Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
349
The Journal of a Disappointed Man
·
W. N. P. Barbellion
269
July
31.
This
War
is
so
great
and
terrible
that
hyperbole
is
impossible.
And
yet
my
gorge
rises
at
those
fatuous
journalists
continually
prating
about
this
"Greatest
War
of
all
time,"
this
"Great
Drama,"
this
"world
catastrophe
unparalleled
in
human
history,"
because
it
is
easy
to
see
that
they
are
really
more
thrilled
than
shocked
by
the
immensity
of
the
War.
They
indulge
in
a
vulgar
Yankee
admiration
for
the
Big
Thing.
Why
call
this
shameful
Filth
by
high
sounding
phrases--as
if
it
were
a
tragedy
from
Euripides?
We
ought
to
hush
it
up,
not
brag
about
it,
to
mention
it
with
a
blush
instead
of
spurting
it
out
brazen-faced.
Mr.
Garvin,
for
example,
positively
gloats
over
the
War
each
week
in
the
Observer:
"Last
week
was
one
of
those
pivotal
occasions
on
which
destiny
seems
to
swing"--and
so
on
every
week,
you
can
hear
him,
historical
glutton
smacking
his
lips
with
an
offensive
relish.
For
my
part,
I
never
seem
to
be
in
the
same
mind
about
the
War
twice
following.
Sometimes
I
am
wonderstruck
and
make
out
a
list
of
all
the
amazing
events
I
have
lived
to
see
since
August,
1914,
and
sometimes
and
more
often
I
am
swollen
with
contempt
for
its
colossal
imbecility.
And
sometimes
I
am
swept
away
with
admiration
for
all
the
heroism
of
the
War,
or
by
some
particularly
noble
self-sacrifice,
and
think
it
is
really
all
worth
while.
Then--and
more
frequently--I
remember
that
this
War
has
let
loose
on
the
world
not
only
barbarities,
butcheries
and
crimes,
but
lies,
lies,
lies--hypocrisies,
deceits,
ignoble
desires
for
self-aggrandizement,
self-preservation
such
as
no
one
before
ever
dreamed
existed
in
embryo
in
the
heart
of
human
beings.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
