Reading London in wartime : blitz, the people and propaganda in 1940s literature / William Cederwell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cederwell, William, author.

Series:

Routledge studies in twentieth-century literature ; 43.

Routledge studies in twentieth-century literature ; 43

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--20th century--History and criticism.

English literature.

World War, 1939-1945--Great Britain--Literature and the war.

World War, 1939-1945.

War and literature--Great Britain--History--20th century.

War and literature.

History.

London (England)--In literature.

London (England).

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

xii, 219 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Routledge, 2018.

Summary:

Reading London in Wartime: Blitz, the People and Propaganda in 1940s Literature presents an expansive variety of writers and genres, including non-fiction and film approaches, to build a comprehensive social picture of the atmosphere during wartime London. From blitz and austerity to the nagging insistency of propaganda, this volume examines the representation of London in wartime and early post-war literature through each writer's unique perspective on the pressures of 1940s city life. Exploring the use of London imagery, this book considers how literature redirects attention to individual, subjective experience at a time of enforced co-operation, uniformity and community. Unlike government information films and news broadcasts, which often used London to prop up prevailing cliches and stereotypes, and encouraged patriotic support for the war, literature had the freedom to express more recalcitrant truths. London writing of the 1940s was not a literature of opposition or dissent, but in offering more nuanced depictions of the period, it was a counterweight to propaganda and the general war temperament. In writing, the city becomes a more complex place, no longer the easy symbol of defiance and stoicism, of the shared sacrifice of ration book and war work.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [203]-214) and index.

Other Format:

Online version:

ISBN:

9780815375784

0815375786

OCLC:

1002128709