1914&#8212 · Goodbye to All That

In this collection of essays, ten leading writers from different countries consider the conflicts  that have informed their own literary lives. 1914-Goodbye to All That borrows its title from Robert Graves's "bitter leave-taking of England" in which he writes not only of the First World War but the questions it raised: how to live, how to live with each other, and how to write. 

Interpreting this title as broadly and ambiguously as Graves intended, these essays mark the War's centenary by reinvigorating these questions.  The book includes Elif Shafak on an inheritance of silence in Turkey, Ali Smith on lost voices in Scotland, Xiaolu Guo on the 100,000 Chinese sent to the Front, Daniel Kehlmann on hypnotism in Berlin, Colm Toibin on Lady Gregory losing her son fighting for Britain as she fought for an independent Ireland, Kamila Shamsie on reimagining Karachi, Erwin Mortier on occupied Belgium's legacy of shame, NoViolet Bulawayo on Zimbabwe and clarity, Ales Steger on resisting history in Slovenia, and Jeanette Winterson on what art is for.

Contributors include:

Ali Smith - Scotland

Ales Steger - Slovenia

Jeanette Winterson - England

Elif Shafak - Turkey

NoViolet Bulawayo - Zimbabwe

Colm Toíbín - Ireland

Xiaolu Guo - China

Erwin Mortier - Belgium

Kamila Shamsie - Pakistan

Daniel Kehlmann - Germany

From the Trade Paperback edition.