Comments for Great War Fiction

Comment on Mr Sterling Sticks It Out by George Simmers

George Simmers — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 08:33:10 +0000

Thanks very much for this. It looks as though the original small edition (and the sequel, published in the same year) were published with impunity, but when the very large popular edition was published (18,000 is a huge number, at a time when the average first novel might sell 1,000 or so)the authorities stepped in.

Comment on Mr Sterling Sticks It Out by Nemo

Nemo — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:58:19 +0000

While you are correct in stating that there was no prosecution of anyone for publication of Theodora Wilson-Wilson’s (I love writers with odd names) THE LAST WEAPON, apparantly 18,000 copies of it were seized and destroyed by the British government in 1917.

See the following:

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1918/mar/21/christian-peace-crusade

Even if no criminal prosecution entailed, I’d say that definately counts as an act of suppression.

Comment on Woman to Woman by Chris

Chris — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:49:44 +0000

Oh, they probably won’t loan those across the ocean then.

Evidently not only is the Cutts film lost, but the 1946 one may be as well. The 1929 one was shown at the University of California Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive in 1992, so it’s still around, if relatively inaccessible.

Comment on Woman to Woman by George Simmers

George Simmers — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:26:09 +0000

There are copies in the British Library, London, and the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

Comment on Woman to Woman by Chris

Chris — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:04:40 +0000

Thanks! But where did you find a copy of it to read? I saw it listed in Worldcat, but that database didn’t list any libraries that had it.

Comment on Woman to Woman by George Simmers

George Simmers — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:40:14 +0000

The play was credited in a Hitchcock filmography. I checked the Bodleian Library catalogue to see if a script had been published, and found the novelisation instead.

Comment on Woman to Woman by Chris

Chris — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:13:47 +0000

Very interesting! Where did you find the novel?

Comment on Mr Sterling Sticks It Out by George Simmers

George Simmers — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:38:31 +0000

In civilian jails C.O.s seem to have generally been treated no worse than ordinary criminals, and some were even given privlileges, such as access to books. But most were sentenced to hard labour – a very tough regime, appropriate maybe for violent persistent thieves, but a very harsh punishment just for having religious or humanitarian scruples.
The worst treatment was for those forcibly enlisted in the Non-Combatant Corps who then refused to obey orders. They were at the mercy of the military police who had no sympathy for their viewpoint whatsoever. Some, having refused to wear a uniform, were left naked in the cold in the hope that their will would be broken. Some were sent to France, and were told that if they refused to obey orders there, they could be shot. Their story is here:
http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/infodocs/cos/st_co_wwone3s2.html

It has been estimated that at least 73 C.O.s died because of the harsh treatment they received in prison; a number suffered long-term physical or mental illness.

Comment on Mr Sterling Sticks It Out by Roger

Roger — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:10:47 +0000

It’s easy to understand why Socialists or Bolsheviks were treated with greater hostility than religious or ethical pacifists: they were often enthusiastic about killing, merely choosy about who they wanted to kill, which would have been difficult for tribunals to understand and even more alarming for the tribunals if they did understand. John Maclean, the Glasgow Marxist, is an example.
How far were the sufferings of C.O.s in prison actually deliberately inflicted and how far were they typical of the treatment of all prisoners at the time, which came as a particular shock to idealistic and usually middle-class young men?

Comment on Private Peaceful by Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:45:04 +0000

wow i don’t think u understand the book at all