Total Mobilization : World War II and American Literature / Roy Scranton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Scranton, Roy, Author.

Series:

Chicago scholarship online.

Chicago scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

World War, 1939-1945.

American literature--History and criticism.

American literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (287 pages)

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

For most readers, the literature of World War II is a literature of trauma: think 'Catch-22' or 'The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner'. For many, war is itself synonymous with trauma, typically understood through the myth of the trauma hero, a figure who confronts death and brings back deep truths about existence. But from the 1940s through the 60s, writers concerned with World War II explored a range of approaches attempting to make sense of industrialized warfare, collective sacrifice, race, and America's military-commercial empire. This text uncovers the lost history of American World War II literature obscured behind the myth of the trauma hero and explores the range of efforts made by authors attempting to understand some of the very problems that plague us today.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Figures

Introduction: A True War Story

1. The Bomber

2. Repetitions of a Hero

3. War as Comedy

4. Total War and Historical Time

5. The Trauma Hero

Conclusion: Nothing Is Over

Acknowledgments

Works Cited

Index

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2019.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 06. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780226637457

022663745X

OCLC:

1107305359