The Return of the Soldier - Paperback

by Rebecca West (Author), Bernard Schweizer (Editor), Charles Thorne (Editor)

The only edition of this important modernist novel to provide annotation and historical materials.

Back Jacket

The Return of the Soldier tells the story of a shell-shocked soldier who returns home from the First World War believing that he is in love with a working-class woman from his past, rather than married to his aristocratic wife. His family and doctor must decide whether to allow him to remain safely in his delusion, or to bring him back to reality and return him to the front. A brief novel with a seemingly simple plot, it is a classic of modernist literature and provides a point of entry into discussions of some of the twentieth century's most enduring themes.

Appendices include textual variants, patriotic and antiwar verse from World War I, war journalism by West, contemporary paintings and propaganda posters, and material on shell-shock.

Author Biography

Bernard Schweizer is Associate Professor of English at Long Island University.

Charles Thorne teaches English at Bergen Community College, New Jersey.