Good-Bye to All That: An Autobiography

This is an autobiography by one of England's greatest poets and writers, and also a WWI vet. This is a book I wish I'd read in class under the instruction of a teacher, because there are a lot of terms, both English slang and old-school, I didn't understand and wished I had someone to instruct me on. I caught the meaning of stuff like "whizz-bang" and understood what lorries were (trucks) of course, but some of the military terminology passed over my head (I'm not sure WW1 Britain used company and platoon the same way we do today, for instance). But of course thats not a flaw of the work itself. The bulk of the work deals with Graves' WWI experiences, of course, but the beginning, where he describes his childhood and early education, is excellent as well. His frank descriptions of religious disillusionment as well as intense homosocial--on the verge of homosexual, though there's nothing explicit ofc--attractions as a youth were scandalous when they were published but offer a poignant glimpse at how young men at the turn of the 20th century actually lived. The bulk of the WWI descriptions are also gripping, though I found them hard to follow--again, not a critique, my fault for being slower on the uptake than I used to be, as well as unfamiliar with the old 20th century English slang. Scenes of horror (bloated corpses and friends dying were Graves' most constant companions) vividly described next to amusingly wry, sardonic scenes of humor, like officers getting worked up over breaches of military etiquette. Paul Fussell's also excellent introduction very perceptively notes that this almost puts the autobiography in the category of 'theater' rather than a dispassionate recollection of facts. That alone would make it an extremely thought-provoking text of the WWI era and the English experience. The rest of the book, the last 20% or so, are occupied with his marriage, family life, and professions, including a brief and unsuccessful stint as a grocer. Again, I particularly appreciated these, his thoughts on fatherhood (while brief) really make you feel like not much has changed in the experience of men, even across decades, perhaps even centuries--the anxieties as well as the basic and exhausting duties of fatherhood have remained the same. Though I should note that at least according to Wikipedia, Graves doesn't explain some of the stresses (like an affair) leading to his breakup with his first wife. In any case, both an entertaining and affecting as well as educational read. Do not regret buying it a bit. Print quality and aforementioned introductory essay are excellent, though I found myself wishing for an index, but alas, perhaps for an annotated/more academic-historical edition. 5 stars!

This account by Robert Graves is one of the better personal journals I have read concerning the Great War. The very fact that Graves is in almost at the beginning of the conflict / situation of Trench warfare make this a very valuable work. Because he is an accomplished writer, it flows and reads very well. There are no sections of the book that lag. You will absolutely gain some insight to the way that the officers and men behaved and especially appreciate his commentary on French citizens caught in the middle of the conflict, individual soldiers that have some sembelance of a brain versus the moronic mass, and how much stupidity there is in military conduct based on previous experiences in war, not realizing that this was a new and different sort of conflict, yet trying to constantly apply outdated and dangerous methods in attack. One such crazy result of it is that officers had a high casualty rate. Why? Well, you could always identify them in the field of battle. They were the guys carrying a pistol and swagger stick versus a rifle. Easy pickings to say the least and you would think they would learn and make adjustments accordingly but tragically the practice continued. Anyway, a great book. Well worth your time and small investment to a window on another era by a first hand witness.

There's not a lot I can add to what other reviewers have already said about Graves's memoir, so I'll dispense with a summary and say briefly what I liked and did not like about it. Take it or leave it. First of all, Graves knows how to write--this memoir is just as entertaining and fun to read as any of his novels. His literacy and narrative ability immediately set him apart from many of the other World War I memoirists--whose books are often clunky and poorly written--as do his wit and his eye for the significant detail. The book is very funny in many places and deeply moving in others. His descriptions of trench life are suitably depressing, as are his tales of the randomness of World War I violence and even the suicidal tendencies of some of the soldiers. The only things I disliked about Good-bye to All That were Graves's obvious bitterness and the lackluster final third. Graves, of course, is entitled to be bitter about the war--it was a terrible experience for thousands of people--but his view of the war as expressed here is imbalanced. His narrative is significantly skewed and rather self-pitying in places. Also, the strength of his narrative peters out near the end, when he spends some time teaching in Cairo. The last few chapters read more like notable miscellany than a coherent memoir. Those two misgivings aside, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Not only was it a good memoir, it was a remarkably good source (I read this for a graduate seminar in World War I) for the attitudes and ideals of the "sensitive artistic types" following World War I. If you're interested in comparing this memoir with a vastly different perspective, I recommend reading it along with Ernst Jünger's Storm of Steel. Recommended.

