A collection of new essays on First World War literature offering critical overviews of the major genres and contexts.

The Great War of 1914-1918 marks a turning point in modern history and culture. This Companion offers critical overviews of the major literary genres and social contexts that define the study of the literatures produced by the First World War. The volume comprises original essays by distinguished scholars of international reputation, who examine the impact of the war on various national literatures, principally Great Britain, Germany, France and the United States, before addressing the way the war affected Modernism, the European avant-garde, film, women's writing, memoirs, and of course the war poets. It concludes by addressing the legacy of the war for twentieth-century literature. The Companion offers readers a chronology of key events and publication dates covering the years leading up to and including the war, and ends with a current bibliography of further reading organised by chapter topics.

Introduction Vincent Sherry; Part I. The Great War in British Literary Culture: 1. British war memoirs Paul Edwards; 2. The British novel and the war David Trotter; 3. The Great War, history, and the English lyric Edna Longley; 4. British women's writing of the Great War Claire Buck; 5. The Great War and literary modernism in England Vincent Sherry; Part II. The World War: Pan-European Views, Trans-Atlantic Prospects: 6. The Great War and the European avant-garde Marjorie Perloff; 7. French writing of the Great War Catharine Savage Brosman; 8. The Great War and modern German memory Stanley Corngold; 9. American writing of the Great War John T. Matthews; Part III. Postwar Engagements: 10. Myths, memories, and monuments: re-imagining the Great War Sharon Ouditt; 11. Interpreting the war James Campbell; 12. The Great War in twentieth-century cinema Laura Marcus.

Vincent Sherry is Pierce Butler Professor of English at Tulane University, and author of The Great War and the Language of Modernism.

'With its up-to-date scholarship, this book would be a very useful acquisition for serious research into the literature of the period, for undergraduate level-students and beyond.' Reference Reviews 'This outstanding volume is a welcome corrective to tired truisms surrounding Great War history, culture, and literature. Vincent Sherry's introduction argues for a literary history more attuned to the Zeitgeist of the war's early days ... Sherry and his collaborators graciously acknowledge the primacy of these tropes in our cultural memory but also demonstrate new ways of reading and teaching literary representations of the Great War.' Yearbook of English Studies