Outside Verdun

Afterword

This novel fills the gap between the books Young Woman of 1914 and The Case of Sergeant Grischa, which, together with The Crowing of a King, was the original concept for a cycle of novels to be called The Great War of the White Men. The novel was sketched out in 1927, begun for the first time in 1928 and for the second time in 1930. Its publication was delayed by the confiscation of my manuscripts and my expulsion from Germany. The steady deterioration of my eyesight complicated final revisions to the freshly dictated manuscript. Unless even worse circumstances intervene, the novel The Crowing of a King will conclude the cycle and, much as each part stands on its own, complete an intended whole originally supposed to bear the subtitle of A Trilogy of the Transition.

For faithful help in reading the proofs of these books, I owe grateful thanks to my friends Lion Feuchtwanger and Hermann Struck amongst others.