Memoir written by Robert Graves ("I, Claudius" author) to make money until he could sell his poetry and prose. Book details his family life and public school education to begin with then transitions to his experiences an an infantry officer in World War One. Graves doesn't pull any punches and his memoir gives probably the most informative account I have ever read, far superior to any novel. Devoid of any sentimentality, it is at times both horrifying and humorous. For any student of WW1, this is a "must-read."

I’ve not yet had the time to read this book as I am still trudging through Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago I bought last month. I am very familiar with Grave’s work in poetry and in his manuscripts, such as I Claudius. I have read many writers from the Great War and value their work. I am intensely interested in PTSD as my father suffered from it in WW11 in the Pacific. We all read what is familiar to us, but is pays to step out of one’s comfort zone and read something atypical, which is why I am reading The Gulag Archipelago.

Robert Graves is probably best known to American readers as the author of I Claudius and the translator of many classics including Suetonius' Lives of The Caesars. Here he writes of his experience growing up in the early 20th century in England, his time in the trenches of WWI and his life post-war as a writer. Graves begins by sharing the time he spent in the Engish public school system and the cruelty he experienced there. He enlists in the army to get away from it all and finds much of the same social conventions that he despised replicated in the service. His descriptions of life in the trenches of France is gut wrenching. He is severely wounded and returns to England. Post War Graves writes of his time at Oxford and his friendship with TE Lawrence (of Arabia)and other notable writers of his generation. I found this part of the book incredibly interesting. Graves and his wife embark on a bicycle trip and stop to visit Thomas Hardy. He and Hardy discuss poetry and literary criticsm. Folowing that there is a fascinating period that he spends in Egypt teaching. As a memoir and autobiography this is first rate. In the end the title refers to England itself. Graves left to live out his life in Spain.

I guess I should have looked a little closer. I loved Graves' Claudian works, and, as a history buff, I've been doing some reading on the First World War lately; I got all excited over the combination of Graves and his army experiences. What I neglected to notice was that it is an autobiography, not just a war chronicle. The narrative begins with his childhood and winds slowly on to his military service, and even that is not covered with what I would think of as "vigor". Graves is very reserved in this work; I am tempted to say even distant. The reader will not find here much of the engagement encountered in the works of, say, William Manchester, Robert Leckie, or Samuel Eliot Morison. He relates his experiences with all the enthusiasm of one reading aloud from the phone book. Even when dealing with events that must have affected him deeply, his demeanor is remarkably detached. I expect this may be attributable to his placement in a time and culture rather different from our own (even the English have learned to giggle in the intervening years) and perhaps his style was appropriate for his audience. I found it uninspiring. He did provide for me a few new insights into life in the trenches, but far fewer than I would have liked. He struck me as being more about his place in society than his place in the war. Although I was disappointed, another person might find what Graves offers here quite compelling for the same reasons I found it deficient, so I still feel I can recommend it to those with different priorities.

If your a student of World War 1, I highly recommend this book. Plus it’s an autobiography of his life. I had never heard of Graves until I read about him in another book on Ww1. He was also a friend of T E Lawrence, whom asked him to write his biography. I highly recommend that book as well if your interested. His writing style is easy to read. I am not a big poetry reader but he was a poet and short story writer. He was from what I know now a prolix writer all his life. He ended up very dissolutions by the war, the British class system and the waste of human life life by incompetent British commanders during the war. He was criticized by those same individuals. In my studies of the war I believe he was spot on.