Vera Brittain and the First World War: The Story of Testament of Youth
In 1913, Vera Brittain is a young Englishwoman with every prospect of happiness before her. A year later, war breaks out; and Brittain’s hopes and expectations, like those of thousands of others, evaporate. She serves as a volunteer, suffers terrible personal losses, and, again like many others, keeps a diary. Brittain experience is unique, however, because her 1914-1918 diary, Testament of Youth, is the only one published by a woman.
Vera Brittain and The First World War provides the background for understanding Brittain’s accomplishments. In it, Mark Bostridge, Brittain’s literary executor and biographer (Vera Brittain: a Life, with Paul Berry, 1995), discusses the excellence of her prose, her courage as an author, and her point of view, which often contrasts with Victorian stereotypes.
Brittain’s work has long been of interest to historians; but this history and the 1915 movie, Testament of Youth, should increase general readership. Vera Brittain and The First World War is recommended for anyone interested in the history and literature of World War I and in women’s history and literature.
