Within this frame of thought, man’s life is metaphysically pre-determined and its end could be revealed beforehand by signs and omens.

That included not only the simple-minded belief in talismans and rituals, but also the belief in fate. The world at the front became for a span of four years a ‘world of reinvigorated myth’ (Fussell 1975). He describes extensively how the soldiers relied on superstition, ritual and religion in order to cope with the extreme experience of the trenches. more In his landmark work The Great War and Modern Memory Paul Fussell points out the remarkable fact that in the midst of the a war demonstrating the climax of technology and material progress the troops turned to modes of thought that belonged to past eras. In his landmark work The Great War and Modern Memory Paul Fussell points out the remarkable fact. This act carries political significance for their own generation, as well as for posterity. Although their voices were stifled during the hostilities, through their war writing the author-soldiers managed to take control and construct their own version of events.

It is exactly these narratives of the veteran soldiers that has formed popular memory of the war a hundred years on. This chapter demonstrates that the literature of war was not only a war record, but also a political act, as it served as a counter-narrative to the discourse of the press and propaganda. One however, cannot overlook the persistence with which the war veterans publicized their own experience as the only authentic source of events.

The war writing is often seen as a historical source, or as a socio-historical comment on the devastating impact of total war. more This chapter is concerned with the narratives of soldiers in the aftermath of World War I.

This chapter is concerned with the narratives of soldiers in the aftermath of World War I.

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