British Literature of the Blitz: Fighting the People's War

ISBN-13: 9780230573659 / Angielski / Twarda / 2008 / 216 str.

Kristine A. Miller

Opis

Analyzing conflicted representations of class and gender in British literature and film of the Blitz, this book interrogates the ideal of the People's War, which claimed to unite men and women of all classes in defence of the home front. The subtitle - Fighting the People's War - describes the way that British citizens not only cooperated to fight Nazi Germany but also questioned the nationalist ideology binding them together. The paradox of the People's War is that it counters a totalitarian threat with a potentially totalizing ideal: because it is both patriotic and utopian, the rhetoric resists critique, even though the right to question compulsory nationalism was precisely what Britain was fighting for. Above all else, British literature of the Blitz values the voicing of individual opinion, even - or especially - when individuals do not agree: a utopia that denies the freedom to critique utopianism is no utopia at all.

Recenzje

'One of the great achievements of [Miller's] books is the insistence on the material realities of World War II that challenged the moral consciousness of the world... A major implication of [Kristine Miller's] studies is that the next step in research on World War II British literature should relate writing from the home front to that which engages Britain's global roles in this catclysmic war.' - Phyllis Lasner, Northwestern University

'...a fascinating look at a prominent but little understood chapter of European modernity...an important contribution to the study of the modern literature on war.' - Modern Fiction Studies

Spis treści

Contents List of illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction: Fighting the People's War Mobile Women in Elizabeth Bowen's War Writing Immobile Women in Rosamond Lehmann's War Writing Real Men in Henry Green's War Writing No Escape in the Detective and Spy Fiction of Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham and Graham Greene The Film-Minded Public Bibliography Index

O autorze

KRISTINE A. MILLER is Associate Professor and Associate Department Head of English at Utah State University, USA. She has published on modern British literature in Modern Fiction Studies, Genre, Twentieth Century Literature and the Journal of Modern Literature.