LYCOS RETRIEVER 
War in Literature: World War
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The Spanish Civil War (1936-39) has generated a vast bibliography and filmography that reflects widely antagonistic interpretations. The ideals and passions of this war have not subsided, and indeed have been recreated and relived time and again in art and literature. On a world level it was the first clear clash between democracy and totalitarianism. From the Spanish perspective, it remains the most important single event in understanding modern Spain. The course will begin with a historical introduction to the origins, development, and outcome of the war, then concentrate on the poetic and personal accounts of mostly Spanish authors, as reflected in poetry, short fiction, novels, and films. Readings by Ayala, Sender, Aub, Andujar, Goytisolo, Matute, Neruda, Alberti, Machado, and others.
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Simone Weil's essay on Homer is one of the uncompromising mystic moralist's most famous and powerful works - a reading of Homer which is ... a nightmare vision of war as a machine in which all humanity is lost. Since it first appeared in 1939, it has served as a manifesto of pacifism. Rachel Bespaloff's recently rediscovered essay on Homer was written in the midst of World War II, partly in response to Weil. Bespaloff's account of Homer beautifully illuminates the complexities of his characters, with a focus on the existential drama of choice and a difficult awareness that at times, war is the only option. Bespaloff's essay is here presented for the first time together with Weil's, as it was originally meant to be. These two works offer a provocative demonstration of the link between great literature, philosophy, and human life and death.
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In spite of the horror and bloodshed, the First World War inspired powerful and beautiful art and literature. More poetry was published around this time than at any other time in the Twentieth Century. Men and women expressed their feelings on how much their lives had changed, the loss of their family and friends and their views on war and peace.
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Weil's stunning lecture came on the eve of the Second World War, and Bespaloff's work, probably a response to Weil, was written in its midst. Although often read as pacifist manifestos, they are ... brilliant pieces of literary and social criticism. Christopher Benfey (literature, Mount Holyoke) provides an introduction that sets these works in the poignant context of these women's lives, and novelist Hermann Broch provides commentary. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
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A purgatorial flame : seven British writers in the Second World War / Sebastian D.G. Knowles. Knowles, Sebastian David Guy. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c1990. xxiv, 273 p. ; 24 cm.
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This thesis examines the literary journal Horizon, its editor Cyril Connolly, and a selection of its editorial articles, poems, short stories and essays in the context of the Second World War, from 1939-45. Analyses of these works, their representation of wartime experience, and their artistic merit, serve as evidence of a shared and sustained literary engagement with the war. Collectively, they demonstrate Horizon’s role as one of the primary outlets for British literature and cultural discourse during the conflict. Previous assessments of the magazine as an apolitical organ with purely aesthetic concerns have led to enduring critical neglect and misappraisal. This thesis shows that, contrary to the commonly held view, Horizon consistently offered space for political debate, innovative criticism, and war-relevant content. It argues that Horizon’s wartime writing is indicative of the many varied types of literary response to a war that was all but incomprehensible for those who experienced it. These poems, stories and essays offer a distinctive and illuminating insight into the war and are proof that a viable literary culture thrived during the war years.
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