The Malaysian Insider :: Books
The Malaysian Insider :: Books |
| Unpublished draft of Sassoon’s ‘Atrocities’ emerges before auction Posted: 05 Feb 2013 03:44 AM PST
Guardian Books obtained a selection of fragments from the original version, showing how the line "How did you kill them?" became "How did you do them in?", and uncovering the omitted phrases "you're great at murder" and "gulp their blood in ghoulish dreams." Sassoon (picture) rooted this poem in his World War I experiences, writing in an accompanying letter of the tales he heard allied officers and soldiers tell one another. "But of course these things aren't atrocities when we do them. Nevertheless, they are an indictment of war — some people can't help being like that when they are out there." Roy Davids, now 70, spent 40 years collecting rare British poetry manuscripts and is only now offering them up for auction, with the two lots set to go on April 10 and May 8 at Bonhams, London. "I couldn't believe this poem when I first got it, that here was an English officer saying these things about his own side. No wonder they didn't want to publish it," collector Roy Davids was quoted as saying. "The publisher, Heinemann, wouldn't let him publish it. I now understand even more clearly [why]," explained Sassoon biographer Jean Moorcroft Wilson. Also included in the lots of British poetry are drafts from the pens of Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, Coleridge, Tennyson, TS Eliot and the only known draft of WH Auden's "Stop all the Clocks" or "Funeral Blues". — AFP/Relaxnews |
LONDON, Feb 5 — Excerpts from Siegfried Sassoon's famous war poem "Atrocities" have surfaced ahead of two manuscript auctions in April and May, showing how the impact of even his most famous work was toned down before publication.| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Books To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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