Over the Top - The Great War and Juvenile Literature in Britain

During the Great War, books and stories for young men were frequently used as unofficial propaganda for recruitment and to sell the war to British youth as a moral crusade. Until now, this literature has been neglected by academics, but the image of the war these fictions created was remarkably enduring and, despite the appearance of post-war literature of disillusioned veterans, continued to shape the attitudes of the young well into the 1930s. This is the first detailed account of how adventure fiction represented the Great War for British boys between 1914 and the end of the war.

Paris examines how such literature explained the causes of the war to boys and girls and how it encouraged young men to participate in the noble crusade on the Western Front and in other theaters. He explores the imagery of the trenches, the war in the air, and the nature of war in the Middle East and Africa. He also details the links between popular writers and the official literary propaganda campaign. The study concludes by looking at how these heroic images remained in print, enduring well into the inter-war years.

List of contents

Acknowledgments
Illustrations
Introduction: Only the Glory
Selling the War
At the Front
The War in the Air
Sideshows, Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, Palestine and Africa
Brave Sons of Empire and Loyal Allies
The Last of War, 1917-1918
Conclusion
Notes

About the author

Michael Paris

Product details

• Authors: Michael Paris, Paris Michael
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.10.2004
• EAN: 9780275975180
• ISBN: 978-0-275-97518-0
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; English, First World War, HISTORY / World, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 20th Century, General & world history, Literary studies: from c 1900 -, General and world history, Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, c 1914 to c 1918 (including WW1), Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000, c 1914 to c 1918 (World War One period), HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / World War I, LITERARY CRITICISM / Novel as Form, World History: Conflict