An Artist as Soldier : seeking refuge in love and art /
edited and translated by Barbara Schmitter Heisler.
- xv, 292 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.
- American University Studies I: Germanic Languages and Literature, vol. 114 0721-1392 ; .
Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-292)
Introduction: War Letters -- Chapter I: The Feldpost letters of Bernhard Epple to his Wife Gudrun -- Chapter II: 1940-1942, the Early War Years -- Chapter III: 1943-1945 -- Postscript: Author's Note.
"This book is about a collection of one hundred letters written by German artist Bernhard Epple to his wife Gudrun between 1940 and 1945. Unlike many war letters, Epple's letters tell us little about the war, about battles won or lost. Although they are deeply personal, they provide insights into how a particular young man dealt with the war. They reveal Epple's struggles as an involuntary conscripted soldier and his attempts to remain a civilian in uniform. As an artist and art teacher, he tried to distance himself mentally from the war, finding some refuge in art, purchasing art books and visiting local museums and churches whenever possible and most important, in drawing the sketches that decorate the letters to his wife, herself an artist"--Introduction.
9781433135118 (hardcover : alk. paper)
2016023381
Epple, Bernhard, 1912- --Correspondence.
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, German. World War, 1939-1945--Art and the war. Soldiers--Germany--Correspondence. Artists--Germany--Correspondence. Art teachers--Germany--Correspondence. Young men--Germany--Correspondence. Husbands--Germany--Correspondence. German letters--History and criticism.