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Fall in, Ghosts

Selected War Prose

Edmund Blunden

Edited by Robyn Marsack

Cover of Fall in, Ghosts
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Categories: 20th Century, British, War writings
Imprint: Lives and Letters
Publisher: Carcanet Press
Available as:
Paperback (160 pages)
(Pub. Aug 2014)
9781847772114
£14.95 £13.45
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(Pub. Jan 2014)
9781847774613
£14.95 £13.45
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  • Description
  • Excerpt
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  • Reviews
  • I have of course wondered when the effect of the Old War would lose its imprisoning power. Since 1918 hardly a day or night passed without my losing the present and living in a ghost story.

    Edmund Blunden, in 1968
    Edmund Blunden (1896–1974) moved among the ghosts of the Great War every day of his long life, having survived the battles of Ypres and the Somme. His classic prose memoir, Undertones of War, and his early edition of Wilfred Owen’s poems were just two examples of the ways in which he sought to convey his war experience, and to keep faith with his comrades in arms. His poetry is suffused by this experience, and he was haunted by it throughout his writing life, as the men with whom he had served gradually joined the ranks of the departed.

    This selection of Blunden’s prose about the First World War includes the complete text of De bello germanico, his first, lively sketch of the war as he lived it in 1916. Deeply informed by his reading of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature, and equally by his knowledge of the countryside, Blunden’s vivid prose summons up for us what was human and natural in that most unnatural of environments, the battlefields of the Western Front.
    Edmund Blunden
    Edmund Blunden (1896–1974) grew up in Kent and went to school in Sussex at Christ’s Hospital; these were the formative landscapes of his boyhood. He joined the Royal Sussex Regiment in 1915, serving in France and Flanders. His collection The Shepherd (1922) made his reputation as a poet; his classic account ... read more
    Robyn Marsack
    Robyn Marsack began her long association with Carcanet Press by editing the first edition of Edmund Blunden’s Selected Poems in 1982, and worked as a publishers’ editor until she became Director of the Scottish Poetry Library 2000–2016. She was a Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at the University of Glasgow 2016–2018. ... read more
    Praise for Edmund Blunden  'Some 130 of Blunden's most representative poems are presented in a sympathetic format. Read in conjunction with the insightful introduction and thought provoking post-script, Robyn provides the reader with Blunden's unique perspective as a fighting soldier/survivor. In particular, how war pervades the mind of the survivor for life; how war becomes a condition of mind, which poses the question of the link between memory and identity and how the two coexist.'
    Philip Underwood, Edmund Blunden Society
    Praise for Robyn Marsack 'Readers will be drawn to this book for the poets' letters, but what really dominates is the personality of Schmidt; at the end we are left with a prevailing sense of his editorial vision and an appreciation of his influence and accomplishment in the world of contemporary poetry publishing and criticism... Fifty Fifty is full of energy and play, and not a few crossed swords.'

    Kevin Gardner, Wild Court

     'A window into the award-winning world of Carcanet'
    Tristram Fane Saunders, The Telegraph
    'In celebration of the Manchester-based press' 50th anniversary, a fascinating collection of letters... tracing the eventful history of this small, ambitious and excellent press.'
    The Bookseller
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