Goodbye to all that (Rev. ed.)

An autobiographical work that describes firsthand the great tectonic shifts in English society following the First World War, Robert Graves'sGoodbye to All Thatis a matchless evocation of the Great War's haunting legacy, published in Penguin Modern Classics.

In 1929 Robert Graves went to live abroad permanently, vowing 'never to make England my home again'. This is his superb account of his life up until that 'bitter leave-taking': from his childhood and desperately unhappy school days at Charterhouse, to his time serving as a young officer in the First World War that was to haunt him throughout his life. It also contains memorable encounters with fellow writers and poets, including Siegfried Sassoon and Thomas Hardy, and covers his increasingly unhappy marriage to Nancy Nicholson.Goodbye to All That, with its vivid, harrowing descriptions of the Western Front, is a classic war document, and also has immense value as one of the most candid self-portraits of an artist ever written.

Robert Ranke Graves (1895-1985) was a British poet, novelist, and critic. He is best known for the historical novelI, Claudiusand the critical study of myth and poetryThe White Goddess. His autobiography,Goodbye to All That, was published in 1929, quickly establishing itself as a modern classic. Graves also translated Apuleius, Lucan and Suetonius for the Penguin Classics, and compiled the first modern dictionary of Greek Mythology,The Greek Myths. His translation ofThe Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám(with Omar Ali-Shah) is also published in Penguin Classics.

If you enjoyedGoodbye to All That, you might like Ford Madox Ford'sParade's End, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.

'His wonderful autobiography'
Jeremy Paxman,Daily Mail