10 literary works on World War II

2015-08-26    Source: Chinadaily.com.cn

 

 

Writers can capture the minute details of human emotions. Through their words, readers can travel across the world, smell the scent of a flower, and also see how victims of war sought glimpses of love in the dark ruins and fought to live in a time of despair.

For those that lived during the war, words from these works may trigger vivid flashbacks that sting their hearts. For those who didn't experience the war, these works may provide some insight into how people felt during a time of horror.

As this year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, we list some of the classic literary works that capture the bravery, fear, sorrow and love among fictional characters who experienced the horror of war.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. [Photo/Agencies]

Title: Catch 22

Author: Joseph Heller

Country: United States

Published: 1961

The novel is set during World War II, from 1942 to 1944, and centers around the life of Captain John Yossarian, a bombardier with the American Air Forces. Based on a fictional 256th Squadron on an island in the Mediterranean Sea, the story focuses on the experiences of the protagonist and his fellow airmen in the camp, and how they attempt to maintain their sanity while serving requirements so they can eventually return to their loved ones.

In a distinctive non-chronological third-person omniscient narration, Catch 22 is often regarded as one of the greatest literary works of the twentieth century.

 

The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer. [Photo/Agencies]

Title: The Naked and the Dead

Author: Norman Mailer

Country: United States

Published: 1948

On Anopopei, a fictional island somewhere in the South Pacific, the American forces are faced with a campaign to isolate the Japanese so that Americans can advance into the Philippines. The novel centers on the experiences of a platoon, who are required to obey all orders from their superiors, though they have no idea what those orders might be or whether they will be alive at the end of their mission.

The Naked and the Dead is divided into four parts: Wave, Argil and Mold, Plant and Phantom and Wake. With play-like dialogue between characters and time-travelling sections that provide brief histories and flashbacks of characters' lives, the central theme reflects on the ludicrousness of war.

 

The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman. [Photo/Agencies]

 

Title: The Pianist

Author: Wladyslaw Szpilman

Country: Poland

Published: 1988

The Pianist is a memoir of a Polish composer of Jewish origin Wladyslaw Szpilman and written and elaborated by Jerzy Waldorff, who was a friend of Szpilman.

The story centers around Szpilman's life in the slums of Poland during World War II, his separation from his family and how he struggled to survive. The protagonist met a German officer one day in search of food, and under the officer's orders, Szpilman was forced to perform a piece by Chopin. The officer, touched by Szpilman's talents, decided to help him find a place to hide and provided food and clothing to help him live. After the war was over, Szpilman did his best to find the whereabouts of the German officer, but was shocked when he heard the officer was suspected of being a spy and died in captivity.

 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. [Photo/Agencies]

Title: The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak

Country: Australia

Published: 2005

The Book Thief, which was listed on The New York Times Best Seller List for over 230 weeks, tells the story of Liesel Meminger, a nine-year-old girl living in Germany during World War II, and her relationship with words.

In a time of material deprivation and destructive surroundings, Liesel discovers something she thinks more precious than food - books. Mesmerized by the power of language and sharing the written word, Liezel begins to steal books that the Nazi party is looking to destroy. What's more, she begins writing her own stories to spread the power of language. Among the ammunition flying by and innocent lives lost, the little girl brings light and hope to her neighbors in shelters and Jews in basements through reading.

 

Remembering 1942 by Liu Zhenyun. [Photo/Agencies]

Title: Remembering 1942

Author: Liu Zhenyun

Country: China

Published: 1987

The plot is set in the winter of 1942, during China's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, also a period of famine in Central China's Henan province.

The protagonist, Master Fan, is a wealthy landlord in a village in Henan. When others were struggling to meet their ends, Fan had plenty to feed upon, but his course of life changes when a group of bandits storms by, robs the village and burns it down to the ground.

Fan is left with no choice but to flee his hometown, with his family, and head westwards in search of food. During the flight, Fan continues to see his family members, and the fellow villagers, die of hunger one by one. He is eventually forced to sell his daughter to a brothel house in return for food, and the ensured survival of his daughter. With limited help from the government, Fan begins to lose hope and decides to head back so he could die somewhere closer to home. On his way, he meets a little girl weeping on the body of her dead father. Fan tries to comfort the girl, but the child says she is not crying because of her father's passing, but because everyone she knew has died and all those remaining are strangers to her. Touched by the girl's words, Fan decides to adopt her as his granddaughter, and continued his journey westwards with the girls' hand in his.

 

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. [Photo/Agencies]

Title: The Remains of the Day

Author: Kazuo Ishiguro

Country: United Kingdom

Published: 1989

Stevens, an English butler who dedicated his life to serving Lord Darlington, reflects on his life when his master decided to appease, his immutable loyalty to his master, his toppling self worth and the meaning of the word "dignity".

