I've just been reading this article, it's about teaching WWI in schools, but I thought it raised some interesting points about war in fiction (especially HF)
http://www.theguardian.com/higher-e...-world-war-perspectives-literature?CMP=twt_gu
I found it very interesting, as I begin to write my WIP I've made a conscious decision that I don't want to write something that glorifies war and no boys-own antics. I want something that is brutal and real, that more resembles Apocalypse Now (having read a lot on the Bar Kokhba Revolt, I would call it the Roman Vietnam. I think I should go back and read some War Poetry again)
Thoughts?
http://www.theguardian.com/higher-e...-world-war-perspectives-literature?CMP=twt_gu
Over the years, I have come to understand that these students expect any truthful representation of the war to be dominated by scenes of horror. For it to be realistic and "true", it must be bloody, graphic, have a high body count and represent an assault on the senses (rather like a video game). For them, war writing should be visceral and direct; it should fill them with revulsion and "pity".
When faced with students who claim to be thwarted (and mysteriously silenced) by Blunden's narrative, I push them a little further. I know that for these clever and articulate individuals, who can willingly embrace the triple-decker Victorian novel and revel in Joyce's word play, something more is at stake here.
"It's just not violent enough!" one reluctant student finally volunteers, to the relief of the others who, it seems, share his view. I am grateful for this student's honesty, because it allows us to move on to a discussion about art and violence and about how our expectations have been shaped by a century of myth-making.
This is challenging for us all. It forces us to ask questions about what we think we know, and how we react when something invites us to see the war differently, whether it's Sassoon's exhilarated response to battle ("I thought he was anti-war!"), Tolkien's epic rendition of his own war experience ("Oh yes, the Dead Marshes!"), or Blunden's description of a ruined church and the constant stream of soldiers who are inexplicably drawn to the "bones and skulls and decayed cerements" which spill from the shattered vaults.
I found it very interesting, as I begin to write my WIP I've made a conscious decision that I don't want to write something that glorifies war and no boys-own antics. I want something that is brutal and real, that more resembles Apocalypse Now (having read a lot on the Bar Kokhba Revolt, I would call it the Roman Vietnam. I think I should go back and read some War Poetry again)
Thoughts?