Re: Recommendations: dark ages

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Karen Mercedes [EMAIL PROTECTED] says...
>
>
>I've no interest in joining the debate on the relative merits of Alfred
>Duggan, Bernard Cornwell, and the other authors the original poster didn't
>appreciate. I will, instead, suggest a few books that may be of interest,
>as more "literary" historical fiction set during that era. I'm avoiding
>the whole Arthurian genre, as the historicity of the subject is suspect.

Thanks for the list.  I'll keep it, because the only one I'm familiar
with is Graves' "Count Belisarius".  I agree it's a beaut.  Graves has
some sorta historical novels and fantasies about early Greece, but I
think I'd call them theological novels (:-) --once you understand
Graves' pagan feminist theology.  I wouldn't add them to the list because
I's prefer to limit it to books you may learn some real history from.
"Count Belisarius" is certainly such a book.  I'd add Graves' Sergeant 
Lamb books.  They verges on autobiography.  It seems Graves found a real 
memoire by a real Sergeant Lamb, who served in the 9th Foot and later 
in the 15th during the American Revolution.  Since the 15th Foot, later 
renamed the "Welch Fusiliers" was Graves' own regiment in WWI, he took 
an interest and published what he claims is merely an edited version of 
the memoire, originally as a pair of books, "Sergeant Lamb of the Ninth" 
and "Forward Sergeant Lamb", now available in one volume as "Sergeant 
Lamb's America".  I class it as historical fiction because I don't trust
Graves to have _merely_ edited it for publication.  I thought Graves
had made the whole thing up until I found citations and references to 
the diary in Richard Ketchum's "Saratoga".  

The Royal Welch, nee 15th Foot, must surely be the most literary 
regiment in the British Army.  Besides Sgt. Lamb,I know of three from 
WWI: Graves himself, Siegfried Sassoon, and a _private_ I fuzzily recall 
as named Williams, who kept a war diary, brought it to Captain Graves 
after the war to fix it up for publication.  Graves did present it but, 
since Sgt Lamb turned out to be real. I'll believe in this one, too.

If anyone can identify at least the full title and author of this last 
book, I'd appreciate word of it, because I'd love to find it in the
used books listings.  


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