Perspective on World War II

In recent years, there has been a spate of books set in the period of World War II. The lapse of years—now more than a generation—has given writers perspective on that most destructive of wars. Authors have drawn from reminiscence; to reconstruct authentically, many also have employed research on this much-documented conflict. An overview of the works indicates that though each author builds his/her story upon the historic events of his/her particular country, they share a common theme: condemnation of war.

A novel which portrays both the indiscriminate atrocities spawned by war and the individual heroism performed by ordinary people is Alki Zei's Petros' War. This book does not come from one of the major combatant countries, but from Greece, an area considered, if we may judge from the scant news stories of the time, a minor war theater. Zei shows, however, that no suffering or courage is minor. In 1940, Petros is an animal-loving and game-playing boy, much like boys of other places and other times. Then foreign invasion and occupation bring cold and hunger, which sap not only physical health, but also moral strength. Revolted at first by his grandfather's begging and petty stealing, Petros comes to understand the old man, who is obsessed with fear of becoming another of the streetside cadavers. Inspired by the beautiful and beauty-loving Drossoula, Petros assists her freedom-fighter group and matures into manhood by the time of liberation in 1944. But the cost of courage is great: both Drossoula and Petros's neighbor, the urchin-saboteur Sotiris, are shot down.

The novel includes a sympathetic portrayal of an enemy deserter and realistically develops his relationship to the family. Petros—and the reader—learn that "Garibaldi's" fear is not simple cowardice and his submission to drudgery not abject when it helps heal the chilblained hands and shrunken spirit of Petros's mother. Amid the horrors of hunger, death, and fear, Zei has depicted the Greek resistant and resilient spirit. Petros grows to exhibit a courage like that of Alexios, the hero of his boyhood stories.

One of the English novels set in World War II pivots on the relationship between an enemy airman and a group of working-class youngsters. The Machine Gunners, by Robert Westall, realistically reflects the tension in a coastal city during heavy bombardments in the Battle of Britain, 1940-41. The novel's complexity, however, ranges beyond the wartime setting into the ageless conflict between generations: "The Germans ceased to be the only enemies. All the adults were a kind of enemy now" (p. 95). In this respect, The Machine Gunners draws from earlier traditions in British youth literature—the school stories and the utopia/dystopia line of The Coral Island and Lord of the Flies. Westall's protagonists differ from the tradition in that they are not isolated in a school or on an island; they live with their families in homes where parents appear more petty tyrants than loving guardians. The children, however, do possess their own world—the Fortress which they have built. The only adults whom they have permitted to help them are huge, feeble-minded John and captured Rudi.

The novel begins with innocuous childishness: Chas wants to outdo bully Boddser in collecting shrapnel souvenirs. When Chas discovers the tail of a downed Nazi plane, its machine-gun intact, he realizes that he cannot boast of his find...