Russian First World War Propaganda Literature through Its Anthologies. Some Observations on Russian Soldier-Literature and Journalistic Reporting

In the Soviet era, Russian involvement in WWI long represented an ostracised and even forgotten event. This very attitude is reflected by Soviet literary criticism of WWI war literature. Taking into account both the studies which re-examined this part of Russian literature in a less ideologically biased manner and the stances that major writers of that period took towards the war, the aim of this paper is to investigate Russian Soldier-literature as presented in anthologies published in the wake of the First World War. The publishing of short stories, journalistic reporting and poems actually (or allegedly) composed by soldiers themselves can be interpreted as a symptomatic expression of a broader cultural discourse that was common at that time, and of which state propaganda publications often availed themselves.

An Analysis of Translation of War Literature in Journals (1931-1945)

The victory of the China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression is of great significance to the whole Chinese nation because it is the first time in nearly a century that the Chinese people have won a complete victory against imperialism. A large number of translations of foreign war literature were published in anti-war periodicals. However, domestic scholars have not paid enough attention to the study of war literature translation in Anti-Japanese war periodicals, so the research results are relatively few. This paper researches the translation of war literature in three periodicals of the war period (The Anti-Japanese War Literature and Art, The Weekly Digest and Translation Series: A Comprehensive Translation of English Newspapers and Magazines), including a survey of the sources of the translations, the translators, the main ideas of the translations, the translation techniques and their significance. The study found that the translation introductions of war literature from these periodicals penetrated the readership of the public, enhanced the confidence of the nation in the victory the China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, promoted the awakening of the whole nation, inspired the people of the nation to join in the Anti-Japanese War, and made a special contribution to the victory of the China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

A GUEST + A HOST = A GHOST. DRAMAS OF HOSPITALITY IN REBECCA WEST’S THE RETURN OF THE SOLDIER

First published in 1918, Rebecca West’s debut novel The Return of the Soldier focuses on a common trope in Great War Literature: the traumas of war and the difficulties of returning veterans to fit back in with everyday life. The story of the shell-shocked soldier Chris Baldry, who suddenly finds himself in a world which has aged 15 years beyond his memory, may be read as the unfolding of a multi-layered drama of hospitality, in which the host-guest continuum is constantly renegotiated. Chris’s memory erasure does not only turn him into a foreigner who does not recognize his wife or remember his dead son, but also forces his family members to question the role they have been playing in Chris’s life. His family equilibrium is shattered as his wife suddenly becomes a stranger to him, while his long-lost love, a working-class woman well below Chris’s social standards, become more important to him than anyone else. An analysis of the modernist techniques and stylistic features of the novel will allow me to address the concept of hospitality in relation to trauma and disease. The paper will show that The Return of the Soldier may be read not only as a critique of war, but also as a multi-perspective narrative on the precariousness of host-guest relationships. It will be argued that the “question-of-the-foreigner”, which Derrida addressed in his seminal essay Of Hospitality (2003) acquires new meanings when disease suddenly transforms a loved one into an “other” with whom communication seems to be interrupted. Hospitality may thus be regarded an unstable concept, in which identity and alterity are constantly renegotiated.

THE IMAGE OF THE CIVIL WAR IN “TALES OF SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS” BY AMBROSE BIERCE

The article deals with the image of the Civil War in war stories by Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?). The specifics of the war's representation in writer's literary works are analyzed, the features of man at war are revealed. The particularity of the artistic world of stories by A. Bierce is recognized. The research is carried out on the material of the collection of short stories “Tales of Soldiers and Civilians” (1891): “Killed at Resaca” (1887), “A Son of the Gods” (1888), “One of the Missing” (1888), “A Tough Tussle”, (1888), “A Horseman in the Sky” (1889), “Chickamauga” (1889), “The Affair at Coulter's Notch” (1889), “The Coup de Grâce”, (1889), “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (1890), “Parker Adderson, Philosopher” (1891). The analysis is provided in the context of American Civil War literature of 1880s and 1890s and by taking into account writer's biography, a conclusion about the genre features of his literary works is also presented. The scientific novelty of the work is a complex analysis of early creativity of A. Bierce in the context of American military fiction.

The Ethos of War Literature in For Whom the Bell Tolls

The aim of this research paper is to demonstrate that Hemingway's work, ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ to show commitment to representing the war literature in which he realistically depicts the war scenes and the crippling impact of violence upon the individuals. This research is qualitative research carried out within the framework of theory, fiction, and history. We have deeply and analytically studied the text and marked the relevant portions. After many close readings and intensive study of the text, the relevant textual evidence was located, marked, and extracted. In 'For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway enthusiastically depicts the heroic actions of Robert Jordan, the American protagonist, fighting for the Spanish cause and the other loyalists who were engaged in resisting fascist aggression against the democratic setup.

Thinking outside the (temporal) box to explain protracted intrastate conflict

Conflict duration has been one of the central and enduring questions driving civil war literature. Still not enough attention has been given to the interdependency of conflict duration dynamics. In an effort to bridge the gap this study introduces a new variable that positions conflict duration as a function of the duration of the pre-conflict phase. I argue proto-insurgents are able to protract conflict due to good choices made before large-scale conflict erupted – or during a period of time called ‘incubation’. After controlling for standard explanations, this study offers statistical evidence that proto-insurgent incubation duration is statistically significant and positively related to conflict duration. This study further explores the usefulness of thinking outside of the standard temporal space of wartime by moving beyond the widely accepted assumption that insurgents are empowered and constrained primarily by wartime decisionmaking and the wartime environment in which they find themselves.