Keith Douglas was almost certainly the greatest
poet of the Second World War. He was killed in Normandy
three days after D-Day. He was only twenty-four. His
short life was one of contradictions: the gifted artist
and romantic, always in love with the wrong girl also
enjoyed soldiering and was quick to volunteer at the
beginning of the war. The brave and resourceful tank
commander with the Sherwood Rangers in the Western
Desert, in the campaign of which his Alemein to Zem Zem
is the classic account, was also an outspoken critic of
the military establishment and often in trouble with his
superiors. There was always another side to Keith
Douglas: difficult, even arrogant, he was at the same
time, as Desmond Graham, observes in his original
preface, 'generous, sensitive to the difficulties of
others, remorselessly honest, energetic, and
passionately, innocently open.' Douglas made in his
brief life some friends who never forgot him, and whose
memories of him have contributed much to this
book. For this biography, Desmond Graham had access
to much private and unpublished material. From that,
interviews, Keith Douglas' own poems, letters and
drawings emerges a definitive biography. 'an almost
unqualified success . . . Mr Graham has used his
material with great skill and tact.' Roy Fuller 'It
is difficult to imagine a better biography than this
being written about Keith Douglas . . . Desmond Graham
provides us with an astonishing amount of information.'
Stephen Spender 'extremely well-done . . It is
written with authority and it will be standard.' Peter
Levi 'sumptuously evocative' John Carey
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