Under Fire

The original translation of one of the first World War I novels—at first criticized for its harsh realism but now celebrated as a classic.

Set in early 1916, Under Fire follows the point of view of an unnamed foot soldier in a squad of French volunteers on the western front. It combines soaring, poetic descriptions with the mundane, messy, human reality of soldiers living in their own filth. Gradually, names and features are given to the men who emerge from the mud, from the dignified leade...