The Last Heroes | Literary Precedents

The Last Heroes Literary Precedents

There are many twentieth-century writers of military fiction. James Jones's From Here to Eternity (1951; see separate entry) may be similar to Griffin's work in its attention to the detail beyond the battles; the same applies with Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny (1951; see separate entry) and Richard McKenna's The Sand Pebbles (1962; see particularly McKenna's attention to the detail of the engine room and power plant of the aging Navy gunboat San Pablo; C. S. Forester's military novels such as The Gun (1933), The General (1936), The Good Shepherd (1955), and the Horatio Hornblower novels (1945-1952), also provide copious background detail.

These are usually on British politics, the nobility, and means of advancement, but also on the rigging and weaponry of a Man-of-War; the detail accorded to personalities and the path for advancement is, though, reminiscent of the military and political struggles of Griffin's military characters. They...
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