The Military Necessity
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
What does it truly mean to serve — to surrender one's will, identity, and freedom to the iron machinery of military life? Alfred de Vigny's The Military Necessity, originally published in French as Servitude et Grandeur Militaires, stands as one of the nineteenth century's most penetrating and poetic meditations on the soldier's condition, presenting a trilogy of interconnected tales that chronicle the quiet heroism and silent suffering of men bound by duty to an indifferent state. Set against the backdrop of Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic France, the work weaves together memoir, fiction, and moral philosophy to illuminate the profound paradox at the heart of military service: that honour and degradation are inextricably bound. Vigny, himself a former officer who endured the long tedium of peacetime soldiering, writes with the authority of lived experience and the elegance of a Romantic poet, casting a compassionate yet unflinching gaze upon the noble resignation of those who serve. Translated here into English by Humphrey Hare for The Cresset Press, this edition brings Vigny's masterwork to a wider audience, preserving the melancholy grandeur and moral seriousness that have secured its reputation as a cornerstone of French Romantic literature. For any reader who has ever questioned the human cost of institutional loyalty, The Military Necessity issues a challenge that lingers long after the final page.
Author: Alfred De Vigny
Format: Hardback
Published: 1953, The Cresset Press
Genre: Military history
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
What does it truly mean to serve — to surrender one's will, identity, and freedom to the iron machinery of military life? Alfred de Vigny's The Military Necessity, originally published in French as Servitude et Grandeur Militaires, stands as one of the nineteenth century's most penetrating and poetic meditations on the soldier's condition, presenting a trilogy of interconnected tales that chronicle the quiet heroism and silent suffering of men bound by duty to an indifferent state. Set against the backdrop of Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic France, the work weaves together memoir, fiction, and moral philosophy to illuminate the profound paradox at the heart of military service: that honour and degradation are inextricably bound. Vigny, himself a former officer who endured the long tedium of peacetime soldiering, writes with the authority of lived experience and the elegance of a Romantic poet, casting a compassionate yet unflinching gaze upon the noble resignation of those who serve. Translated here into English by Humphrey Hare for The Cresset Press, this edition brings Vigny's masterwork to a wider audience, preserving the melancholy grandeur and moral seriousness that have secured its reputation as a cornerstone of French Romantic literature. For any reader who has ever questioned the human cost of institutional loyalty, The Military Necessity issues a challenge that lingers long after the final page.