There are so many novels about the Great War that the small tale ‘Strange Meeting’ is easily overlooked next to such stories as Faulk’s ‘Birdsong’ and Elton’s ‘The First Casualty’. However, Hill’s novel is far more subtle than the often loud scenarios illustrated in the afore-mentioned books. Following the protagonist, Officer John Hilliard, from sick leave in England, to the battlefields of France, ‘Strange Meeting’ is much more about the characters than the actual setting.
‘Strange Meeting’ is essentially a love story, but not an obvious, bawdy or physical one. Upon returning to France, Hilliard discovers that his company have been obliterated and that the Colonel leading them has turned to whiskey. It is in the midst of this despair that David Barton appears, a new officer shipped from England. Barton is a joyful, charming and wholly innocent young man, untouched by the realities of war that Hilliard has become so familiar with. They are the complete opposite of one another and the reader cannot help but fall in love with Barton – he is reminiscent of any young man with a large smile and high hopes of the future. Hilliard, like we are as readers, is instantly drawn to the young man billeted in the same room as they wait to be posted to the front.
Of course, we have read and seen so many stories of either World War One or Two that we cannot help but know that Barton is going to change, but Hill manages to reinvent this, almost cliché, development by making Hilliard recount the differences. But to begin with, their love blooms away from the frontline, in the quiet summer lull before the inevitable. Whereas other modern novelists punctuate their war stories with sex scenes (who can forget the opening part of ‘Birdsong’ and the explicit love affair between Isabelle and Stephen), there is no physical love between Barton and Hilliard, but rather a mutual understanding and affection, resulting with Hilliard being able to talk about his life instead of being closed and rather austere.
The occasional wartime incidents are brief, as the effects of these occurrences on Barton and the officer’s changing relationship is what Hill’s delicate and eloquent novel is expressing. The small glances between the pair, their brief conversations and Hilliard’s growing concern about his companion entice the reader further into the wartime trenches, so that by the apocalyptic ending, you love them both.
By Eleanor Roots
Some good points here, and I share your admiration for this novel; but you almost seem to be saying that the fact this is a First World War novel is an irrelevancy ('‘Strange Meeting’ is much more about the characters than the actual setting' -- really? Doesn't the setting count for something?
ReplyDeleteA little more specificity of critical terminology would help you put across your argument. What do you mean when you describe other war novels as 'loud', for instance?
‘Strange Meeting’ is essentially a love story, but not an obvious, bawdy or physical one. -- 'bawdy'? What do you mean, exactly?
"Whereas other modern novelists punctuate their war stories with sex scenes (who can forget the opening part of ‘Birdsong’ and the explicit love affair between Isabelle and Stephen), there is no physical love between Barton and Hilliard" -- Faulks aside (and his novel is a love story, predominently) I can't think of the other modern novelists -- plural -- who do this. Who else did you have in mind?