Siegfried Sassoon, Sassoon's Autobiography trilogy (The Old Century; The Weald of Youth; Siegfried's Journey)

Mhairi Catriona Pooler (University of Aberdeen)
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Between 1938 and 1945, Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967) produced three volumes of autobiography charting his development as a poet, all of which were published by Faber and Faber. The first volume,

The Old Century and Seven More Years

(1938), relates his childhood, youth and university experience between the years 1886 and 1907; the second volume,

The Weald of Youth

(1942), goes on to describe his early adulthood and the burgeoning of his literary life in London until 1914; and the final volume,

Siegfried’s Journey 1916-1920

(1945), charts some of his wartime experiences and their impact on his poetry, and the restless years immediately after the Armistice.

This was Sassoon’s second autobiographical turn in the decades following the First World War. Amidst a surge in the publication of

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Citation: Pooler, Mhairi Catriona. "Sassoon's Autobiography trilogy (The Old Century; The Weald of Youth; Siegfried's Journey)". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 March 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35636, accessed 23 November 2024.]

35636 Sassoon's Autobiography trilogy (The Old Century; The Weald of Youth; Siegfried's Journey) 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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