episode 70 - Paul Fussell - part 02

Cultural and literary historian Paul Fussell received the National Book Award for his 1975 work, The Great War and Modern Memory, and he has written more than twenty other award-winning books on a wide range of topics. In this stirring interview, Fussell looks back on his combat service as a rifle platoon leader during World War II. Determined to fight the Germans, he volunteered for the infantry, less out of idealism, he says, than ignorance. He returned from the war a changed person. Speaking of The Great War and Modern Memory, Fussell observes that the literature of World War I was more literary, while the literature of World War II tended to be more conventional. In discussing his acclaimed Abroad: British Literary Traveling between the Wars (1982), Fussell laments the way in which travel has been replaced by tourism, adding that he misses the great passenger vessels. Fussell poignantly explains how his war experience has haunted him over the course of his lifetime.