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http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/144674947

Passport to hell : the story of James Douglas Stark, bomber, Fifth Reinforcement, New Zealand Expeditionary Forces

When journalist Robin Hyde researched and published in 1931 an article on life in Mt Eden gaol, her description of prison life was so convincing that the authorities ransacked records for information on convict Robin Hyde. This same journalistic verisimilitude prompted John A. Lee, World War I veteran, author, and politician, to greet Hyde's Passport to Hell as 'the most important New Zealand war book yet published'. Hyde took the raw New Zealand, Gallipoli, and Western Front experiences of Starkie - perhaps the quintessential NZ soldier in 'his contempt of danger and discipline alike' - and, as editor D.I.B. Smith points out, 'composed' her book in the way that the finest war books are shaped. She is 'concerned to show the making of a man who can both murder a surrendering prisoner and carry a wounded comrade across no-man's land as "gently as a kitten". Hyde knew she was writing more than a documentary of war: '[Starkie is] something of a visionary and - in physical courage - unquestionably heroic ... I had to write [the book] when I heard his story, and because it's an illustration of Walt Whitman's line - "There is to me something profoundly affecting in large masses of men following the lead of those who do not believe in man."

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  • "When journalist Robin Hyde researched and published in 1931 an article on life in Mt Eden gaol, her description of prison life was so convincing that the authorities ransacked records for information on convict Robin Hyde. This same journalistic verisimilitude prompted John A. Lee, World War I veteran, author, and politician, to greet Hyde's Passport to Hell as 'the most important New Zealand war book yet published'. Hyde took the raw New Zealand, Gallipoli, and Western Front experiences of Starkie - perhaps the quintessential NZ soldier in 'his contempt of danger and discipline alike' - and, as editor D.I.B. Smith points out, 'composed' her book in the way that the finest war books are shaped. She is 'concerned to show the making of a man who can both murder a surrendering prisoner and carry a wounded comrade across no-man's land as "gently as a kitten". Hyde knew she was writing more than a documentary of war: '[Starkie is] something of a visionary and - in physical courage - unquestionably heroic ... I had to write [the book] when I heard his story, and because it's an illustration of Walt Whitman's line - "There is to me something profoundly affecting in large masses of men following the lead of those who do not believe in man.""@en
  • "This man is the biggest, laziest, rottenest, most troublesome- And in the trenches he's one of the best soldiers I ever had.' Passport to Hell is the story of James Douglas Stark-Starkie-and his war. Journalist and novelist Robin Hyde came across Starkie while reporting in Mt Eden Gaol in the 1930s and immediately knew she had to write his 'queer true terrible story'. The result was greeted by John A. Lee, war veteran, author and politician, as 'the most important New Zealand war book yet published'. Hyde took the raw horrors, respites and reversals of Starkie's experiences and composed a work of literature much greater than a mere documentary of war. She portrays a man looting a dead man's money-belt and filching beer from the Tommies; attempting to shoot a sergeant in a haze of absinthe, yet carrying his wounded captain back across No Man's Land; a man recommended for the V.C. and honoured for his bravery - but also subject to nine courts martial. In its psychological acuity and emotional depth, Passport to Hell is one of the finest war books we have."
  • "When journalist Robin Hyde researched and published in 1931 an article on life in Mt Eden gaol, her description of prison life was so convincing that the authorities ransacked records for information on convict Robin Hyde. This same journalistic verisimilitude prompted John A. Lee, World War I veteran, author, and politician, to greet Hyde's Passport to Hell as 'the most important New Zealand war book yet published'. Hyde took the raw New Zealand, Gallipoli, and Western Front experiences of Starkie - perhaps the quintessential NZ soldier in 'his contempt of danger and disci."@en

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  • "Electronic books"@en
  • "New Zealand fiction"
  • "Fiction"
  • "Fiction"@en

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  • "Passport to hell : the story of James Douglas Stark, bomber, fifth reinforcement, New Zealand expeditionary forces"
  • "Passport to Hell : The Story of James Douglas Stark, Bomber, Fifth Reinforcement, New Zealand Expeditionary Force"
  • "Passport to hell : the story of James Douglas Stark, bomber, Fifth Reinforcement, New Zealand Expeditionary Forces"
  • "Passport to hell : the story of James Douglas Stark, bomber, Fifth Reinforcement, New Zealand Expeditionary Forces"@en
  • "Passport to hell : the story of James Douglas Stark, Bomber, Fifth Reinforcement, New Zealand Expeditionary Forces"
  • "Passport to Hell the story of James Doublas Stark, bomber, fifth reinforcement, New Zealand Expeditionary Forces"@en
  • "Passport to hell : the story of James Douglas Stark, bomber, 5"
  • "Passport to hell the story of James Douglas Stark, bomber, Fifth Reinforcement, New Zealand Expeditionary Forces"@en

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