Full Description
'The Great War' is a novel that comprehensively and passionately narrates a number of stories covering the duration of World War One, starting with the year 1914 - the year that truly marked the beginning of the twentieth century. Following the destinies of over seventy characters, on all warring sides, Gatalica depicts the experiences of winners and losers, generals and opera singers, soldiers and spies; managing to grasp the atmosphere of the entire epoch, not only of these crucial four and a half bloody years, but also in the innocent decades that preceded the war, and the poisoned ones that followed. The stories themselves are various but equally important: here we find joyful as well as tragic destinies, along with examples of exceptional heroism. Yet 'The Great War' never becomes a chronicle, nor a typical historical novel; above all it is a work of art that uses historic events as means to tell many fantastic stories, with unbelievable and unthinkable convolutions. It is commendable in its breadth, its vision and its relevance to modern history.
Contents
1914 - the Year of the Pathologist: Prologue: Two Revolver Shots 13 A Long Hot Summer 25 War 40 Letters of Life and Death 65 First Wartime Christmas 73 The Typhus Situation 92 1915 - the Year of the Trader The Smell of Snow and Forebodings of Doom 99 The Man who Did Everything Twice 115 War and the Sexes 128 The Father of all Gothic Doctors 143 Best Wishes from Hell 160 Defence and Ultimate Collapse 170 1916 - the Year of the King: The Valley of the Dead 187 Far away, to the Ends of the Earth 206 Miracle Cures and Other Elixirs 223 Delusions as Broad as Russia 238 Corporals, Chaplains and Helmsmen 256 1917 - the Year of the Tsar: Betrayal, Cowardice and Lies 279 T heir Time Has Passed 298 Death Wears no Watch 320 The Revolution Travels by Train 339 1918 - the Year of the Criminologist: The End - Kaput 361 The Pandemic 369 Silent Liberation 379 I am now Dead 393 Wishes for the New World 401 Epilogue: Dreams Made of Dreams 408 The Author 413 Translator 414