In search of a new job, Stevens reencounters Miss Kenton, a former colleague and former love interest. When it came for them to work side by side once more, their affections towards one another resurfaces again, but neither of them dares to cross the line.

The war does not feature as prominently throughout the novel, as it is in other books. Instead, it is like the dark cloud that never dissipates, casting shadows on people's lives day and night, in the most silent, ubiquitous and yet powerful fashion ever.

 

The Sorrow of Belgium by Hugo Claus. [Photo/Agencies]

Title: The Sorrow of Belgium

Author: Hugo Claus

Country: Belgium

Published: 1983

The Sorrow of Belgium, one of the best known works by Hugo Claus, is a bildungsroman comprises of two parts: "The Sorrow" and "of Belgium".

The story tells the child- and young-adulthood of Louis Seynaeve living in Belgium from 1939 to 1947, the numbing sadness of the country during German occupation, and maturing of a young man.

Eleven-year-old Louis Seynaeve is a student at a boarding school. The young boy, who loves to read, has lots of fantasies, and formed a small group called the Four Apostles with his friends. Louis discovers joy in reading "forbidden books", from which he learned more about the world. He eventually becomes aware of the narrow-mindedness of his family, his education and his town, and becomes a writer in hopes to change things. Louis then pens "The Sorrow", which is the first part of the novel.

 

The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass. [Photo/Agencies]

Title: The Tin Drum

Author: Gunter Grass

Country: Germany

Published: 1959

The story revolves around the life of Oskar Matzerath. Though talented with an adult's mentality, he decides never to grow up after witnessing the darker side of human nature. He retains the state of a child while living through the beginning of World War II, witnessing adultery and postwar Europe. Through all this, Oskar is accompanied by a deeply-treasured toy tin drum, which he received as a present for his third birthday, which he plays, sometimes vigorously, to express his feelings.

During the war, Oskar joins a troupe of performing dwarfs to entertain the Germans at the front lines. After the war, he returns home and makes a name for himself with his talents in drumming, until one day, he allows himself to be falsely convicted of murder and to be confined to an insane asylum, where he works on his memoir.

The Tin Drum was adapted into a film in 1979, and won the Palme d'Or in the same year and Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film the following year.

 

The German Lesson by Siegiried Lenz. [Photo/Agencies]

Title: The German Lesson

Author: Siegiried Lenz

Country: Germany

Published: 1968

Siggi Jepsen, the first-person narrator, an inmate at a juvenile detention center, is forced to write an essay with the theme "the joy of duty". In his writings, Siggi describes how his father, a policeman in Nazi Germany, carried out his duties without hesitation, sometimes hurting his own family and even to debar an old childhood friend, painter Max Nansen, from his profession. Siggi felt compelled by the confiscated painting, tries to hide it without his father knowing, and eventually gets caught and subsequently detained.

From the perspective of a son reflecting on his father's doings, the novel describes how the author and the Germans as a whole reflected on World War II. The work sold more than 1.4 million copies in Germany alone, and after entering the Chinese market, created a stir among Chinese readers. Renowned Chinese author Yu Hua, known for his work To Live, loved the book so much when he borrowed it from a school library that he was willing to pay three times the original price just so he wouldn't have to return the book.

 

The Dawns Here Are Quiet by Boris Vasilyev. [Photo/Agencies]

Title: The Dawns Here Are Quiet

Author: Boris Vasilyev

Country: Russia

Published: 1969

Upon orders, Senior Sergeant Vaskov is somewhat unwillingly stationed with a group of young female gunners in a railway station far from the front line. The women's youthful, active and playful personalities are poles apart from what Vaskov is used to. Vaskov finds himself clashing with the gunners often, but slowly begins to enjoy the joy they bring to life during a time of despair.

Two German paratroopers appeared nearby on a peaceful morning. The team embarked on a mission to stop them from possibly sabotaging, only to discover that there were sixteen paratroopers instead of two. Outgunned and outnumbered, Vaskov and the gunners tried their best to keep the Germans at bay, but in the end, four gunners were killed and one drowned in a quagmire. Vaskov, desperate and angered, armed with only one knife and deactivated hand-grenade, attacks the Germans with his last full shot of energy.

Twenty years after the war, on another quiet morning, Vaskov visits the place again with the adopted son of one of the women.

The Dawns Here Are Quiet was a best seller, having sold more than 1.8 million copies within a year after its publication in 1969. Its depiction of patriotism and female heroism has been adapted for stage and the screen. In 2005, a namesake TV drama adaptation of the novel was aired on China Central Television in celebration of the 60th year since the end of war.