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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'The drumming of the guns continued, with bursts of great intensity. It was as though a gale streamed overhead, piling up great waves of sound, and hurrying them onwards to crash in surf on the enemy entrenchments. The windless air about them, by its very stillness, made that unearthly music more terrible to hear.
'First published anonymously in 1929 because its language was considered far too frank for public circulation, The Middle Parts of Fortune was hailed by T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, by Lawrence of Arabia and Ernest Hemingway, as an extraordinary novel. Its author was in fact Frederic Manning, an Australian writer who fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and who told his story of men at war from the perspective of an ordinary soldier.' (Publication summary : Text Classics)
Notes
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Dedication: To Peter Davies, who made me write it.
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The Middle Parts of Fortune was originally published anonymously in 1929 and was not published again in its original form until 1977 (Oxford Companion to Australian Literature). An expurgated version under the title Her Privates We was published in 1930 under the pseudonym "Private 19022" which was Manning's army number. The work has been republished under both titles.
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In 2014, the novel was listed by The Guardian newspaper as one of the 10 best books to arise from the war.
Contents
- The Fortunes of Private 19022, single work criticism biography (p. vii-xiii)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also e-book.
Works about this Work
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Untitled
single work
review
— Review of The Middle Parts of Fortune : Somme and Ancre, 1916 1929 single work novel -
Untitled
single work
review
— Review of The Middle Parts of Fortune : Somme and Ancre, 1916 1929 single work novel -
„Diggers“, „Anzacs“ Und „Frontsoldaten“: Die (De-)Konstruktion Nationaler Identität Im Australischen Und Deutschen Weltkriegsroman
2023
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Der Erste Weltkrieg: Erinnerungskulturen in Deutschland und Australien 2023; (p. 267-291) -
Blankety-Blank : The Art of the Euphemism
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 427 2020; 'Disguising the words we dare not print has a long and fascinating history. From the late eighteenth century in particular, it became common in printed works to disguise words such as profanities and curses – from the use of typographical substitutes such as asterisks to the replacement of a swear word with a euphemism. When I was researching my recent book, Rooted, on the history of bad language in Australia, I was struck by the creative ways in which writers, editors, and typesetters, especially through the late nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, sought to evade censors and allude to profanity.' (Introduction) -
The Australian Book You've Finally Got Time for : The Middle Parts of Fortune by Frederic Manning
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 19 June 2020;'Manning’s publisher locked him in his apartment until he finished one of the strangest, most compelling books from the first world war'
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Untitled
2006
single work
review
— Appears in: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die 2006; (p. 344)
— Review of The Middle Parts of Fortune : Somme and Ancre, 1916 1929 single work novel -
Novels I Think You Would Like to Read
1930
single work
review
— Appears in: All About Books , 19 April vol. 2 no. 4 1930; (p. 94-95)
— Review of The Middle Parts of Fortune : Somme and Ancre, 1916 1929 single work novel -
Some New Books Reviewed
1930
single work
review
— Appears in: All About Books , 19 April vol. 2 no. 4 1930; (p. 100, 102)
— Review of The Middle Parts of Fortune : Somme and Ancre, 1916 1929 single work novel -
Untitled
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Lifted Brow , no. 14 2012; (p. 27)
— Review of The Middle Parts of Fortune : Somme and Ancre, 1916 1929 single work novel -
Untitled
single work
review
— Review of The Middle Parts of Fortune : Somme and Ancre, 1916 1929 single work novel -
Reflections of War in British and Australian Literature of the First World War
1985
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Prose Literature 1985; (p. 72-79) -
The Great Novel
2004
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Eureka Street , March vol. 14 no. 2 2004; (p. 32-33) -
The War Continues : A Further Note on War Books
1930
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Window , April vol. 1 no. 2 1930; (p. 62-85) -
A Bookseller Talks Shop
1930
single work
column
humour
— Appears in: All About Books , 19 April vol. 2 no. 4 1930; (p. 91-92) -
The Author of 'Her Privates We'
1930
single work
column
— Appears in: All About Books , 19 April vol. 2 no. 4 1930; (p. 102) Brief article confirming the identity of Private 19022.
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cFrance,cWestern Europe, Europe,
- 1910s