Lament of the Lost Generation (Testament of Youth - Vera Brittain)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Testament of Youth - Vera Brittain
Date:	26/05/04 (2910 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Honest and moving account of a dark time from a different perspective, Historically accurate for research purposes, Feminists should love it

Disadvantages: Overly sentimental and depressing at times, Very long-winded, Writing style is often difficult to read

Vera Brittain?s autobiography is still seen as one of the most influential anti-war publications of the twentieth century, its revealing and honest presentation of the reluctant impotence of women to do anything about the political situation forming part of the foundation for the continuing work of the feminist movement.


THE LOST GENERATION


First published in 1933, put on hold a number of times due to its critical view of the Government, Brittain?s book covers her experiences at home during the First World War in which she is subjected to relentless bereavement, as well as her campaigns thereafter to prevent future conflict. Brittain?s letters and diary entries are included amidst her prose, which help the reader in empathising with her feelings of helplessness as her young lover, her brother and two of her close male friends die at the Front.

Reading isolated extracts from Brittain?s book as part of my English Literature course I found it difficult to understand the impact of ?Testament of Youth,? which seemed to be the over-passionate account of a woman with little understanding of the war. After reading more extracts I developed a larger perspective, and it?s clear that Brittain did all she could, within the limitations imposed on her by the gender laws of the time, to bring back her loved ones; she joined the Red Cross as a field nurse and wrote letters to Generals, but in the end none of it proved effective.


WOMEN


The First World War was a difficult and influential time for the women of Britain. Many were forced to seek out factory work, often manufacturing ammunitions to keep money coming into the family, and the increasingly dominant numbers of women led to women being awarded the vote for
the first time in 1919. During the war, often viewed as the last time men were allowed to be the ?dominant? gender, many soldiers criticised what they saw as the naivety of women.

In his poem ?Glory of Women,? Siegfried Sassoon claims, ?You love us when we?re heroes, home on leave, or wounded in a mentionable place,? sharing the view that women still held the misguided beliefs of an honourable war fought for the glory of Britain?s green and pleasant land. It is clear from ?Testament of Youth? that this stereotype is largely untrue, it was simply that women were unable to bring about an immediate change.


STYLE


?Testament of Youth? is divided into several clearly separate sections covering different topics. The first describes Brittain?s life up to the outbreak of the war, and her initial losses from the conflict, the second sees her first-hand view of casualties and death on the Front, and the third follows her pacifistic efforts with the League of Nations in attempting to create a more secure Europe; something that, we now know, was subject to another devastating World War despite such efforts.

Brittain writes in a grand style throughout, a trait of Georgian literature that was often replaced with the less formal trench poetry and subsequent novels. This makes the book seem slightly more dated than other literature of the period, but the messages are still clear throughout.


VERDICT


Possibly too sympathetic or tragic for all readers, ?Testament of Youth? is also a hefty read, but fans of deeply personal autobiographies or war literature should find it very moving and something of a large step for British women of the period. Brittain offers a different perspective on the conflict than the more popular novels by male authors suc
h as Remarque and Graves, but will never be as effective due to its inherently ?ineffective? presentation of the situation described.

Vera Brittain?s later work was more politically motivated and as such not as insightful or personal, but ?Testament of Youth? explores a dark and important area of British history that left its mark. In a letter to her doomed brother, Brittain informs him, ?Your battle wounds are scars upon my heart.? Her subsequent problems with trauma in the 1920s prior to the release of this book show how deeply Brittain and her fellow British women were affected by the war, despite being in the safety of home, as they faced the daily problem of having to survive survival.

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