Publishers, readers and the great war : literature and memory since 1918 / Vincent Trott.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Trott, Vincent, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Books and reading--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Books and reading.

Collective memory and literature--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Collective memory and literature.

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

English literature.

Literature publishing--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Literature publishing.

Publishers and publishing--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Publishers and publishing.

World War, 1914-1918--Great Britain--Historiography.

World War, 1914-1918.

World War, 1914-1918--Great Britain--Literature and the war.

World War, 1914-1918--Great Britain--Public opinion--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (280 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2017.

Summary:

"Literature is at the heart of popular understandings of the First World War in Britain, and has perpetuated a popular memory of the conflict centred on disillusionment, horror and futility. This book examines how and why literature has had this impact, exploring the role played by authors, publishers and readers in constructing the memory of the war since 1918. It demonstrates that publishers were as influential as authors in shaping perceptions of the conflict, and it provides a detailed analysis of critical and popular responses to war books, tracing the evolution of readers' attitudes to the war between 1918 and 2014. By exploring the cultural legacy of the war from these two previously overlooked perspectives, Vincent Trott offers fresh insights regarding the emergence of a collective memory of the First World War in Britain. Drawing on a broad range of primary source material, including publishers' correspondence, dust jackets, adverts, book reviews and diary entries, and examining canonical authors such as Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and Vera Brittain alongside long-forgotten texts and more recent autobiographical works by Harry Patch and Henry Allingham, Publishers, Readers and the Great War provides a rich and nuanced analysis of the climate within which First World War literature was written, published and received since 1918."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Publishing the First World War, 1919-1930

The bloodless war : reception and controversy during the interwar years

Marketing myth : Richard Aldington, Vera Brittain and the memory of the First World War

The war to end all wars : literature and memory, 1939-949

Republishing the First World War : the impact of the 1960s

Remembering war, resisting myth : literature, memory and the last veterans.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781474291514

1474291511

9781474291477

1474291473

OCLC:

1001337999