Fiction chronicle May 2021
Afterwards
On “The Invisible Land,” by Hubert Mingarelli, “Ferdinand, The Man with the Kind Heart: A Novel,” by Irmgard Keun, “Dissipatio H.G.: The Vanishing,” by Guido Morselli & “Mr Cadmus,” by Peter Ackroyd.
Writing a few years after the armistice that, at 11 o’clock on November 11, 1918, brought a halt to the fighting on the Western Front, John Buchan related how:
At two minutes to eleven, opposite the South African Brigade, which represented the easternmost point reached by the British armies, a German machine gunner, after firing off a belt without pause, was seen to stand up beside his weapon, take off his helmet, bow, and then walk slowly to the rear. Suddenly, as the watch-hands touched eleven, there came a second of expectant silence, and then a curious rippling sound, which observers far behind the front likened to the noise of a light wind. It was the sound of men cheering from the Vosges to the sea.
After that, peace descended on the long battlefield. A new era had come and the old world had passed away.
...A Message from the Editors
Support our crucial work and join us in strengthening the bonds of civilization.
Your donation sustains our efforts to inspire joyous rediscoveries.
