From Soldier-Poet to Veteran Memoirist: Siegfried Sassoon, The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston, and the Limits of Life-Writing in Prose

Sean A. McPhail

doi:10.5007/2175-8026.2021.e79211

Autores

Sean A. McPhail Universidade de Toronto https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3238-4320

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2021.e79211

Resumo

The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston é um texto-chave que apoia a reputação de Siegfried Sassoon como o maior escritor britânico sobre a Grande Guerra. Críticos, no entanto, não chegaram a um consenso sobre se essas "memórias" levemente ficcionais representam relatos verdadeiros da guerra, descritos por Sherston / Sassoon, ou se são construções ficcionais. Além disso, críticos ainda não explicaram as diferenças entre Memoirs e a poesia de guerra de Sassoon, ou entre o que Sherston declara como objetivos a serem celebrados e seu relato completo. Este artigo disseca a adaptação da poética de comemoração da linha de frente de Sassoon em Memoirs: lê a nova aplicação dessa poética em Memoirs por meio de suas dificuldades de composição, sua dependência de seus próprios escritos do tempo de guerra e a relação incômoda da escrita de si com a verdade. Como mostro, Sherston tem mais em comum com seu autor do que Sassoon pretendia, mas diferenças permanecem; ainda assim, suas memórias têm tanto direito a esse título quanto qualquer outro texto na língua.

Biografia do Autor

Sean A. McPhail, Universidade de Toronto

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