Table Of ContentThe Literature of the Great War Reconsidered
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The Literature of
the Great War
Reconsidered
Beyond Modern Memory
Edited by
Patrick J. Quinn
and
Steven Trout
Editorial matter and selection © Patrick J.Quinn and Steven Trout 2001
Chapter 5 © Deborah Tyler-Bennett 2001
Chapters 1–4 and 6–15 © Palgrave Publishers Ltd 2001
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2001 978-0-333-76459-6
All rights reserved.No reproduction,copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced,copied or
transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with
the provisions of the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988,
or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,90 Tottenham Court
Road,London W1P 0LP.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil
claims for damages.
The authors have asserted their rights to be identified
as the authors of this work in accordance with the
Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2001 by
PALGRAVE
Houndmills,Basingstoke,Hampshire RG21 6XS and
175 Fifth Avenue,New York,N.Y.10010
Companies and representatives throughout the world
PALGRAVEis the new global academic imprint of
St.Martin’s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and
Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd).
ISBN 978-1-349-41467-3 ISBN 978-0-230-59989-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230599895
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and
made from fully managed and sustained forest sources.
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The literature of the Great War reconsidered :beyond modern
memory / edited by Patrick J.Quinn and Steven Trout.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:Beyond fiction? :the example of Winged warfare / Chris Hopkins — Literary images
of vicarious warfare :British newspapers and the origin of the First World War,1899–1914 /
Glenn R.Wilkinson — Encoded enclosures :the wartime novels of Stella Benson / Debra Rae
Cohen — The self in conflict :May Sinclair and the Great War / Terry Phillips — “Lives mocked at
by chance”:contradictory impulses in women’s poetry of the Great War / Deborah Tyler-
Bennett — “The huge gun and its one blind eye”:scale and the war poetry and writings of
Harriet Monroe / Allessandria Polizzi — French women poets’response to the Great War / Nancy
Sloan Goldberg — Myrmidons to insubordinates :Australian,New Zealand,and Canadian
women’s fictional responses to the Great War / Donna Coates —“Dear,tender-hearted,
uncomprehending America”:Dorothy Canfield Fisher’s and Edith Wharton’s fictional responses
to World War I / Mary R.Ryder — Fatal symbiosis :modernism and World War I / Milton A.
Cohen — Artistry and primitivism in The enormous room / William Blazek — Mother’s boy and
stationmaster’s son :the problem of class in the letters and poems of Wilfred Owen / John
Gibson —The war poetry of Wilfred Owen / Malcolm Pittock —“Thought that you’ve gagged all
day”:Siegfried Sassoon,W.H.R.Rivers and [The] repression of war experience / Patrick Campbell–
– Siegfried Sassoon / Patrick J.Quinn.
ISBN 978-1-349-41467-3 (cloth)
1.Literature—20th century—History and criticism.2.World War,
1914-1918—Literature and the war.I.Quinn,Patrick J.,1946– II.Trout,
Steven,1963–
PN771 .L583 2001
809’.93358—dc21
00–054529
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01
For our wives
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
List of Contributors xi
Introduction 1
Part I Textuality and War
1 Beyond Fiction? The Example of Winged Warfare (1918)
Chris Hopkins 9
2 Literary Images of Vicarious Warfare: British Newspapers
and the Origin of the First World War, 1899–1914
Glenn R. Wilkinson 24
Part II Beyond the Trenches
3 Encoded Enclosures: the Wartime Novels of Stella Benson
Debra Rae Cohen 37
4 The Self in Conflict: May Sinclair and the Great War
Terry Phillips 55
5 ‘Lives Mocked at by Chance’: Contradictory Impulses in
Women’s Poetry of the Great War
Deborah Tyler-Bennett 67
6 ‘The Huge Gun with Its One Blind Eye’: Scale and the War
Poetry and Writings of Harriet Monroe
Allesandria Polizzi 77
Part III Nationality and Response
7 French Women Poets Respond to the Great War
Nancy Sloan Goldberg 93
8 Myrmidons to Insubordinates: Australian,
New Zealand and Canadian Women’s
Fictional Responses to the Great War
Donna Coates 113
viii Contents
9 ‘Dear, Tender-Hearted, Uncomprehending America’:
Dorothy Canfield Fisher’s and Edith Wharton’s Fictional
Responses to the First World War
Mary R. Ryder 143
Part IV Modernists at War
10 Fatal Symbiosis: Modernism and the First World War
Milton A. Cohen 159
11 Artistry and Primitivism in The Enormous Room
William Blazek 172
Part V Revising the War Poets
12 Mother’s Boy and Stationmaster’s Son: the Problem of Class
in the Letters and Poems of Wilfred Owen
John Gibson 189
13 The War Poetry of Wilfred Owen: a Dissenting Reappraisal
Malcolm Pittock 205
14 ‘Thoughts That You’ve Gagged All Day’: Siegfried Sassoon,
W. H. R. Rivers and ‘[The] Repression of War Experience’
Patrick Campbell 219
15 Siegfried Sassoon: the Legacy of the Great War
Patrick J. Quinn 230
Index 239
Acknowledgements
A very special thanks to R. Nathan Wilson, without whose computer
expertise and keen editorial eye this project would never have been
completed; even the 1999 flu epidemic at Fort Hays State University could
not keep Nathan from heroically poring over chapters and providing
invaluable assistance. The editors also wish to thank Dr James Forsythe,
Dean of Graduate Studies and Research and Vice Provost at Fort Hays
State University, for helping to defray the costs involved in preparing
the manuscript.
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