Synopses & Reviews
With insightful analysis, factual contextual information, and illuminating historical documents, this book provides a detailed, but broad perspective on the most destructive event in history. The literature analyzed in this book includes that of novelists and poets such as Joseph Heller, Norman Mailer, Irwin Shaw, Kurt Vonnegut, William Styron, Richard Wilbur, James Dickey, Paul West, and Bette Green. Along with interviews with these literary luminaries that personalize the war and help to make connections between the literature and the actual experiences of those involved, Meredith also provides rare historical documents that enhance the reader's understanding of the military and political strategies of the major forces of the war.
Each chapter provides a literary analysis of the most relevant literature for students on the topic of that chapter, followed by a historical overview of the aspect of the war that will aid the student to understand the historical context of the literature. Primary documents, especially interviews and memoirs, will help students to build bridges between history and the fictional accounts they read. Each chapter is followed by topics and questions for class discussion, suggestions for student papers, and a selected bibliography. This comprehensive casebook will be valuable for interdisciplinary study of World War II and the literature most frequently taught in high school English and history classes.
Review
[T]his work succeeds admirably in presenting complex historical and cultural events in a comprehensive format.Choice
Review
I recommend Meredith's casebook for anyone who teaches at the high school or college level and is looking for provocative material to engage students with literature--and not just the literature of WWII. While the focus of Meredith's book is WWII, the literature he covers has a larger, timeless vision....Understanding the Litertarure of World War II distills the war's complexities into ideas the students can apply to their own WWII connections, and ultimately to the world they are already inheriting.War, Literature &The Arts
Review
[T]his book should be on your shelf.School Library Journal
Review
Meredith...helps the reader to make connections between the literature and the actual experiences for those involved. Astutely edited and thoroughly readable.The Herald (Columbia, SC)
Synopsis
A unique source of literary analysis of the literature of World War II with accompanying commentary and primary documents about the history of the period.
Synopsis
With insightful analysis, factual contextual information, and illuminating historical documents, this book provides a detailed, but broad perspective on the most destructive event in history. The literature analyzed in this book includes that of novelists and poets such as Joseph Heller, Norman Mailer, Irwin Shaw, Kurt Vonnegut, William Styron, Richard Wilbur, James Dickey, Paul West, and Bette Green. Along with interviews with these literary luminaries, which personalize the war and help to make connections between the literature and the actual experiences of those involved, Meredith also provides rare historical documents, which enhance the reader's understanding of the military and political strategies of the major forces of the war.
About the Author
JAMES H. MEREDITH is Associate Professor of English at the United States Air Force Academy.
Table of Contents
Introduction
World War II Chronology
The Combatants: A Literary Analysis of Martha Gellhorn's A Stricken Field, Joseph Heller's Catch-22, Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead, James Jones' From Here to Eternity, Irwin Shaw's The Young Lions, and the poems of Richard Wilbur, James Dickey, and Randall Jarrell
The Home Front: A Literary Analysis of Bette Green's Summer of My German Soldier and David Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars
Occupation, Resistance, and Espionage: A Literary Analysis of John Steinbeck's The Moon is Down, Jack Higgins' The Eagle Has Landed, and Paul West's The Very Rich Hours of Count von Stauffenberg and Rat Man of Paris
The Holocaust: A Literary Analysis of William Styron's Sophie's Choice and Elie Wiesel's Night
The Nuclear Bomb: A Literary Analysis of John Hersey's Hiroshima
Index