(Re)Writing War in Contemporary Literature and Culture: Beyond Post-Memory

(Re)Writing War in Contemporary Literature and Culture: Beyond Post-Memory is an exploration of war narratives through the lens of postmemory, offering a critical re-evaluation of how contemporary literature and cultural products reshape our understanding of past conflicts. This volume presents a rich tapestry of perspectives, drawing from an array of conflicts and incorporating insights from international experts across various disciplines, including contemporary literature, film studies, visual arts, and cultural studies. It critically builds upon and extends Marianne Hirsch’s concept of postmemory, engaging with complex themes like the ethical dimensions of war writing, the authenticity of representations, and the creative power of art in reimagining traumatic events. This study not only challenges traditional boundaries in war literature and memory studies but also resonates with contemporary concerns about societal engagement with violent pasts, making it a significant addition to scholarly discourse and essential reading for those interested in the intersection of history, memory, and literature.

Cristina Pividori is Associate Professor of English Literature at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Her main research interest is war representation, particularly the aesthetic and ethical challenges inherent in the rendering of the major conflicts of recent times. She has published broadly in these areas. She is also the co-editor of Writings of Persuasion and Dissonance in The Great War. That Better Whiles May Follow Worse (2016) and The Spectre of Defeat: Experience, Memory and Post-Memory (2021).

David Owen is Associate Professor of English Literature at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. His research interests focus mainly on English novelistic fiction of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Particularly, he is interested in the history of the English Novel, its origins and development, and--within that--the formal and artistic properties of the epistolary novel as it affected and was affected by socio-political changes in fiction writing and reading. In terms of individual writers, his research is principally concerned with the works of the English novelist, Jane Austen. He has published broadly in these ambits. He is also the co-editor of Writings of Persuasion and Dissonance in The Great War. That Better Whiles May Follow Worse (2016) and The Spectre of Defeat: Experience, Memory and Post-Memory (2021).