A major new work on Apollinaire paints a vivid portrait of the artist in love, in the epicentre of the Parisian avant-garde, and in the cauldron of World War One.

A renowned literary figure in pre-first world war Paris, Guillaume Apollinaire volunteered for war in 1914, trained as an artilleryman and was posted in April 1915 to the western front in northern France, participating in a bloody September offensive and then moving into the front line as an infantry officer, before being wounded in March 1916 and invalided out of active service.

Back in Paris, Apollinaire plunged back into the activities of the capital's artistic avant-garde, with the likes of Pablo Picasso, Mark Chagall and Gertrude Stein. He published poetry, prose and plays that were deeply influenced by his involvement in the conflict.

He died on 9th November 1918, two days before the Armistice, a victim of the influenza pandemic, but with a literary reputation secured, as well as a certain fame for coining the term Surrealism.

Apollinaire in The Great War draws heavily on Apollinaire's writings to tell the story of his war years, within the wider context of the French experience of World War I.

During his time in the trenches, Apollinaire also wrote hundreds of letters, the bulk of them to two women: Louise de Coligny, a flighty socialite of aristocratic origin, and Madeleine Pagès, a young schoolteacher. In these letters he poured out his passionate feelings for both in often highly erotic poetry and prose, as well as giving detailed descriptions of his life as a front-line soldier.

David Hunter

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