''Sherston's Progress'' is the final book of Siegfried Sassoon's semi-autobiographical trilogy. It is preceded by ''

Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man ''Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man'' is a novel by Siegfried Sassoon, first published in 1928 by Faber and Faber. It won both the Hawthornden Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, being immediately recognised as a classic of English litera ...

'' and '' Memoirs of an Infantry Officer''.

Synopsis

The book starts with his arrival at 'Slateford War Hospital' in Edinburgh (based on Craiglockhart War Hospital) for shell-shocked soldiers. Sherston has not been wounded, but has refused to continue fighting, causing himself a little temporary notoriety in England. The famous neurologist W. H. R. Rivers is a major character in the book (and had a profound influence on Sassoon in real life). After many sessions in which he gets to know himself and his motives better, he decides to ask to return to the front line. Sherston is sent to Ireland (where he is introduced to 'The Mister', an alcoholic, eccentric millionaire) then Palestine, and finally to the Western Front in France. There, as captain of a company, he describes his admiration for his servant (Bond), his fellow officers and his men, and his state of mind. At the end of the short first stint at the front, he decides to go out with Corporal Davies to lob some

Mills bomb "Mills bomb" is the popular name for a series of British hand grenades which were designed by William Mills. They were the first modern fragmentation grenades used by the British Army and saw widespread use in the First and Second World Wa ...

s at a German machine-gun post. On their way back, he is shot in the head by an experienced soldier (Sergeant Wickham) in his own company. He is reluctant to be sent to recover in London, where Rivers visits him in hospital.

External links

* 1936 British novels Roman à clef novels British autobiographical novels Faber and Faber books Books by Siegfried Sassoon Books about mental health {{1930s-autobio-novel-stub