Review of Return of the Brute by Liam O'Flaherty

 "Homo homini lupus", an ancient Latin quotation, which translates to "Man is a wolf to man," gained recognition through Thomas Hobbes, who used it in his political philosophy to describe the brutal nature of humanity in a state of nature (the exact opposite belief to that of Jean Jacques Rousseau), before the establishment of society and government.  This quotation in English also appears in Randall Jarrell's poem "Eighth Air Force". Jarrell uses this phrase to convey the idea that people can be predatory and cruel to one another, especially in the context of war and violence.

My copy of this excellent read

While the allusion to the ancient Roman author is not mentioned at all in the short novel Return of the Brute by Liam O'Flaherty, the cruelty of humankind to its fellow beings during war is very much to the foreground of this gripping and existential read: for “wolf” read “brute.” O’Flaherty had fought in the trenches during the First World War and knew firsthand what trench warfare involved.  In fact, he suffered greatly for most of his life from PTSD, then called “shell shock.” This writer surely penned this classic little novel as a way of exorcising the demons of war that must have haunted him since he fought in the terrible trenches of World War I. This is a harrowing read that depicts the psychological disintegration of a British bombing squad of nine men during World War I.  O'Flaherty, who writes in a very sparse style – there is not a redundant word - befitting the hellish horror of war, explores in clear crisp detail the psychological impact of trauma and prolonged exposure to violence, particularly through the central character of William Gunn.   Quite simply, the novel suggests that war can strip away the very qualities that make us human, turning individuals into "brutes" capable of violence and destruction. That one soldier can see no way out of the hell of war except suicide and another turn on his fellow soldiers in a crazed attack are two examples of that psychological stripping away of humanity.

This short novel, which runs only to 140 pages, can be read in one sitting. It explores themes of war's brutality, the fragility of the human psyche under extreme duress, and the dehumanizing effects on soldiers of prolonged exposure to violence.  All of this is explored against a backdrop of a desolate and hellish trench world which O’Flaherty is signally brilliant at describing:

From the pitch-dark sky the rain fell, like the droning of brine water falling on a floor of black rock from the roof of a subterranean cave where moaning seals are hidden and flap about up on their ledges: sounds from a dead world; the mysterious gloom of the primeval earth, where no life has yet arisen; no sap of growing things; nothing but worms and rats feeding on death.  Clods of dislodged mud slipped from the sides of holes, flopped into blood-stained pools, sank and turned into slime.  The silence was horrid. (p. 19 – 20)

 

After a barrage by the enemy: “Whew, I just stuck my hand into somebody’s rotten guts.  God what a stink!” (p. 25) A parapet built of clay had collapsed to reveal the bodies of dead French soldiers. 

One of the men, William Gunn, a two-year veteran tries his best to look after a rookie called Lamont, a mammy’s boy, a youth of nineteen who is constantly frightened and moaning about his plight.  Gunn himself, though hardened, is particularly troubled by shell shock and becomes increasingly erratic, and in being so he embodies for the most part the "brute" of the title.

They shortly get orders that they are to attack the enemy: “Each man was saying to himself, ‘We’re going over the top.  Will I come back?” (p. 32)   When they have finally gone over, they get lost in this uncharted terrain of no man’s land, they become victims of the mud, and of random enemy fire, and above all they endlessly argue with one another as they unwillingly undertake a fruitless military exercise.

As the squad advances, they are faced with the horrors of the battlefield: the mud, the constant shelling, and the ever-present threat of death. One by one, the men succumb to the physical and psychological toll of war, either dying in action or descending into madness.  Or equally as tragic drowning in a mud hole:

No. 8740 Private George Appleby, formerly a worker in a chocolate factory, recently a member of No 2 Platoon, at that moment ceased to exist as a living organism… Then he disappeared with a gentle sucking sound into the morass, unnoticed except by Friel, who gaped at him in horror.  In another moment, all that was left to mark his sojourn on this earth was a series of circular wrinkles and five orphan children…. (p 65 – 66)

The novel culminates in a bleak and disturbing climax as Gunn, driven to the brink of insanity, kills two soldiers of his own platoon before he is riddled with bullets by the enemy: “Gunn died, bellowing and clawing the earth… No. 4048 Private Daniel Reilly was the only one of Corporal Williams’ section who came back alive.” (p 138 – 139)

The ending is not a heroic one, but rather a stark illustration of the dehumanizing effects of war and the loss of humanity in the face of unimaginable violence.  With All Quiet on the Western Front, (1929) this short novel (also 1929) from the pen of a brilliant Irish author was one of the first to depict the real horrors of war in the early twentieth century.  If you are interested in war novels, these two books could be read in tandem.