"Wells, H G - War And The Future" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wells H G)

Chukovsky, the subtle critic, calling in upon me after braving
the wintry seas to see the British fleet; M. Joseph Reinach
follows them presently upon the same errand; and then appear
photographs of Mr. Arnold Bennett wading in the trenches of
Flanders, Mr. Noyes becomes discreetly indiscreet about what he
has seen among the submarines, and Mr. Hugh Walpole catches
things from Mr. Stephen Graham in the Dark Forest of Russia. All
this is quite over and above such writing of facts at first hand
as Mr. Patrick McGill and a dozen other real experiencing
soldiers--not to mention the soldiers' letters Mr. James Milne
has collected, or the unforgettable and immortal /Prisoner of
War/ of Mr. Arthur Green--or such admirable war
correspondents' work as Mr. Philip Gibbs or Mr. Washburne has
done. Some of us writers--I can answer for one--have made our
Tour of the Fronts with a very understandable diffidence. For my
own part I did not want to go. I evaded a suggestion that I
should go in 1915. I travel badly, I speak French and Italian
with incredible atrocity, and am an extreme Pacifist. I hate
soldiering. And also I did not want to write anything "under
instruction". It is largely owing to a certain stiffness in the
composition of General Delme-Radcliffe is resolved that
Italy shall not feel neglected by the refusal of the invitation
from the Commando Supremo by anyone who from the perspective of
Italy may seem to be a representative of British opinion. If
Herbert Spencer had been alive General Radcliffe would have
certainly made him come, travelling-hammock, ear clips and all--
and I am not above confessing that I wish that Herbert Spencer
was alive--for this purpose. I found Udine warm and gay with
memories of Mr. Belloc, Lord Northcliffe, Mr. Sidney Low, Colonel
Repington and Dr. Conan Doyle, and anticipating the arrival of
Mr. Harold Cox. So we pass, mostly in automobiles that bump
tremendously over war roads, a cloud of witnesses each testifying
after his manner. Whatever else has happened, we have all been
photographed with invincible patience and resolution under the
direction of Colonel Barberich in a sunny little court in Udine.

My own manner of testifying must be to tell what I have seen and
what I have thought during this extraordinary experience. It has
been my natural disposition to see this war as something
purposeful and epic, as it is great, as an epoch, as "the War
that will end War"--but of that last, more anon. I do not think
I am alone in this inclination to a dramatic and logical
interpretation. The caricatures in the French shops show
civilisation (and particularly Marianne) in conflict with a huge
and hugely wicked Hindenburg Ogre. Well, I come back from this
tour with something not so simple as that. If I were to be tied
down to one word for my impression of this war, I should say that
this war is /Queer./ It is not like anything in a really
waking world, but like something in a dream. It hasn't exactly
that clearness of light against darkness or of good against ill.