Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning : The Great War in European Cultural History (Canto)

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Summary: How WWI touched Vietnam? A pair of books take you there.
Review: In this great book, all rituals for coping with the appalling losses of WWI and the everlasting effects over all forms of european cultural manifestation, are covered. But I strongly recommend that you read "Achilles in Vietnam" by Jonathan Shay. Where Dr. Shay treats the individual man, his suffering and eternal scars of body and soul; Dr. Winter jumps to the collective level. If the suffering of people in WWI sound distant to you, start by Achilles in Vietnam... Them imagine all that pain multiplied by millions..

Rating:
Summary: Not even the 'Great War' can Kill Tradition
Review: Winter himself states in his introduction that he is a dissenter from the 'modernist' school of interpretation when it comes to the cultural legacies of the Great War. He's thinking notably about those interpretations rendered by Paul Fussell or Modris Eksteins who set out to show how the Great War transformed European culture - turning it away from past modes of expression and thought (patriotic certainties, 'high diction' in poetry and prose, high flown and hallowed notions about duty, honor, etc., and a classical esthetic) and towards new modes in all forms of artistic and cultural expression. The surrealist and cubist movements are commonly held examples, or the cryptic writings of Joyce or e.e. cummings. Though Winter does not, as he cannot, dispute such new cultural attitudes he attempts in "Sites of Memory..." to restore some historical balance to the equation. Basically he feels that in looking at the effects the experience of the Great War had on European society too much attention has been given to what changed, and too little to what remained, or at least to those aspects of Europeans' cultural heritage that were called forth as moral buttress to the overwhelming pain and loss of the war. Religious themes would be the most obvious example here. Winter looks at a variety of cultural expressions to find this traditionalism - graveyards, engravings, war monuments, books, cinema. On the whole he did help me rethink the war and did it in a very eloquent way. At times I found myself wondering if this debate over 'ancient and modern' concerning the effects of World War I wasn't stumbling over different definitions of just what 'modern' means. Winter's choice of exhibits in his case for the persistance of the traditional had me wondering when traditional remains traditional and when it becomes a modern reuse of the past. There is nothing new under heaven, after all, and even modernists by necessity must refer to the past to recreate their present. But more to the point, this book does make you think and that's always a good sign. It's a good read and I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Not even the 'Great War' can Kill Tradition
Review: Winter himself states in his introduction that he is a dissenter from the 'modernist' school of interpretation when it comes to the cultural legacies of the Great War. He's thinking notably about those interpretations rendered by Paul Fussell or Modris Eksteins who set out to show how the Great War transformed European culture - turning it away from past modes of expression and thought (patriotic certainties, 'high diction' in poetry and prose, high flown and hallowed notions about duty, honor, etc., and a classical esthetic) and towards new modes in all forms of artistic and cultural expression. The surrealist and cubist movements are commonly held examples, or the cryptic writings of Joyce or e.e. cummings. Though Winter does not, as he cannot, dispute such new cultural attitudes he attempts in "Sites of Memory..." to restore some historical balance to the equation. Basically he feels that in looking at the effects the experience of the Great War had on European society too much attention has been given to what changed, and too little to what remained, or at least to those aspects of Europeans' cultural heritage that were called forth as moral buttress to the overwhelming pain and loss of the war. Religious themes would be the most obvious example here. Winter looks at a variety of cultural expressions to find this traditionalism - graveyards, engravings, war monuments, books, cinema. On the whole he did help me rethink the war and did it in a very eloquent way. At times I found myself wondering if this debate over 'ancient and modern' concerning the effects of World War I wasn't stumbling over different definitions of just what 'modern' means. Winter's choice of exhibits in his case for the persistance of the traditional had me wondering when traditional remains traditional and when it becomes a modern reuse of the past. There is nothing new under heaven, after all, and even modernists by necessity must refer to the past to recreate their present. But more to the point, this book does make you think and that's always a good sign. It's a good read and I recommend it.