A Moment of War by Laurie Lee

Author: Laurie Lee 

Title: A Moment of War

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 1991

Pages: 144

Genre: Autobiography 

     Laurie Lee was still a young man when he decided to fight for the Republican cause in Spain's civil war. But though he braved icy, storm-swept mountains alone to contact Republican sympathizers, he was immediately suspected of being a Nationalist spy. Imprisoned and almost executed by his own side, he eventually joined the International Brigade. This is the story of his experiences as a Republican soldier, fighting for the losing side in a doomed war.

     So I have come to the end of my travels with Laurie Lee, a young man now heading off to fight in a war not of his own countries but instead one he feels compelled to join. Whilst the events of this book take place during the Spanish civil war they seem just as relevant as I sit here writing this. Once again with Europe descending into war, a great many people are packing up their belonging and heading off to fight for another country's war. It seems to be a tale as old as time the young generations feeling an obligation to stand up for what they believe in and know in their hearts are true. For Lee, it seems he felt a debt to Spain a country he had fallen in love with in his travels there. His own moral compass always driving him forward no matter if it was to try and make it to the next town or to pick up a rifle and fight. 

     Lee tries again to bring his distinctive dreamlike style of narrative to this book. But the subject matter tends to lead you more askew as the very real world is pushing in from every corner. Whilst we lavished in the sun drench dusty roads of previous works this time we are pushed down by the impending fascist take over of Spain. They are worlds apart but most assuredly taking place in the same place. We are once again served up his disjointed narrative, but I suppose in Lee's defense he also not trying to give us an account of every terrible thing that happened in those years merely his own remembrances of those times. And it is worth pointing out that the book was first published well after the events of nineteen thirty-seven so maybe the were gaps to be found in his recollections. But I would also say that for me Lee doesn't seem to try and make himself out to be some grand hero of the resistance. This is not a man in his later years attempting to rewrite his own history. He is merely trying to lay bare how the realities of war very early match up with those grand heroic ideas young men so often have.

     What we do get is a snapshot throughout the course of Lee's war. People come and go without much time given for us to get to know any of them. Which may be down to Lee's own experiences he seemed to have been constantly on the movement so just maybe getting to know anyone all that well was never going to happen. What we do get conveyed with ample experience is the abject chaos that swirled around this conflict.  In part, it seems to have stemmed from it being a civil war which at times means knowing who the enemy is can prove to be tricky. Either way what the author delvers this time is a distinctive departure from his previous works. Wher as you might want to slip off into the countryside of Cider with Rosie here if not for knowing lee's timeline you might be left to wonder how he was ever going to make it home alive. 

    In the conclusion to Lee's three-part autobiography, we are left with a much different feeling from his previous works. And that is perfectly fine, after all this is not looking back at a carefree world. By thirty-seven that whole of Europe was being to become a different place. And whilst He went off to fight with the noblest of intentions I feel the reality of the Spanish civil war was a great shock to how he thought it was going to be. It does however serve as a bookend to this series and whilst not the best place to start it is definitely worth going to if you have read the first two.