Goodbye to All That
A searing farewell to innocence, Goodbye to All That is Robert Graves's unflinching, unforgettable memoir of youth, war, and disillusionment. Written in the aftermath of World War I, this literary classic begins with Graves's idyllic childhood in Victorian England and follows him through the brutal trenches of the Western Front, where he served as a young officer. With clarity and biting wit, Graves exposes the absurdities of military life, the horrors of modern warfare, and the cultural collapse that followed in its wake. But this is more than just a war memoir. It's a generational reckoning. A portrait of a world coming apart-and a man walking away from it. With disarming honesty, Graves dissects his friendships (including with fellow poet Siegfried Sassoon), his shattered ideals, and his permanent break from the England he once called home. Goodbye to All That is one of the most powerful, candid, and beautifully written accounts of the First World War-and the end of an era.
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5recommend
12mentions
9people
2015–2026years
50% recommend50% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Written by protagonists:
"The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston" by Siegfried Sassoon. (Ignore the title, it's actually his autobiography, and you could probably skip the first book in the trilogy).
"Goodbye to all that" by Robert Graves.
Two of the best writers in the English language recounting their times in the trenches.
- Quite.
I have read a handful of memoirs written by persons around 30, and the ones that impressed me were memoirs of military service: Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves (yes, evidently he got various details wrong), The Killing Zone by Frederick Downs, etc. But in general I'd rather the memoirist have fifty years under his or her belt.
- I didn’t especially enjoy this essay, but Goodbye To All That is a great (and pretty easy) read, which I’d highly recommend
- Perhaps a better description of the same can be found in 'Goodbye to All That'. I don't have a copy at hand, but I remember it having detailed description of the trenches.
- His "Goodbye to All That" is a good memoir of the First World War. Though his Mythologies are the most readable or engaging one. I prefer Thomas Bullfinch for Mythology.
- Highly recommend Goodbye to All That, his memoirs. One of the best books written on the first world war from the perspectives of someone actually fighting it.
