The Writing of War French and German Fiction and
by William Cloonan In a major reevaluation of how
World War II affected the writing of literature in France
and Germany, William Cloonan argues that many established
writers (Thomas Mann, Ernst Jünger, Albert Camus,
Jean-Paul Sartre) were unsuccessful in their attempts to
write about the war precisely because they refused to
confront the ways in which this conflict was so radically
different from earlier bloodbaths. In particular,
atrocities such as the Nazis’ Final Solution, the
atomic devastation of Japan, and the bombings of civilian
populations called into question the moral and
intellectual framework that had shaped Western thinking;
throughout Europe, the heritage of the Enlightenment
seemed to collapse. Crosscurrents:
Comparative Studies in European Literature and Philosophy
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"An eminently readable study whose breadth and directness will be profitable for students and scholars alike." -- L'Esprit Createur "All 20th-century literature specialists, particularly those in French, German, and English literatures, will find Cloonan's study eminently relevant. . . . Well-documented, very informative, quite insightful, and even entertaining!"--Pierre Verdaguer, University of Maryland |
