Birdsong (novel)
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| Birdsong | |
 First UK edition cover |
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| Author | Sebastian Faulks |
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| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fiction War novel |
| Publisher | Hutchinson |
| Publication date | September 16, 1993 (UK) |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 407 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0091773733 |
Birdsong is a 1993 war novel by the English author Sebastian Faulks. Faulks' fourth novel, it tells of a man called Stephen Wraysford at different stages of his life both before and during World War I. Birdsong is part of a trilogy of novels by Sebastian Faulks which includes The Girl at the Lion d'Or and Charlotte Gray which are all linked through location, history and several minor characters. [1]
The novel came 13th in a 2003 BBC survey called the Big Read which aimed to find Britain's favourite book.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
While the majority of the novel concentrates on Stephen's life in France before and during the war, the novel also focuses on the life of Stephen's granddaughter, Elizabeth, and her attempts to find out more about her grandfather's experiences in World War I. The story is split into seven sections which cover three different time periods.
[edit] Synopsis
Birdsong has an episodic structure which moves between three different periods of time before, during and after the war.
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (March 2007) |
[edit] France 1910
The first stage is set before the war in Amiens, France where Stephen Wraysford goes to learn about the manufacturing process at the Azaire's factory. He stays with the Azaire Family (René, Isabelle, Lisette and Grégoire) and spends the early part of the novel visiting René’s place of work.
It is revealed that René is embarrassed by his inability to father a child and beats his wife in anger. Lisette, a 16 year old girl from Azaire’s first marriage, makes suggestive remarks to Stephen throughout the first section of the novel Stephen does not share these feelings. René’s friends Bérard, Madame Bérard and Aunt Elise come round for dinner on occasion.
Lucien Lebrun, one of Azaire's workers gives food to the families of workers which he gets from Isabelle, this occurs behind René's back.
Stephen and Isabelle conduct a passionate affair. When René finds out he tells Stephen that he will go to hell. Stephen and Isabelle run away together but Isabelle eventually returns to the family after feeling guilty for leaving René and the children. Isabelle is forgiven by the family. She becomes pregnant but does not inform Stephen of the pregnancy and eventually raises the child with a German soldier called Max.
[edit] France 1916
We rejoin him some years later as a Lieutenant in the British Army and through his eyes, Faulks tells an incredibly vivid and moving story of the Battle of the Somme and Messines Ridge at Ypres in the following year. The energetic character describes in the first chapter of the novel contrasts this depiction of Stephen hardened by his experiences of war. During his time in the trenches, we learn of Wraysford's mental attitude to the war and the guarded comradeship he feels for his friend Captain Michael Weir and the rest of his men. However, Wraysford is regarded as a cold and distant officer by his men. Stephen refuses all offers of leave so committed is he to fighting on.
His story is paralleled with that of Jack Firebrace, a former miner, employed in the British trenches to listen for the enemy and plant mines under the German trenches. Jack is particularly motivated to fight because of the love he has for his son John back home. Faulks describes how a soldier called Hunt is terrified of going underground as an exploding shell could trap the soldiers underground causing them to suffocate. Stephen is injured in this chapter but survives.
The troops are told to make an attack on the Hawthorne Ridge but the attacks seems doomed to fail with the senior officers being blamed. Gray states that Stephen should not tell his men that the attack will fail but to pray for them instead.
Stephen feels lonely and writes to Isabelle, feeling that he has no one else that he can express his feelings to. He writes about his fears that he will die. This section of the novel ends with a bombardment leaving many soldiers in No Man's Land.
[edit] England 1978
Alongside the main story, there is the inquisitive narrative of Wraysford's pregnant granddaughter, Elizabeth, who, whilst struggling with her married boyfriend, Robert, unearths the stories of World War I and the remaining links to Wraysford's experiences at Marne, Verdun and the Somme. Elizabeth finds Stephen's journals and gets hope in order to try and uncover them.
[edit] France 1917
Weir is on leave and finds it impossible to communicate to his family how bad the war is. Stephen meets with Isabelle and finds that her face has been disfigured by a shell. Stephen discovers that Isabelle is now in a relationship with the German soldier Max.
Stephen is able to return to England and feels relief at being able to enjoy the Norfolk countryside away from the trenches.
Stephen meets Isabelle's sister Jeanne and tells her how he dreads returning to the front line after leave.
Stephen's closest friend, Michael Weir is eventually killed by a sniper's bullet while in a trench outside of battle.
[edit] England 78-79
Elizabeth continues researching the war and talks to war veterans in a retirement home.
[edit] France 1918
The novel ends with Wraysford and Firebrace being trapped underground as the war ends and being rescued by Levi, a Jewish German soldier. An ending which is clearly inspired by- and deliberately echoes- Wilfred Owen's 1918 poem "Strange Meeting".The fact that the German soldier is Jewish should be seen as a debunking by the author of the Nazi lie that German Jews did not fight in the war and 'stabbed the Reich in the back'. In fact some 12 thousand fought and died fighting for Germany in the First World War.[3] In the final chapters Jack dies but Stephen survives.
