cover image War Like a Wasp: The Lost Decade of the 'Forties

War Like a Wasp: The Lost Decade of the 'Forties

Andrew Sinclair. Hamish Hamilton, $24.95 (321pp) ISBN 978-0-241-12531-1

A Cambridge don and distinguished novelist, Sinclair refutes with this rich book the argument that England was artistically barren during the wartime 1940s. His elegant commentaries include lengthy selections from the ``lost decade,'' works of creativity truly remarkable, particularly in a blitz-shocked country. Here are the words of T. S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas and other poets; Graham Greene, Rose Macaulay, Evelyn Waugh, Robert Graves and many others. Representing the visual arts are color and black-and-white illustrations of paintings as well as photos that reveal the British character, bending neither to Hitler nor the long years of deprivation. Also included are reminders of such film classics as Noel Coward's Brief Encounter, further evidence of the era's innovations. The book is a literary treasure and a perfect way to settle disputes with nay-sayers. (June)