I just finished reading Generals Die in Bed and I have no idea why this book has been so unknown to me. I have long been impressed by novels of the First World War - and also by most of the memoirs I've come across from the period. Except for books written solely for the purpose of glorifying war, most WWI novels are such intense anti-war literature that they never fail to impress. The thing is, they don't dwell on who dragged us into it, or what is patriotism, or who is right, but on a much baser level. They show you how horrible the trenches were, how terrified everyone was, and how nothing good came of the conflict but misery. They are largely overlooked as a group, or taught in a bored way to bored teenagers and no one ever gets the point.
But I love them, and I wish the world knew more about them. (My last deep love from this genre was Kipling's Choice, the YA novel I reviewed last year and wish was given to every 15 year old in the world so they could see what glorious death is really all about.)
Charles Yale Harrison fought for Canada in WWI and he wrote Generals Die in Bed over a decade later. It was published to great acclaim in 1930 and compared favorable to All Quiet on the Western Front and Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. I've never heard of it and was surprised when I came across it in the Annick Press catalog. It is a great war book, very brutal, very honest. The narrator and his friends are dirty, tired and sick and spend their time equally between being terrified and bored. They do brave things and they are cowardly and in the end, the horrific end, they commit an atrocious act of murder on the orders of their commanding officer, a man who convinces them that they are doing the right thing and it is only later that they realize he was a liar.
That all of the killing was for a lie.
There's not a big heavy handed message in this book - not a lot of moralizing to the reader. Harrison has just written how things were, the cursing, the lines for prostitutes, the desperate desire to be clean again. You figure out what the story is trying to tell you just by reading it. (If that makes any sense.) I'm puzzled as to why it is not more commonly known though, the only thing I can think is that it is by a Canadian which is a stupid reason, but it wouldn't surprise me. I'm looking at my copy right now and I have a dozen post-its sticking out for passages or quotes I want to mention in my review. What an outstanding overlooked masterpiece and certainly a title that any fan of war literature must have. (As well as anyone who wants to learn about war.)
What I can' figure out though, is why haven't I heard of Charles Yale Harrison?