[edit] England 1979
Elizabeth finally decides to tell her mother that she is pregnant, who is surprisingly, supportive. Over dinner, she learns her mother was raised by Stephen and Jeanne, who married and settled in Norfork, after Isabelle's premature death. Elizabeth and Robert then go on holiday to rural area in England. There, she goes into labour and has a son, naming him John, therefore keeping the promise which Stephen made to Jack when they were trapped in the tunnels under No Man's Land, over sixty years before.
[edit] Characters
[edit] France: 1910
- Stephen Wraysford - The protagonist of the novel Stephen Wraysford goes to Amiens in France to learn more about the manufacturing process at René's factory. After an affair with Isabelle they leave Amiens before Isabelle returns.
- René Azaire - Factory owner in Amiens. He states that Stephen will go to hell for his affair with his wife Isabelle. Embarrassed by his inability to have a child with his wife he beats Isabelle making her want to leave her marriage
- Isabelle Azaire (Madame Azaire) née Fourmentier - René's wife. Isabelle has an affair with Stephen Wraysford while stuck in her unhappy marriage to René. However after this brief affair Isabelle agrees to return to René and she is forgiven by the family. She is the mother of Françoise by Stephen, though she raised her daughter originally with a German soldier named Max.
- Lisette - Sixteen years old. Lisette is attracted to Stephen and is nearer his age than Isabelle. She makes suggestive remarks to Stephen throughout his time at the house in Amiens.
- Grégoire - Another child from René's first marriage.
- Bérard - A pompous friend of René Azaire. He goes with the Azaires on a boat trip and considers it his role to conduct conversation by inviting people to speak.
- Madame Bérard - Bérard's wife.
- Aunt Èlise - Madame Bérard's mother.
- Margeurete - A maid employed by the Azaire household.
- Lucien Lebrun - A man who gives food to dyer's families that he gets from Isabelle.
- Meyraux - A supporter of a strike at René's factory.
[edit] France 1916, 1917 and 1918
- Jack Firebrace - A tuneller or "sewer-rat". He survived until 1918 when he became trapped while tunneling and died.
- Margaret - Jack's wife.
- John - Jack's child. He dies during the war.
- Captain Weir - An officer close to Stephen Wraysford killed by a German sniper.
- Jeanne Fourmentier - Isabelle's sister who forms a relationship with Stephen Wraysford.
[edit] Other soldiers
- O'Lone, Fielding, Shaw, Douglas, Wilkinson, Hunt Evans, Turner, Tyson, Byrne, Colonel Gray.
[edit] England: 1978 and 1979
- Elizabeth Benson - Granddaughter of Stephen Wraysford. Elizabeth has a job in company which manufactures garments. She wants to find out more about World War I and her grandfather's actions. She does this by phoning elderly servicemen, visiting war memorials and translating Stephen's diary.
- Mark and Lindsay - Friends of Elizabeth.
- Françoise - Elizabeth's mother, the biological daughter of Stephen and Isabelle who was raised by her father and aunt Jeanne.
- Irene - A work colleague of Elizabeth.
- Bob - Irene's husband. He offers to translate Stephen Wraysford's war diaries for Elizabeth.
- Erich - A work colleague of Elizabeth.
- Robert - A man who works in Brussels whom Elizabeth has an affair with. Robert states that he will eventually leave his wife but is reluctant to do so.
- Stuart - A man whom Elizabeth has a brief romance with. This ends after Stuart asks Elizabeth to marry him after only a few encounters between them.
- John - Elizabeth's child and therefore Stephen Wraysford's great-grandson, named after John, Jack Firebrace's dead son.
[edit] Film Production
Working Title Films have held the screen rights for many years, but are quoted as saying that "there is something afoot" since Faulks' commission to write the new Bond novel.[4] The name of screenwriter Andrew Davies has been linked to the film. However, in September 2007 it was announced that Justin Chadwick would direct Birdsong, with a screenplay by Abi Morgan, to be filming in 2008.[5]
The rumour that Daniel Radcliffe, star of the Harry Potter movies might star as the lead role apparently originates in Faulks' saying in 2004: "The film has been supposed to be happening for ten years now [...] All the original actors are now too old [...] By the time it gets made, the star of Harry Potter could end up being old enough to do it - is he a good actor?" [6].
In 1997, BBC Radio 4 aired a three-part adaptation of the novel on its Classic Serial programme (27 Oct., 3, 10 Nov.). It was dramatised by Nick Stafford and directed by Claire Grove. Its cast included Toby Stephens (Stephen Wraysford), Sophie Ward (Isabelle Azaire), John Rowe (René Azaire/Robert), Gavin Muir (Jack Firebrace), and Rachel Atkins (Elizabeth Benson).
[edit] Similar works
Birdsong has often been named Sebastian Faulks' best work of fiction- it received an 'also mentioned' credit in The Observer's 2005 poll of critics and writers to find the Best British book of the last 25 years (1980-2005). His literary retelling of the events and attitudes towards the Battle of the Somme and life in the trenches is highly acclaimed and is often grouped with work from writers such as Erich Maria Remarque and Ernest Hemingway as a modern contrast to World War I literature.[citation needed]For similar books on the Great War, it is worth referring to Siegfried Sassoon's Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man and Robert Graves' Good-bye to All That.
[edit] Other works by Faulks
- The Girl at the Lion D'or
- A Fool's Alphabet
- The Fatal Englishman
- Charlotte Gray
- On Green Dolphin Street
- Human Traces
- Engleby
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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