"Considered as literature, her book is the achievement of the war," read an article about war-related books in the January 23, 1916 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Wharton (1862-1937) had already written the novel The House of Mirth (1905) and the novelette Ethan Frome (1911). After the war, she would write the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Age of Innocence (1920).
From February 1915 to August 1915, Wharton travelled the length of the Western Front, from the Alsace-Lorraine region near the French/German border to the Dunkerque (Dunkirk) region by the North Sea. Wharton's writing showed a strong affection for her adopted country and its defenders.
 |
| Edith Wharton |
The book includes a detailed portrait of Paris as it made a quick and dramatic transformation from peacetime to the early days of the war. Although the city wasn't affected by actual fighting, the ripple effects of the war were plain everywhere, at all levels of society. The departure of soldiers depleted the city's population, and the daily activities of shops, theaters, and other public places became much more quiet.
Wharton concluded the chapter on Paris with a description of returning wounded soldiers that ennobled them and made them a special part of society—an inspiration to other Parisians to also carry themselves with dignity.
Fighting France includes many good descriptions of the hustle and bustle of activity in a particular location of the war zone; all of the tasks that had to be performed and coordinated.
Wharton was escorted through different battle areas and was given much access to military personnel. She got closer and closer to the fighting until she witnessed exchanges of fire and was herself at risk to German fire.
Her travels also brought her in contact with deserted civilian areas, whose quiet emptiness moved her to write:
And in hundreds of such houses, in dozens, in hundreds of open towns, the hand of time had been stopped, the heart of life had ceased to beat, all the currents of hope and happiness and industry been choked—not that some great military end might be gained, or the length of the war curtailed, but that, wherever the shadow of Germany falls, all things should wither at the root.Wharton tried to see signs of hope in the many war-damaged places that she visited. She often saw renewal in nature, in flowers and other plants, as if she wanted to remind the reader about the eternal beauty that survives war. She also witnessed human renewal, as men repaired and rebuilt damaged structures.
Much appreciation was shown for noncombatants who tried to pick up the pieces of war destruction, including medical and religious personnel. Wharton described how a religious worker continued the work of his church after the church building had been damaged—by housing wounded soldiers, burying the dead, and creating war memorials.
Another poignant scene was played out in the Alsace-Lorraine region, where the French had retaken an area that Germany had taken from the French about 40 years earlier. French military officials tried to be as respectful as possible to the local community that had become a mixture of French and German culture.
Wharton concluded Fighting France with heartfelt admiration for France as it faced the challenges of the war. She gave special credit to the intelligence, expression, and courage of the French people.
The European war energized Wharton to not only write Fighting France. She later wrote newspaper articles and the war-related novels The Marne (1918) and A Son at the Front (1923).
She also became active in the war effort in Paris, as described in the 1931 book Living Authors: A Book of Biographies:
She opened a workroom for skilled women workers of the quarter where she lived who were thrown out of employment by the closing of the workrooms; she fed and housed six hundred Belgian refugee orphans. In recognition of her services France awarded her the cross of the Legion of Honor and Belgium made her a Chevalier of the Order of Leopold.Fighting France became part of The War On All Fronts series of the Charles Scribner's Sons publishing company. This series also included With The Allies by Richard Harding Davis.
Fighting France was published on November 20, 1915, according to an article in Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Telegraph on November 12, 1915. Front page headlines in that day's Telegraph included:
- SERBIANS DRIVEN FROM POSITIONS / Pursuit in Mountain Districts Is Being Pressed Vigorously
- 203 MISSING ON ANCONA / Ambassador Page in Rome in Consultation With Italian Foreign Office
- THIRD BIG WAR MUNITIONS PLANT ABLAZE IN ONE DAY / FIRE AT THE ROEBLING PLANT AT TRENTON, N.J.
Online versions:
Newspaper information from Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/).
Photograph of Edith Wharton from Fighting France.
No comments:
Post a Comment