Birdsong

I noticed on imdb.com that Sebastian Faulk's novel, Birdsong, is currently under production and due for release next year (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1127876/).

It looks like a British production, with Michael Fassbender playing Stephen Wraysford and Paddy Considine taking on the role of Jack Firebrace.

Birdsong was a book I enjoyed, and one that I made quick work of when reading it several years ago. At the time, I did think the book would be an excellent candidate to make the transition from page to screen and am actually a little surprised it has taken quite so long.

I would have two main concerns with this particular project. First of all, like with any literary adaptation, there is the problem of what stays and what goes. Although War films often approach, and even encroach, the 3 hour mark, it would be a tall order to cram an entire novel into this time frame (my edition, by Vintage, is 503 pages). Therefore editing is inevitable and, if handled correctly, could lead to a thoroughly entertaining film. If dealt with poorly then the result is obvious.

Secondly, I would have a concern over the film's budget. Any period piece requires substantial funds to ensure accurate costumes, props, and set design. But a film dealing with the First World War, and including several action sequences, will require a large amount of money towards special effects in order that the film achieves historical accuracy, captures the scale of the conflict, and the destructive force of the combat. Failure in this area would leave the film open to critical attack and commercial failure.

That said, I eagerly await the finished article as it seems to me there has been a shortage of films dealing with WW1 in recent years (it is highly probable there have been some and I am not aware of them). The only one worthy of note, and that comes to mind, is Jean-Pierre Jeunet's A Very Long Engagement (2005). However, with the the centenary of the Great War approaching, I am almost certain that Birdsong will be the first in a fairly long line of films, TV shows, radio productions, newspaper features, etc. to deal with this hugely important and significant subject.

The First World War Conference

I attended the First World War: Music, Literature and Memory conference at King's College, Cambridge last weekend (11/12th July) and found the experience most rewarding.

Although my inferiority complex, propensity for timidity, and strong Scottish accent prevented me from speaking to as many people as I would have liked to, the event was definitely beneficial. As someone who will need to present a paper, at some point in the not-too-distant future, it was of great value to be in the position purely of observer.

It was re-assuring to see how supportive, receptive, and attentive fellow delegates were towards those giving papers. Praise was awarded when due, and perceptive questions were asked, and answered, creating spots of lively debate. There was a definite sense of support, or camaraderie, extended to all who attended, and there was, thankfully, an absence of aloofness.

In terms of content, the papers delivered were, on the whole, enlightening, engaging, and varied in their subject matter. I enjoyed all the papers I was able to see (some sessions had papers running concurrently), where topics included: Wagner's music in Mrs Dalloway; the 'musical microcosm' of British prisoners of war at Ruhleben Camp; and an insight into the First World War literature of Austria.

In conclusion, the conference provided me with fresh ideas and perspectives both in terms of authors and research avenues (more on this later). As well as being informative, the conference provided me with valuable insight into how these sort of things operate. In this respect it was most rewarding because I discovered that presenting a paper, in front of a knowledgable audience, will not be as terrifying an experience as I had pictured in my mind...

Yes, it will only be moderately horrific.

Jacob's Room

I finished reading Virginia Woolf's experimental novel, Jacob's Room (1922), the other day and was struck by a couple of things: the connections to Mrs Dalloway (1925), and a line that features twice towards the books conclusion.

Woolf herself alluded to the book as an experiment and I think that, in many ways, it lays the foundations of narrative style found in the more successful and better known novel Mrs Dalloway. Particularly prominent is the similarity both books share in their descriptions of London, with its busy streets full of people, automobiles, and omnibuses, creating a somewhat buzzing and chaotic mood.

But of more significance is the evidence of her emerging narrative style - the 'stream of consciousness technique - that served her so well in the latter novel. In Jacob's Room the narrative flows and weaves its way through some 200 hundred characters but, unlike Mrs Dalloway, the narrator is almost always external to the characters, thus allowing for observations and conclusions about characters actions to be made, but without the internal approach that allows each character's consciousness to speak directly. What I'm alluding to, I think, is that Jacob's Room has a more intrusive and unreliable narrator than Mrs Dalloway; it doesn't flow quite as naturally between the characters' minds, thoughts, and actions.

Anyway, moving on, I was struck by the following line which appears towards the end of the novel, as Jacob's mother, Betty Flanders, tries to decide if the noise she can hear is the guns firing on the Western Front: 'she heard the dull sound, as if nocturnal women were beating great carpets.' What, if anything, is Woolf trying to convey through these words? Is Betty trying to forget about the War, and the danger her sons are in, by putting the sound down to something from everyday life? Is Woolf conveying the sounds of War through the only means available to her and all women who have not witnessed the War first hand, i.e. with feminist language? Or, is it simply a simile and I am reading too much into it!

Who knows?

Nostalgia

Recently, I submitted a piece of work in which I agreed with the generally perceived opinion that Siegfried Sassoon's autobiographical prose is imbued with a 'nostalgic' and 'melancholic' mourning for a past long lost. Sassoon laments the loss of a pre-War England that can never exist again after the devastation of the First World War.

The point seems an appropriate one to make. Britain and her inhabitants were irrevocably changed by War. Yet, this sense of loss - of nostalgia for a more innocent past - is not unique to those affected by War and makes me wonder whether it is a point worth making at all.

Surely everyone, at some point, experiences a moment of contemplation - a remembrance of things past - where they wish to be back in a time or place they inhabited at an earlier point in their life. I felt it a few days ago.

At The Thermals concert, sipping a beer at the rear of the crowd, I observed three youths (no doubt well intoxicated) dancing and jumping in time with the music, with arms around each other at the front. From my sedate position I watched their energetic appreciation of the music with a little envy. In that moment I was transposed; I remembered what it felt like when I attended concerts in years gone by, and there was sadness.

It passed quickly as these nostalgic thoughts often do (who in their right mind would seriously want a permanent return: the sweat, the hangover, the social awkwardness). It was a lament for a time gone. A time when attending concerts with friends produced an energetic release of pent up frustration (teenage angst, I suppose).

It is not a mourning for the past on a level anywhere near that of those who went through the Great War, but a mourning nonetheless. After all that, it seems a bit too obvious to draw a conclusion that the purpose of Sassoon's autobiographical writing is to mourn for a world now gone. Mental note: more insightful answers are required....

It must be added, I still very much enjoy going to concerts, and The Thermals were excellent....

The First Post

An introduction is required. My name is Stephen and I am currently reading for a Phd in English. The focus of this study is literature from the First World War and I'm particularly interested in the psychological trauma side of things. Yes, it's very cheery stuff.

Anyway, if I find out anything interesting along the way i'll be sure to post it here. And if I do, any comments are much appreciated (in advance).

So, let's begin...