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'Leonard Mann privately published his first novel, Flesh in Armour, in Melbourne in 1932, after he was unable to place it with a publisher in Australia or England. The novel was an immediate success, and Mann was subsequently awarded the Australian Literature Society's gold medal for outstanding book of the year. The book's merits then established, it was republished in England and Australia in 1944.
Drawn in part from the author's combat experience in France during World War I, Flesh in Armour is an exploration of the lives of soldiers in the Australian Imperial Force from the Ypres campaign in 1917 until just before the Armistice. The novel follows the actions and evolving attitudes of three soldiers in the same battalion—a naive and handsome raw recruit eager for combat, a schoolteacher whose intellect and anxiety have led to disillusionment, and a courageous warrior-hero who remains undaunted by battle despite being wounded.The novel bears an unmistakable Australian point of view, particularly in its wry sense of humor in spite of the dark subject matter and in its vehement disdain for British commanders.
Nearly 420,000 Australians enlisted during World War I, and more than half were killed, wounded, or captured. The conflict was the most costly in Australia's history. In the fates of his protagonists—one dies valiantly, one dies in an abject and mentally unhinged state, one survives—Mann pays tribute to the sacrifices of his countrymen and reminds readers of the unforgiving test of character found in war then and now. ' (University of South Carolina Press website sighted July 2010)
Contents
- Flesh in Armour : Introduction, single work criticism (p. ix-xviii)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Flesh in Armour and Abjection of War
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Narratives of Estrangement and Belonging : Indo-Australian Perspectives 2016; (p. 21-45)In this paper, Richard Nile attempts to 'locate Flesh in Armour within the context of a different taboo subject - the treatment of the dead in war.'
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Lovely Boys, Good Blokes, and Bonzer Bints : Love and Eroticism in British and Australian Great War Narratives
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 28 no. 1 2014; (p. 155-165, 257) 'Rhoden examines love and eroticisam in British and Australian Great War narratives. Interestingly, Australian narratives, with their protagonists even more separated from their women, are also likely to eschew homosexual themes. Although male tenderness exists, it is represented as being of a much lesser degree, at least in its physical manifestation. Male-male friendship–mateships–represented by Australian authors may carry undertones of emotional and physical intensity, but this is usually expressed in curt, economical gestures. The "lovely boys" of British works give way to a bunch of good blokes. Readers need to look more closely for evidence of romance and special individual bonds.' (Publication abstract) -
Ruins or Foundations : Great War Literature in the Australian Curriculum
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 12 no. 1 2012; 'The Great War has been represented in Australian curricula since 1914, in texts with tones ranging from bellicose patriotism to idealistic pacifism. Australian curricula have included war literature as one way of transmitting cultural values, values that continue to evolve as successive generations relate differently to war and peace. Changes in ethical perspectives and popular feeling have guided text selection and pedagogy, so that texts which were once accepted as foundational to Australian society seem, at later times, to document civilisation's ruin.
In recent years, overseas texts have been preferred above Australian examples as mediators of the Great War, an event still held by many to be of essential importance to Australia. This paper first considers arguments for including Great War texts on the national curriculum, exploring what war literature can, and cannot, be expected to bring to the program. Interrogating the purpose/s of war literature in the curriculum and the ways in which the texts may be used to meet such expectations, the paper then discusses styles of war texts and investigates whether there is a case for including more texts by Australian authors.' (Author's abstract)
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What’s Missing in This Picture? : The ‘Middle Parts of Fortune’ in Australian Great War Literature
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Philament : Borders, Regions, Worlds , August no. 16 2010; (p. 21-33) 'Disillusionment as a style of war fiction, with its characteristic debunking of old- fashioned glorious-war notions, owes its prominence more to the post-war, depression-oppressed mood of the 1930s than to the war's factual history. Soldier authors such as Sassoon, Graves and Aldington followed Remarque's popular All Quiet on the Western Front (1929) with their own reminiscences, part auto-biography, part imagination, and wholly literary. With an emphasis on the terrible conditions and the devastating experiences of sensitive individual protagonists, the disenchanted novels of the Great War canon expose war's futility and horror. The disenchantment perspective is generally summarised as the culpable sacrifice of idealistic young men by war-mongering politicians and profiteers. Its tropes are the Western Front trench, mud, shellshock, summary executions and the ruin of a generation. Although recent historical and literary analyses have demonstrated errors, exaggerations and misunderstandings in these clichés, popular memory still prefers disillusion. So indeed does current literary fiction set in the period.' (p. 2) -
Flesh in Armour : Introduction
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Flesh in Armour : A Novel 2008; (p. ix-xviii)
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A Reader's Notebook
1933
single work
review
— Appears in: All About Books , 15 March vol. 5 no. 3 1933; (p. 38-39)
— Review of Flesh in Armour : A Novel 1932 single work novel ; Saturdee 1933 single work novel ; Art in Australia no. 48 (3rd Series) February 1933 periodical issue ; Australia: Human & Economic 1932 single work criticism -
Is 'Flesh in Armour' Unpleasant Reading?
1933
single work
review
correspondence
— Appears in: All About Books , 13 April vol. 5 no. 4 1933; (p. 50-51)
— Review of Flesh in Armour : A Novel 1932 single work novel A reader responds negatively to Palmer's review of Flesh in Armour. All About Books solicits a soldier's response and that of Maurice. -
A Reader's Notebook
1933
single work
review
— Appears in: All About Books , 14 October vol. 5 no. 10 1933; (p. 158-159)
— Review of Flesh in Armour : A Novel 1932 single work novel ; The Brooks of Morning : Nature and Reflective Essays 1933 selected work prose ; Where the Plain Begins 1933 single work novel ; The Long Beaches and Other South Sea Stories 1933 selected work short story ; Here Comes the King 1933 single work novel -
Untitled
1932
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 2 November vol. 53 no. 2751 1932; (p. 2,5)
— Review of Flesh in Armour : A Novel 1932 single work novel -
[Review] Flesh in Armour : A Novel
1945
single work
review
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 6 no. 2 1945; (p. 10-11)
— Review of Flesh in Armour : A Novel 1932 single work novel -
Best Sellers and A.B.A Recommendations
1933
single work
column
— Appears in: All About Books , 16 January vol. 5 no. 1 1933; (p. 10) -
Australian Literature Society [Meeting Report]
Money Street;
The Essay in Australia
1933
single work
column
— Appears in: All About Books , 14 October vol. 5 no. 10 1933; (p. 171) Report of the September meeting where Macartney, Serle and Lavater spoke on essays and Cottman reviewed Money Street. -
England and Australian Literature
1934
single work
criticism
— Appears in: All About Books , 14 August vol. 6 no. 8 1934; (p. 167) -
Centenary Exhibition of Australian Books
1935
single work
prose
— Appears in: All About Books , 15 January vol. 7 no. 1 1935; (p. 8) Palmer praises Marion Agnew's selection of works for the exhibition. -
The Novel : Novels of Purpose
1961
single work
criticism
— Appears in: A History of Australian Literature, Pure and Applied : A Critical Review of All Forms of Literature Produced in Australia from the First Books Published After the Arrival of the First Fleet Until 1950, with Short Accounts of Later Publications Up to 1960 1961; (p. 1122-1152)
Awards
- 1932 winner ASAL Awards — ALS Gold Medal
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cFrance,cWestern Europe, Europe,
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cEngland,ccUnited Kingdom (UK),cWestern Europe, Europe,
- 1910s