Culture In The Aftermath Flashcards
When did the move towards disenchantment occur?
1927-28
What was the general mood after 1927?
Despair world not worth it
What did pre-war life seem like?
A million miles away, completely different
How did the nature of heroism change in the war?
There could be no war hero in a war of attrition because so many people fighting and the nature of fighting with shells means people die at random
What kind of war was ww1?
A machine war
What had previously been done on war memorials lists that was no longer done?
Previously Victorian class heirarchy, offices were named first but after ww1 just in alphabetical order - as a mass
Can you be a hero if it’s a duty?
No
How does aldington feel about writing death of a hero?
Struggles to write it but feels like a catharsis, purging his sole
What is important about 1928?
10 year anniversary of armistice
Why were disenchanted books not written sooner?
People not ready to hear stories of despair, war and violence yet and people not really sure how to verbalise it yet, has to go through a period of processing
How does sons o guns present the war differently?
Is nostalgic to wartime humour, wants to remember the good fun parts, silly depiction of people falling over and not keeping up.
What is the name of the funny hopeless soldier character in rough road?
Doggie Trevor
What do books like rough road and plays like son o guns show?
It is possible to mourn but also possible to laugh
What did summers, director of The Battle of Coronel and the Falkland Islands, show in his depiction of war?
A desire for peace - gave a fair depiction of the Germans
What did Walter summers,director of battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands, try to avoid in his depiction of the war?
Patriotic fervour, wanted to show things as they really were, not cover up or gloss over
What does Napper argue they wanted from war films?
War to be remembered and captured and something to be taken from it that is of value, he says it’s all about empire and the guardians of peace
How did war film makers such as Walter summers try to create authenticity?
Meticulous naval and military detail supplied by a litany expert of advisors, few studio sequences are carefully disguised,
Why was it so important to Walter summers and other directors to achieve authenticity?
Opportunity to set the record straight about the battles, a memorial to the navy, an important and sober way to remember the losses and record what happened,
Also summers himself fought in the war and wanted it to be real
What does Napper argue war films like battles by Walter summers try to set themselves against?
American war films, had American troops in battles that they were not in, also the old style of patriotic war films
Who had been releasing war films long before summers?
Hollywood made big blockbuster films
What’s a common theme across many texts written in the 20s 30s?
Disenchantment
What is the concern that Lejeune raised about war films in 1926?
That they had the ability to rouse military passions in the audience
What did Frayn say the War books boom was not?
“The time when Britain became disenchanted; it was when disenchantment became a popular mode of expression”
When does Frayn say disenchantment began in Britain?
19th century, mapped onto the war and then heightened by its impact
How many copies were sold of Death of a Hero?
tens of thousands
What did Janet S K Watson note about what was important about remembrance of war after 1927?
“War was culturally important, now, not for what it had achieved but for what it had cost.”
What does Janet S K Watson argue about resistance to disenchantment?
“Resistance to this perspective of betrayal and disenchantment was vociferous but ultimately overwhelmed.”
Why did the idea of stocktaking or book keeping become a popular motif in 1927?
Taking stock of what had been lost, notion of costing the war a way of rationalising and making sense of it.
What does the idea of disenchantment mean for the war dead?
No longer venerated for acting on behalf of others in defense of values, but pitied for being duped
What must disenchantment not be confused with?
Anti-war sentiment or a belief the war was futile, men did their duty till the end
What takes precedence in All Quiet on the Western Front?
negatives, not about realistic depiction but a reimagining from a late 1920s point of view
What did the international success of All Quiet and Journey’s End indicate?
A huge potential market for disenchanted literature, authors were quick to seize the opportunity.
Why were texts often associated with former combatants?
Gave the impression of credibility, military identification was often present on the cover.
What did Frayn say Journey’s End did to heroism?
Reconceptualised it to match attritional warfare, sacrifice no longer glorious and the physicality of war experience is overpowering, knightly rules of conduct no longer apply
Why was the author Sherriff surprised by Journey’s End’s reception?
Described it as a “war play in which not a word was spoken against the war, in which no word of condemnation was uttered by any of its characters”
What happens in the first half of Death of a Hero?
brutal satire of Victorian conventions and values, lays blame for the war an attitudes that supported it at their feet
What was the post-war decade for Aldington?
A continuing struggle to readjust to civilian life
Did Aldington write Death of a Hero on first attempt?
No, struggled to write it
What did Aldington describe the process of writing Death of a Hero as?
cathartic, said it ‘purged my bosom of perilous stuff that had been poisoning me for a decade’
What does Frayn describe Aldington’s position towards war as?
a complex mixture of willingness to fight and a belief that the war was enduring too long
What had to happen before Death of a Hero could be published?
Major cuts to avoid prosecution in the UK, even more so the US edition. Swearing removed, sex scenes removed, prostitute scenes removed
What did Aldington say to H.D about All Quiet?
That the war had been so brutal its brutality cannot be exaggerated - impossiblity of hyperbole implies there can be no stylistic excess
What does John Morris, literary critic, say Aldington does to the novel?
sacrifices it to the angry exposition of ideas and feelings
