By way of doing some preparation for this blog, I've been reading 'Contact' by AFN Clarke [no relation.] Originally published by Secker & Warburg in 1983 this is the memoir on which the film Contact is based. AFN Clarke was an officer in the Parachute Regiment during the 1970s, and the book describes his experiences in Belfast and Armagh.
I came at it with some trepidation, based on memories of reading those Soldier X books as an early teen. Actually it's a well written, if very bitter, document. You can see why its directness and stripped back style attracted Alan Clarke. Currently a steal at £1.83 for the Kindle.
I wonder if David Peace read it at some point. Not just for the time period, the violence and hatred it describes, but for the construction and writing. Every chapter begins like this:
" 2200 hrs. July 1973
Warm night,
Cool head,
Sore feet.
The shot you don't hear
Is meant for you.
etc."
Yeah it's a good book. It captures very well the miserable, damp atmosphere of the dilapidating parts of urban Britain (or the UK to be exact).
ReplyDeleteAlso, the fact that the soldiers plainly don't give a toss about the locals, regardless of their allegiance. The only emotion they seem to exhibit is a kind of passionless hostility. Even when they're harassing or beating up civilians it's done with a lack of zeal, as though they're pointedly counter-posing the passions of the locals.
The army really is a very odd institution. Been watching some of these docs - a couple are quite revealing fly-on-the walls.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/collections/p00hl622/army-a-very-british-institution