Usually remembered as a “war book”,

Goodbye to All That

is an autobiography of wider scope, describing Robert Graves’s boyhood and schooldays in its first nine chapters, and his post-war life up to 1927 in its final seven chapters. However, the central portion of the book, devoted to Graves’s war experiences as a Captain in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, has always attracted the most attention and controversy. First published by Jonathan Cape on 18 November 1929, it was later substantially revised by Graves, appearing in a second edition in 1957 and often reprinted in paperback from 1960. As a factual record, it is often unreliable, but it has won a reputation as the liveliest British memoir of the First World War, distinguished by a persistently ironic “gallows” humour and by…

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Citation: Baldick, Chris. "Goodbye to All That". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 September 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4910, accessed 19 March 2024.]

4910 Goodbye to All That 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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