The Return of the Soldier

THE RETURN OF THE SOLDIER, published in 1918, may be the most carefully conceived novel I've ever read, and I've read a fair amount of exquisitely executed fiction. Told from the first person perspective of a spinster whose entire life revolves around her cousin, his life and country mansion, it is the story of an English gentleman who goes off to World War I only to be returned not in a body bag or physically injured but with a severe case of amnesia. He does not recognize his pretty, socially correct wife; he has retreated to a hidden youthful romance with a poor woman. The woman, also married now, comes forth in the interest of helping him. The balance of the plot hangs in the implications of recovery. The balance of the full experience of the novel is to watch characters change or not change their class prejudices and worldview in light of their experiences on this country estate. Though only 90 pages long, much is packed into this book, much that is analogous to the English national experience as it moved from the Victorian era into the 20th century. The critical introduction, which should be read as an afterward so as not to rob you of the surprises in the novel, does a good job of reviewing the analogies between the tightly closed world of the country estate and the national experience. There is much more to be mined from this novel, including a window on the then new science of psychoanalysis and how it was understood. For me, the narration was a particular revelation. At first I thought the voice a bit melodramatic in a 19th century way, but it became clear that the tone was all part of the author's plan, and that it changed as the narrator's vision changed. The specter of spinsterhood hangs thick in the air, itself a comment on the social condition of the era. Here is the perfect selfless, lonely narrator who knows everything about the lives in her tiny circle. The woman who would be ignored becomes the ideal articulator of how England at home received the war.

This relatively unknown work, deceptively short, operates on many different levels and works on all of them. In a brief 87 pages one sees the class divisions in England during World War I, the impact of the Industrial Reolution on the countryside, a conflict between love and duty, family expectations and one's own desires, a frightening picture of amnesia, the pain of unrequited love and the joy of mutual love, a marriage without a soul--I could go on and on. I read it once just because I couldn't wait to see what happened, and then again slowly to enjoy the language, the beautiful descriptions of nature, and to find the hints the author sows from page one on that this beautiful world that these people have created for themselves is not what it appears to be.

West's best-known and best novel runs barely longer than a longish short story, yet it is so packed with detail, characterization and incident that it has all the depth of a much longer book while keeping its scope limited to the confines of a country home in rural England. The reader finishes the book (probably after one sitting) feeling as if he/she knows the four major characters intimately, a testament to West's deft, succint, perfectly molded prose. There's not a false note, a misplaced line, a hollow emotion to be found here--critical, since this is a novel nearly exploding with suppressed emotion. One feels deeply--and equally--for the wounded, amnesiac soldier; his distraught young wife; his confused but optimistic ex-girlfirend; and his cousin, the narrator, who harbors her own unrequited love for the man. It is exceedingly rare that any work of art achieves perfection, but "Return of the Soldier" does. Despite its spareness and its limited focus, it is profound in its examination of the human heart. A must read.

The Return of the Soldier is a very small book, less than 100 pages, set during the first World War, that will stay with you for a long, long time. West writes about the relationship of three very different women, a wife, spinster cousin and old love, to each other and to the soldier sent home from the front with amnesia. This story is beautifully written and explores many themes, including classism, elitism, true love and hate. Each character is fully developed, each setting, vivid and though there is not a spare word in this book, it says so much. A book that should be read and discussed by everyone.

Why aren't people reading this book? For a book written 80 years ago, you would think that Rebecca West had written this about a page of today's history. The time -- World War I -- is only a backdrop for West's look at how people respond to change. This is the best twist on an amnesia theme ever written, and its distaff point of view is a particularly original spin on a war story. At under 100 pages, you feel as though you have read 'War and Peace' by the end -- and, I might add, gotten more out of it! If West were alive today, she would be on Oprah.