Over
There: War Scenes On The Western Front by Arnold Bennett clearly sets out to
offer a mildly propagandist view of the First World War. Within a few pages of
the start of its survey of sites of recent action in France and Belgium, we
have learned that - apparently immutably - on the one hand France and its
culture represent just about the pinnacle of human achievement, while on the
other everything German is barbaric, aggressive and wantonly destructive. But
by the end of the book, even Arnold Bennett seems no more than merely
exhausted, merely bombed-out, like the skeletal remains of the city of Ypres he
was then describing. It is this transformation through the progress of this
short book that makes it still worth reading.
Where
Vera Brittain’s Testament Of Youth sees the consequences of the first World
War’s conflict in generally human terms, Arnold Bennett approaches his
descriptive task with the sentiment and mission of a propagandist. He was there
to fly the flag, there is no doubt. But he had already lived for several years
in France and was also a professional journalist. Over There: War Scenes On The
Western Front is therefore less of a personal reflection and more of an attempt
to provide a - theoretically, at least - dispassionate, if committed and
one-sided view of the conflict.
Today,
passages that scorn German tactics because they seem bent on the destruction of
architectural heritage read as merely quant. We all know that the reality of
war demands destruction, especially of symbols of power and identity. As an
example, one wonders what the strategic value was of bending flat a grotesquely
over-sized metal Saddam Hussein? Precisely none, since this was clearly an act
driven by its symbolism. We also know that scruples are not ammunition in war
and that defenders and aggressors alike often hide behind the communally
sacrosanct, first for potential cover and second for the potential propaganda
value should the first aim fail. When Arnold Bennett expresses anger at German
shelling of Gothic cathedrals in places such as Rheims, one wonders, given the
opportunity, what he might have made of carpet bombing of German cities in
World War Two? We know that his view would have remained partisan, but such a
stance was only to be expected, given his journalistic associations and the
politics of his employers.
It
is when Arnold Bennett is touring the destroyed city of Ypres that the doubts
really begin to surface. Bennett was a believer in the worth of everyday
experience. As a novelist he at least aspired to the basing of his work on
quite ordinary lives, believing them to be inherently of interest because of
their simple humanity. In Ypres he describes the wrecked houses of ordinary
people who were forced out, bombed out, chased away or merely killed. Questions
clearly arise in his mind about the nature of war, but they never quite become
explicit enough to demand answer.
Over
There: War Scenes On The Western Front by Arnold Bennett is a short book that
is worthy of re-reading today for two reasons. One is Arnold Bennett’s
journalistic ability to describe what he saw. Through this he is able to
provide a vivid and reasonably accurate account of day-to-day warfare in the
trenches. But secondly, Arnold Bennett writes from the committed, partisan
position of a man of his times. There is no detachment in his view, only
commitment and conviction. This reminds us that in times of war, at least for
the protagonists, there is no scope for detachment, since taking sides is part
of the action.
