Brian Murdoch Boeken

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SEBASTIAN FAULKS 'We are no longer young men. We've lost any desire to conquer the world. We are refugees. We are fleeing from ourselves. From our lives. We were eighteen and had begun to love the world and to love being in it; but we had to shoot at it. The first shell to land went straight for our hearts. We've been cut of from real action, from getting on, from progress. We don't believe in those things any more; we believe in the war.' Written in memory of a generation of young men who arrived at the front fresh from the schoolroom, a generation utterly devasted by war, because the few that survived were left unfit for peace; at once tender and brutal, immediate and profound - All Quiet on the Western Front is a testament to the pity, horror and waste of the First World War, and a passionate plea to prevent its repetition.

Brian Murdoch provides an alternative view of the Middle Ages, showing the anarchy and decadence which lurked below the surface of a devout and conformist society. The grinning gargoyle, which mocked the solemnity of Gothic cathedrals, symbolises the violence, depravity and irreverence inherent in man which could not be suppressed by the church.

Exploring the existential struggles in an age marked by war and destruction, this study delves into three significant twentieth-century German plays. It examines how characters confront the absence of salvation, highlighting the profound challenges of living amidst chaos. The analysis offers insights into the themes of mortality and meaning, reflecting the broader human experience in a tumultuous historical context.