Mr. Gann's novel of German and French aviators in the First World War ["The Company of Eagles"] is extremely disappointing. Considering the author, whose talent and skill were proved in "The High and the Mighty," and considering the time, the place, the circumstances, and the personalities of the two heroes involved, it should have been a very exciting and affecting story. The year is 1917, but the fifty years that have passed since then have skimped Mr. Gann's perspective instead of making it clear and rich. There are times when he seems to have been carried away by his interest in old flying machines. [Gann's two protagonists] are both brave, loyal, intelligent, and personally appealing men, but Mr. Gann's insistence on their technical skill and on the difficulties they encounter with their awkward and frequently disobedient planes makes the war they wage seem quaint and quixotic instead of, as it was, heroic and desperate. The writing is stiff, precise, and so cold and clipped that the heartbeat, if there is one, cannot be heard or felt.
"Fiction: 'The Company of Eagles'," in The New Yorker (© 1966 by The New Yorker Magazine, Inc.), Vol. XLII, No. 36, October 29, 1966, p. 245.
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