Civilization, 1914-1917 is a largely autobiographical narrative of the Great War written by a remarkable observer--a French physician, poet, and novelist who treated the wounded and performed some two thousand operations in mobile hospital units during the war. First published in 1918 and translated into English the following year, the book was awarded the Prix Goncourt and a special award of the Académie Française. Out of print for ninety years, Georges Duhamel's account is available once more in this Joseph M. Bruccoli Great War Series edition featuring a new introduction by Catharine Savage Brosman, which offers a biographical sketch of Duhamel and places his work within the context of French narratives of World War I. Duhamel's book comprises sixteen vignettes in which character rather than plot remains the constant focus. Each tale is presented in the first person but with varying narrators. The settings are often field medical units just miles away from the bombardments. Here the stench of blood, plight of the wounded, and efforts of well-intentioned doctors bring to the fore the realities of war as Duhamel knew them to be. Pathos, anger, and frustration are more plentiful than any sense of glory, duty, or honor in these circumstances. In lieu of the political and nationalistic considerations of war that dominate the writings of some of his contemporaries, Duhamel's narratives offer instead the historical and literary merits of his keen attention to details--particularly concerning combat medicine--and his rich development of the varied tones, characters, and locations of his sketches. Throughout the book Duhamel pits those characters and efforts meant to preserve and mend humanity against an overarching machine age and its armored acolytes intent on human destruction. The resulting collection works to bear authoritative witness to the war on the Western Front and to extract from the author's experiences some measure of poetic truth about the nature of civilization in our modern age.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1919 edition. Excerpt: ... love and ponceau ihad been at the hospital of Saint-Mande for perhaps two or three days when Ponceau was brought there. I have only confused memories of this period of my life. For a good while I had been lying in a field of oats near Charny; then I had slipped into a sort of dream, in which I saw my broken arm turn green, turn black, become so heavy and swollen that it filled the whole world, while I felt myself fastened to it like a pigmy to a mountain. All this came to an end in a comfortable bed in the midst of a great bare room, painted seagreen. I had been put under chloroform and they had made great openings in my arm, out of which came, every day, fragments of bone, blood, pus, quantities of repellant things that smelt bad. To be brief, when I began to be conscious of what was about me, the first thing that met my eyes, unless I am mistaken, was Ponceau. As he appeared to me that day, Ponceau was a big, fair-haired boy, a little too plump, with a discolored little beard and large eyes, very large eyes, which I saw were continually moving. I was lying on my back, but I had only to turn my head to see my room-mate, who was also lying on his back and quite motionless, except for those big eyes that moved all the time. I could n't help asking him suddenly: "What are you looking at, up there?" He said, "What?" and then answered, with an absorbed air, "The sun." Indeed, I saw on the ceiling a beam of sunlight that moved from left to right; as I was very tired, I involuntarily began to gaze at it and follow it with my glance. At the end of a moment I asked: "You can't turn your head?" "No, I can't," he said; "it hurts my leg." "What's your name?" "Mine? Ponceau, Emile." He said no more; a major had just entered, calling out: ...

Excerpt from Civilization 1914-1917 A great brow, almost graceful in design, an expression at once profound and children, a dimpled chin, a proud mustache, a bitter gaiety about the mouth - I shall recollect you, face of France, even though it is only for the single second that I saw you, in the flare of a match. The train that went from Chalons to Sainte-Menehould, that autumn night, was on the way up again, with all lights extinguished. It was in 1916. The face of Champagne, calm just then, was sleeping at our left, the sleep of the craters, a sleep full of nightmares, sudden starts, and flashes of lightning. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.