Now All Roads Lead to France
W. W. Norton Company (US) | |
Publication place | United Kingdom |
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Now All Roads Lead To France is a 2011 non-fiction book by
Contents
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Hollis gives a detailed picture of Thomas' life and the poet's inner struggles. Thomas, Hollis writes, suffered through chronic depression, with Thomas stating that he felt "plagued with work, burning my candle at 3 ends" with frequent thoughts of suicide and vicious verbal sparring with his wife Helen. Walking through the English countrysides offered Thomas some relief. Still, it took Thomas' meeting with Robert Frost, an immigrant from the U.S. seeking to break into English literary circles, in 1913 to change his life's path.[1]
Frost's relationship to Thomas, as Hollis discusses, essentially saved Thomas' life. Their friendship serves as the heart of the book. Hollis details how the two poets spent hours "talks-walking", in Frost's words, around the bucolic areas of Gloucestershire to think. Thomas wrote in September 1914, "I am slowly growing into a conscious Englishman."[1]
In a short space of about two years, Thomas published as much as other poets took a lifetime to write. His work, Hollis recounts, conveyed his deep sense of wandering insecurity and lack of connection, particularly using his emotional reflections based on nature. Hollis describes how the advent of World War I, the horrors of which Thomas knew well, brought out a profound purpose in Thomas' mind. Commissioned as a second lieutenant in the British army, Thomas sought out action in 1917, and he died from the shock-wave of a passing shell just about ten weeks after arriving on the Western Front.[1]
Reception
Supportive reviews ran in a variety of publications. Travel writer
Author and journalist Allan Massie wrote a positive review in The Wall Street Journal. He stated about Thomas that once he "took to poetry at age 36, it was as if the ice on a winter river had melted and the water could flow freely." Massie concluded about the book,
"Hollis gives as full an account of Thomas's life as may be possible. He treats his family difficulties sympathetically, recounts, without innuendo or prurience, loving relationships with two other women besides his wife, notes Thomas's difficulties with his father and his inability to understand his own son. Yet this book is essentially a study of the making of a poet, and Mr. Hollis's chief interest is in the poems themselves. It is a very intelligent and sympathetic study."[3]
The book won the
The 2011 Costa awards were subject to some attention from
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e Macfarlane, Robert (2011-08-05). "Now All Roads Lead to France by Matthew Hollis – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
- ^ a b O'Brien, Sean (2011-07-29). "Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas". The Independent. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
- ^ a b Massie, Allan (2012-10-26). "Book Review: Now All Roads Lead to France". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
- ^ a b "Costa book awards winners 2011 – in pictures". The Guardian. 2012-01-04. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
- ^ a b "Previous Winners - Best First Biography Award". Archived from the original on 2011-11-19. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
- Huffington Post. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
- ^ Clark, Nick (25 January 2012). "Literary feud lies behind novel choice for Costa book of the year". The Independent. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
- ^ "Andrew Miller wins Costa award for novel 'Pure'". The Irish Times. 25 January 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2012.