The Short Story and the First World War

Abstract

The poetry of the First World War has come to dominate our understanding of its literature, while genres such as the short story, which are just as vital to the literary heritage of the era, have largely been neglected. In this study, Ann-Marie Einhaus challenges deeply embedded cultural conceptions about the literature of the First World War using a corpus of several hundred short stories that, until now, have not undergone any systematic critical analysis. From early wartime stories to late twentieth-century narratives - and spanning a wide spectrum of literary styles and movements - Einhaus's work reveals a range of responses to the war through fiction, from pacifism to militarism. Going beyond the household names of Owen, Sassoon and Graves, Einhaus offers scholars and students unprecedented access to new frontiers in twentieth-century literary studies.

The result can scarcely fail to amuse even the most gloomy of war pessimists: The Strand Magazine and the First World War

“…14 For Einhaus, the Strand's war coverage is "essentially formula literature … clearly aimed at a mass audience, and written for commercial purposes." 15 Implicit in all these definitions is a sense of disappointment at the nature of the magazine's middlebrow, home-frontoriented war coverage, so different both in shape and in tone from canonical trench poetry.…”

“…Einhaus notes that the magazine typically printed at least one war story per month, but the conflict also featured in its factual and human-interest features and even influenced its page layout. 16 Since the Strand "went to press five weeks ahead of publication," it was never a particularly agile vehicle for addressing sudden change. 17 The autumn 1914 issues, though including general military themes and backdrops that hint at the conflict looming on the horizon, contain very little to mark the beginning of a real war.…”

“…35 Einhaus describes the Strand's war stories as "entertaining tales that employ the war as a setting for standard plots and often formulaic conflicts and resolutions" and that "cater for homefront needs, provide a welcome distraction, reinforce a sense of the justness of the British cause and address the realities of war in a manner designed to reassure readers." 36 However, the magazine's readjustment of its contents to new wartime realities also provides a powerful indication of the persistence, flexibility, and usefulness to authors and readers alike of successful generic formulas. In particular, the war years saw the spy thriller, specifically the counterespionage narrative about sleeper agents on British soil, firmly established as "a close but distinct variation of the tale of detection."…”

“…57 While Netta's actions depart significantly from accepted gender roles, the series represents this transgression as simultaneously understandable and as to be avoided at all costs. Sam explains: "Nearly everyone she held near and dear had been killed before her eyes by the ruthless invaders … The happy, 16 thriving home had been turned into a ruin from which even hope was banished. Neither age nor sex had been spared.…”