International Encyclopedia of the First World War’ by David Budgen

This article seeks to present an overview of First World War literature across many of the combatant nations from the outbreak of the conflict up to the beginning of the Second World War. Taking a comparative approach, it examines factors that prompted writers to engage with the conflict, as well as the ultimate legacy of war literature. In particular, it focuses upon problems of language and interpretation faced by those who wrote about the war, and the differences of experience between civilians and soldier-writers. Furthermore, it details the products of the interwar ‘war books boom’, and some of the literary and historical responses to these.

The First World War and the Rise of Modern American Novel: A Survey of the Critical Heritage of American WWI Writing in the 20th Century by Wen ZHOU and Ping LIU

This paper analyzed the relationship between the First World War and the rise of modern American novel. The long-lasting impact of WWI has brought about a paradigm shift in people’s belief system. For the young writers during and after WWI, the War has not only provided them with a change in their notion of war as a literary subject but also helped them realize the powerfulness of language. The skillful integration of a suitable subject and a useful tool results in the rise of modern American novel.

‘The Linguistic experience was a fundamental part of the experience of the war and hanged from the deeply problematic to the enjoyable. The various dialect and sociolect within one language assimilated the formerly outlying terms.

War and Language: War and peace are the integral part of the history of human kind. War can have major effects on language as it can lead to either the death of a language or creation of new languages. Wars influence the language in various ways and are responsible for creation of new words and expressions.

Language makes us human. Whatever we do, language is central to our lives and the use of language underpins the study of every other discipline. Understanding language gives us insight into ourselves and a tool for the investigation of the rest of the universe.

Human beings need a language to express thought and for social contact in community. We are so much bounded with our native language that it reflects our identity. Even under the worst circumstances of war its seems impossible to compromise with our native language.

War and Literature: Wars made a magnificent impact on literature too. After the Great War, the world experienced a wave of societal and artistic change as its direct result. Literature was one of the most heavily impacted cultured arenas that were touched by war. This impact developed a new approach of art, literature, philosophy and religion. In literature it fabricated a new genre of text, that is  war literature. Most of work published during war was about ‘war and its effects’. Authors of that time were disappointed by the experience and they never wrote directly about it but most of their writings reflects and anti-authoritarianism that derives from their experiences. Literature has changed to be as we know it today, from the beginning to the end of the world wars.

The Great War changed the people and their point of views; writers changed their subjects and their literary techniques, readers changed their taste and expectations. It has many significant influences on the literature such as T.S. Eliot’s poem “The waste land” expressed a sense of anguish about life, using many different historical religions and literary references. Eliot witnessed the social turmoil and transformation surrounding world war I.

“There was no really good true war book during the entire four years of the war. The only true writing that came through during the war was in poetry. One reason for this is that poets are not arrested as quickly as prose writers.”- Ernest Hemingway in Men at war

The hours of that conflict altered the world for decades. The writers reflected their shifted outlook in their work. Among the first documents the ‘Chasm of the war’ were soldiers themselves. At first, idealism persisted as leaders glorified young soldiers marching off for the good of the country. English poet Rupert Brooke after enlisting in Britain’s Royal Navy, wrote a series of patriotic sonnets, including “The Soldier” which read –

If I should, think only this of me:

That there’s some corner of a foreign field

that is forever England.

World war and Society: The Great War shook the very foundations of the Western world, causing a societal upheaval that left immediate and lasting impressions on every aspect of society and culture. The world experienced  a wave of social and artistic change as a direct result of the war.

It  made a magnificent impact on society as it reshaped the modern world and also developed a new approach of art, literature, philosophy and religion . These aspects of war reveal the underlying sense of shared experiences. War has always been a force for change between countries and within societies. The relationship between society and war is cyclic as war influences the language people use, new places are named and also encourages social changes.

Women and men alike turned to writing as a means of emotional outlet. Back in Britain, the social order was being rocked by the war taking place across the channel, with women becoming key economic supporters in the absence of men and men were dealing with psychological stress of war. Women were forced to adopt a role that was traditionally considered masculine, taking on industrial work in factories in order to provide for their children, as well as assuming a leading role in the maintenance of the family. Eventually, many women started coming out, became spokesperson of discussion related to their view on the war and the impact it was placed on their families.