'This man is the biggest, laziest, rottenest, most troublesome- And in the trenches he's one of the best soldiers I ever had.'
Passport to Hell is the story of James Douglas Stark-Starkie-and his war. Journalist and novelist Robin Hyde came across Starkie while reporting in Mt Eden Gaol in the 1930s and immediately knew she had to write his 'queer true terrible story'. The result was greeted by John A. Lee, war veteran, author and politician, as 'the most important New Zealand war book yet published'.
Born in Southland and finding himself in early trouble with the law, the young Starkie tricked his way into a draft in 1914 by a subterfuge involving whisky and tea. In his subsequent chequered career in Egypt, Gallipoli and France, he showed himself 'a soldier and not a solider', with a 'contempt of danger and discipline alike'. Hyde took the raw horrors, respites and reversals of Starkie's experiences and composed a work of literature much greater than a mere documentary of war. She portrays a man looting a dead man's money-belt and filching beer from the Tommies; attempting to shoot a sergeant in a haze of absinthe, yet carrying his wounded captain back across No Man's Land; a man recommended for the V.C. and honoured for his bravery - but also subject to nine courts martial.
It is a portrait of a singular individual - 'something of a visionary', in Hyde's words - who has also been described as the quintessential New Zealand soldier. And against the contradictory elements of Starkie's character, Hyde shows a war machine that preaches 'Thou shalt do no murder' one moment and sends men over the top the next to kill.
In its psychological acuity and emotional depth, Passport to Hell is one of the finest war books we have.
Published to mark the centenary of this quintessential New Zealand war story, this newly reset edition includes Hyde's final authorized text from 1937 and an introduction and notes by D. I. B. Smith.
