Birdsong (novel)
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 First UK edition cover |
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| Author | Sebastian Faulks |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | War novel, fiction |
| Publisher | Hutchinson |
| Released | September 16, 1993 (UK) |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 407 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0091773733 |
Birdsong is a 1993 war novel by the English author Sebastian Faulks. Faulks' fourth novel, it tells of a man called Stephen Wraysford at different stages of his life both before and during World War I.
The novel came 13th in a BBC poll called The Big Read which aimed to find Britain's favourite book.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
While the majority of the novel concentrates on Stephen's life in France before and during the war, the novel also focuses on the life of Stephen's granddaughter, Elizabeth, and her attempts to find out more about her grandfather's experiences in World War I. The story is split into seven sections which cover three different time periods:
- 1 France 1910
- 2 France 1916
- 3 England 1978
- 4 France 1917
- 5 England 1978-79
- 6 France 1918
- 7 England 1979
[edit] Synopsis
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[edit] France 1910
The first stage is set before the war in Amiens, France where Stephen Wraysford, a young Englishman working in Paris, conducts a passionate affair with Isabelle, the wife of his host, René Azaire.
[edit] France 1916
We rejoin him some years later as a Lieutenant in the British Army and through his eyes, Faulks tells an incredibly vivid and moving story of the Battle of the Somme and Messines Ridge at Ypres in the following year. During his time in the trenches, we learn of Wraysford's mental attitude to the war and the guarded comradeship he feels for his friend Captain Michael Weir and the rest of his men. His story is paralleled with that of Jack Firebrace, a former miner, employed in the British trenches to listen for the enemy and plant mines under the German trenches. The novel ends with Wraysford and Firebrace being trapped underground as the war ends and being rescued by Levi, a Jewish German soldier. An ending which is clearly inspired by- and deliberately echoes- Wilfred Owen's 1918 poem "Strange Meeting". The fact that the German soldier is Jewish should be seen as a debunking by the author of the Nazi lie that German Jews did not fight in the war and 'stabbed the Reich in the back'.
[edit] England 1978
Alongside the main story, there is the inquisitive narrative of Wraysford's granddaughter, Elizabeth, who unearths the stories of World War I and the remaining links to Wraysford's experiences.
[edit] Characters
[edit] France: 1910
- Stephen Wraysford - The protagonist of the novel Stephen Wraysford goes to Amiens in France to learn more about the manufacturing process at René's factory. After an affair with Isabelle they leave Amiens before Isabelle returns.
- René Azaire - Factory owner in Amiens. He states that Stephen will go to hell for his affair with his wife Isabelle. Embarrassed by his inability to have a child with his wife he beats Isabelle making her want to leave her marriage
- Isabelle Azaire (Madame Azaire) née Fourmentier - René's wife. Isabelle has an affair with Stephen Wraysford while stuck in her unhappy marriage to René. However after this brief affair Isabelle agrees to return to René and she is forgiven by the family. She is the mother of Françoise by Stephen, though she raised her daughter originally with a German soldier named Max.
- Lisette - Sixteen years old. Lisette is attracted to Stephen and is nearer his age than Isabelle. She makes suggestive remarks to Stephen throughout his time at the house in Amiens.
- Gregoire - Another child from Rene's first marriage.
- Bérard - A pompous friend of Rene Azaire. He goes with the Azaires on a boat trip and considers it his role to conduct conversation by inviting people to speak.
- Madame Bérard - Bérard's wife.
- Aunt Èlise - Madame Bérard's mother.
- Margeurete - A maid employed by the Azaire household.
- Lucien Lebrun - A man who gives food to dyer's families that he gets from Isabelle.
- Meyraux - A supporter of a strike at René's factory.
[edit] France 1916, 1917 and 1918
- Jack Firebrace - A tuneller or "sewer-rat". He survived until 1918 when he became trapped while tunneling and died.
- Margaret - Jack's wife.
- John - Jack's child. He dies during the war.
- Captain Weir - An officer close to Stephen Wraysford killed by a German sniper.
- Jeanne Fourmentier - Isabelle's sister who forms a relationship with Stephen Wraysford.
[edit] Other soldiers
- O'lone
- Fielding
- Shaw
- Douglas
- Wilkinson
- Hunt
- Evans
- Turner
- Tyson
- Byrne
- Cpt Gray
[edit] England: 1978 and 1979
- Elizabeth Benson - granddaughter of Stephen Wraysford. Elizabeth has a job in company which manufactures garments. She wants to find out more about World War I and her grandfathers actions. She does this by phoning elderly servicemen, visiting war memorials and translating Stephen's diary.
- Mark and Lindsay - Friends of Elizabeth.
- Françoise - Elizabeth's mother, the biological daughter of Stephen and Isabelle who was raised by her father and aunt Jeanne.
- Irene - A work colleague of Elizabeth.
- Bob - Irene's husband. He offers to translate Stephen Wraysford's war diaries for Elizabeth.
- Erich - A work colleague of Elizabeth.
- Robert - A man who works in Brussels whom Elizabeth has an affair with. Robert states that he will eventually leave his wife but is reluctant to do so.
- Stuart - A man whom Elizabeth has a brief romance with. This ends after Stuart asks Elizabeth to marry her after only a few encounters between them.
- John - Elizabeth's child and therefore Stephen Wraysford's great-grandson, named after John, Jack Firebrace's dead son.
[edit] Similar works
Birdsong has often been named Sebastian Faulks' best work of fiction- it received an 'also mentioned' credit in The Observer's 2005 poll of critics and writers to find the Best British book of the last 25 years (1980-2005). His literary retelling of the events and attitudes towards the Battle of the Somme and life in the trenches is highly acclaimed and is often grouped with work from writers such as Erich Maria Remarque and Ernest Hemingway as a modern contrast to World War I literature.[citation needed]
[edit] Other works by Faulks
- The Girl at the Lion D'or
- A Fool's Alphabet
- The Fatal Englishman
- Charlotte Gray
- On Green Dolphin Street
- Human Traces
[edit] References
[edit] External links
