In this classic work Paul Fussell illuminates the British experience on the Western Front from 1914 to 1918, focusing primarily on the literary means by which the Great War has been remembered, conventionalized, and mythologized. Drawing on the work of important wartime poets such as David Jones and Wilfred Owen, on the memoirs of Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves, and Edmund Blunden, and on numerous other personal records housed in the Imperial War Museum, this award-winning volume provides an intimate and intensely poetic ...
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In this classic work Paul Fussell illuminates the British experience on the Western Front from 1914 to 1918, focusing primarily on the literary means by which the Great War has been remembered, conventionalized, and mythologized. Drawing on the work of important wartime poets such as David Jones and Wilfred Owen, on the memoirs of Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves, and Edmund Blunden, and on numerous other personal records housed in the Imperial War Museum, this award-winning volume provides an intimate and intensely poetic account of an event that revolutionized the way we see the world. This book is intended for students, historians, andgeneral readers interested in the history of the Great War and its literature.
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This is a wonderful book, and the copy arrived like new/very clean. Thank you.
dekesolomon
Oct 18, 2009
Rhyming with Death: Poets at War
A jolt of gallows humor, the old marching song says: "O the bells in Hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling!" Then the song asks: "O Death! Where is thy sting-a-ling-a-ling?" Paul Fussell tells where and how so many millions heard the bells and felt the sting. 'The Great War and Modern Memory' is a literary biography of World War I, as soldier-poet Tommy Atkins knew and fought it. 'Old Contemptibles,' my dying arse!
Augustus
May 24, 2008
Not your normal history of WW1
My teacher chose this book as the main method in which to study WW1. I would not reccomend this too anyone who wishes to study WW1 in a normal fashion. Instead of speaking about battles, military strategies, and the effects WW1 had on society, The Great War and Modern Memory focuses on the literature from the same period of WW1. To be honest I actually gave up reading this book a few chapters into it. It is quite repetitive with an emphasis on homo-erotic literature. If your a literature buff, then this might be your book, but if your an average historian or student who wants to learn more about WW1, I would avoid this book at all cost. I was shocked when I found out that I had a test on this book, but thanks to my mother who read this and highlighted the very few key points, I was able to BS my way to a B+. Even my mother who is an avid reader, had great difficulties getting through it. The moral of the story is that war is bad, and that the literature from that time period paralled that horrors of war.
