Siegfried Sassoon’s War Diaries Made Digital
min read
Share
The horrors of the First World War have been made available for all to see, now that Siegfried Sassoon’s war diaries have been made digitally available to mark the centenary of the conflict.
Cambridge University Library has made each of the 23 journals two notebooks of poetry accessible to anyone via their website.
Siegfried Sassoon – one of the most renowned War Poets from The Great War – was also an outspoken critic of the conflict, and his struggle is charted in the new touring play Regeneration, by Touring Consortium Theatre Company, which comes to the Grand Theatre, Blackpool from 25 to 29 November.
In the journals – many of which still bear remnants of mud from the Somme and candle wax – Sassoon describes through sketches, writings and poetry his many experiences in the trenches, in particular relating the moment when he was shot by a sniper at the Battle of Arras, as well as the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
Adapted from the Booker Prize nominated novel by Pat Barker, Regeneration deals with the psychological impacts of war and of Sassoon’s being institutionalised in Craiglockhart Hospital, Scotland, in order to undermine his public disapproval.
For more information on the published war journals of Siegfried Sassoon, visit this BBC News article.
More information on Regeneration, which comes to The Grand from 25 to 29 November 2014 can be found on the show page.