends if not in combat situation.
'One of the paradoxes of the War - one of the many - was that this most brutal of conflicts should set up a relationship between officers and men that was... domestic. Caring. As Layard would undoubtedly have said, maternal.' -Pat Barker: Birdsong
Susan Hill’s Strange Meeting, published in 1971, Sebastian Faulks ‘Birdsong’, published in 1993 and Siegfried Sassoon’s poetry written during ‘The Great War’ are all set in World War One. A significant theme that all three texts have in common is the relationships between the soldiers and their development throughout the novel or poem. Strong relationships between men play a key part in any war literature and comradeship is an element of the First World War that is often dramatised or written about. The government even used the idea of comradeship in their ‘Pals Battalion’ scheme, the plan being that men would fight harder if they fought with their friends. War fiction literature often focuses on the friendships between men at war, and the contrast of the relationships on the front line compared to those at home. The intensity of the relationships between the men is emphasised by the extraordinary circumstances they are placed in, which causes masses amounts of pressure.
Susan Hill’s Strange Meeting deals with aspects of youth, experience, friendship and love. The representation of relationships between the men in the trenches is a key focus in this novel. Hill shows the positive impact of war upon the men’s relationships through the friendship of the two central characters, John Hilliard and David Barton, who would not normally be friends if not in combat situation.