Ernst Jünger’s First World War memoir offers readers a German soldier’s account of combat, endurance, and the pressures of the Western Front.
About the Book
Read the account with attention to how a participant describes danger and survival. Its intensity raises questions about the relationship between a soldier’s immediate experience and the larger historical meanings later readers bring to a war.
Reading Context
The reference Penguin Classics Deluxe edition includes Michael Hofmann’s translation and introduction, a foreword by Karl Marlantes, and cover art by Neil Gower. Distinguish the memoir’s account from the perspectives offered by those later contributors.
Questions for Discussion
- How does the narrator’s attention to immediate experience shape the account of combat?
- Where does the memoir invite identification, and where does it leave a reader uneasy?
- How do the introduction and foreword change the questions you bring to the text?
Book Details and Further Reading
Ernst Jünger, Storm of Steel. Reference edition: Penguin Classics Deluxe, May 31, 2016; 320 pages; ISBN 9780143108252. Translation and introduction by Michael Hofmann; foreword by Karl Marlantes; cover art by Neil Gower. Compare its first-person war account with the narrative choices in The Things They Carried, recognizing their different forms and historical settings.