Strange Meeting (book)
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Strange Meeting is a novel by Susan Hill about the First World War. The title of the book is taken from a poem by the First World War poet Wilfred Owen. The novel was first published by Hamish Hamilton in 1971 and then by Penguin Books in 1974.
Contents |
[edit] Characters
[edit] Main Characters
- John Hilliard
- David Barton
[edit] Minor Characters
- Constance Hilliard
- Captain Franklin
- Coutler
- Colonel Garrett
- Beth
- Henry Partington
[edit] Synopsis
[edit] Part I
The novel begins with the protagonist of the novel John Hilliard in a military hospital recovering from a wound he received, he briefly speaks to Crawford, a doctor, whom he evidently dislikes. Hilliard is unable to sleep due to the nightmares that the war is giving him. He must also listen to the screams of a field-gunner in the bed beside him.
The opening pages of the novel concern his brief period of sick leave back in England where his sister Beth and mother Constance and father are blind to the horror of trenches. John finds it hard to adapt to life back in England and is happy to return to the war. When Hilliard returns he finds that his batman and many other faces that he knew have been killed. The group's Colonel Garrett appears to have aged greatly in the short time Hilliard has been away due to the stresses of war.
His old batman is replaced with a new one called Coulter and he is placed in a room with a new soldier called David Barton behind the front line while they wait to be called up to the front. During this time he becomes friends with Barton, who is clearly untouched by the war. Throughout this chapter, their Captain, a character called Franklin, appears expressionless and remote from the group.
The chapter ends with Hilliard and Barton witnessing the wreckage of a German plane crashing which clearly affects Barton had not seen a dead body yet.
[edit] Part II
In Part Two, the group that David and John are in, Company B, are travelling to the front line at Feurvy. There are not enough horses so David walks alongside for the duration of the journey. Davidwrites a letter home describing what a terrible place Feurvy is. The town has few buildings left intact after being shelled and occupied by the Germans in 1914.
When they arrive at their billits John and David are informed that a soldier called Harris won't come out of the cellar. Harris is delerious. David Barton manages to talk Harris out of the cellar, after going to fetch some of his rum ration for the soldier a shell lands in the billets killing Harris. Barton blames himself for the soldier's death as he would not have died if Barton did not move him from the cellar.
In another letter home Barton confesses that he has become hardened by his experiences in the war. He also states that John thinks that one of the most difficult experiences is getting used to the new faces as so many soldiers die.
The chapter ends with Barton being chosen to go to the front lines to draw a map of the surrounding area with a runner called Grosse. At the front he sees piles of dead bodies, soldiers killed after a shelling. He also sees Private Price killed by a German sniper. After returning from the front line Barton admits that he feels that the war is changing him as he is unable to feel emotion for every soldier killed due to the sheer numbers killed each day.
[edit] Part III
The final chpaterof the novel begins with one of Barton's long letters complaining that the "we are drones not fighting men". He is concerned that his letter may be censored by the military but he wants to tell those back home the truth.
John gets a letter stating that his sister Beth is to marry the lawyer Henry Partington which causes John to become angry at those back home. Hilliard and Barton are sent on a reconnaissance mission which requires the men to spy on the enemy trenches. They can see little and after a flare exposes their position they are forced to retreat with some casualties. Barton feel guilty that he felt Coulter, the batman, to die in No Man's Land.
In another letter home Barton states that the constant death erodes his courage. Mid way through the letter the C.O. states that he is leaving the platoon after arguing with Generals that reconnaissance missions are a waste of lives.
After this news a Private called Parkin is worried about the news that they will soon be going over the top. Batron and Hillaird begin to talk about how they will meet after the war before they realise they are assuming that they will survive.
During the military advance Barton and Hilliard lose track of each others' positions. Hilliard is injured by a shell and is forced to hide in a shell by several dead bodies. At nightfall he crawls back to his trench. The ends after Hillaird is informed by letter that Barton is missing and presumed dead. Hilliard informs Bartons parents that it is extremly unlikely that Barton is alive and once the war is over, he goes and visits Barton's family and freinds.
[edit] Facts
- In the afterword to the novel Susan Hill explains that she did not intend to imply any kind of homosexual relationship between the soldiers David Batron and John Hilliard. She also writes that she hoped the novel would be seen as a novel as much on the subject of human love as 'war and the pity of war'.
- Susan Hill has stated that a performance on Britten's War Requien made her want to write about the First World War: "But I was not at all prepared for the effect that performance War Requiem was to have on me. I came out feeling dazed, as though something very important had happened ...I cant exactly explain it or even describe it. But one result was that I became filled with the desire to write something myself about the First World War.
[edit] Further reading
- The Wilfred Owen poem Strange Meeting from which this novel takes its name can be found on wikisource.
