Commemorative acts : French theatre and the memory of the Great War / Susan McCready.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McCready, Susan, 1970- author.

Series:

University of Toronto romance series (Unnumbered)

University of Toronto romance series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

French drama--20th century--History and criticism.

French drama.

Theater--France--History--20th century.

Theater.

World War, 1914-1918--Theater and the war.

World War, 1914-1918.

Genre:

Literary criticism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Place of Publication:

Toronto ; Buffalo ; London : University of Toronto Press, 2025.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

"In the aftermath of the Great War, a remarkable wave of collective commemoration emerged, but the aesthetic diversity of this period has often been overshadowed by a singular focus on the combatant experience, primarily conveyed through fiction and memoir. This selective historical narrative has fostered a homogenized memory of the war, neglecting the rich array of cultural productions that also emerged alongside it. Commemorative Acts challenges these prevailing assumptions about the memory of the Great War and its literary expression in interwar France by spotlighting theatrical works that have largely been forgotten. The book uncovers how the dominance of first-person accounts of soldiers' experiences has subtly, yet powerfully, narrowed our understanding of what the memory of the Great War can encompass. It explores how drama, structurally at odds with the first-person perspective and defined by its simultaneous modes of expression and reception, has been lost to collective memory. By examining the unique capacity of the dramatic form to capture war trauma, Commemorative Acts offers insights that differ from those of other literary genres, highlighting the theatre's potential to provide a more expansive and nuanced understanding of interwar memorial culture."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Coming to Terms with Memory: French War Theatre to 1928

Displacements: French War Theatre 1928 to 1937

Bearing Witness: Experience and Illusion in Interwar Theatre

Classical Form and Modernist Fracture in Interwar Theatre.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (De Gruyter Brill, viewed January 6, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: McCready, Susan, 1970- Commemorative acts.

ISBN:

1487564104

9781487564117

1487564112

9781487564100

OCLC:

1493510546

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license