“Libby Murphy’s sensitive and beautifully written study of the picaresque ethos in World War I French literature and culture offers a rich and original analysis of the unprecedented destructiveness of the Great War and artistic efforts to come to terms with it.”— Richard J. Golsan, Texas A&M University
~Richard J. Golsan
“Libby Murphy sees the picaresque as a road map, helping soldiers both to stay alive and to avoid going mad during the war. Masters of evasion, artists of ingenuity – these are the anti-heroes whose voices are at the core of this vivid and intelligent book.”—Jay Winter, Yale University
~Jay Winter
“Both original and ingenious, The Art of Survival is a series of fresh readings of trench literature and classics. Particularly inventive is Murphy’s analysis of Charlie Chaplin as a picaro who enjoyed enormous popularity among French soldiers. This wonderful volume deserves a wide audience among literary critics and historians of the twentieth century.”—Mary Louise Roberts, University of Wisconsin, Madison
~Mary Louise Roberts
“By bringing the Picaresque narrative--through words and pictures--to the Great War, Murphy very accurately reminds us that tragedy and despair are never far from irony and laughter, as she follows Chaplin, Bofa, Rabier, Poulbot, Chaine, etc. A very original and fine book.”—Annette Becker, the University of Paris X-Nanterre
~Annette Becker
“A brilliant cultural history that shows why ordinary soldiers, faced with the carnage of the Great War, instinctively revived the tradition of the picaresque – the ordinary man’s journey through adversity – and why this marked French culture in particular.”—John Horne, Trinity College Dublin
~John Horne
“Brilliant”—C. B. Kerr, Choice
~C. B. Kerr, Choice