Commemorative Acts : French Theatre and the Memory of the Great War (University of Toronto Romance Series)

McCready, Susan

University of Toronto Press（2025/08発売）

• 製本 Hardcover:ハードカバー版／ページ数 277 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9781487564094
• DDC分類 792.09440904

Full Description

In the aftermath of the Great War, a remarkable wave of collective commemoration emerged, but the aesthetic diversity of this period has often been overshadowed by a singular focus on the combatant experience, primarily conveyed through fiction and memoir. This selective historical narrative has fostered a homogenized memory of the war, neglecting the rich array of cultural productions that also emerged alongside it. Commemorative Acts challenges these prevailing assumptions about the memory of the Great War and its literary expression in interwar France by spotlighting theatrical works that have largely been forgotten.
The book uncovers how the dominance of first-person accounts of soldiers' experiences has subtly, yet powerfully, narrowed our understanding of what the memory of the Great War can encompass. It explores how drama, structurally at odds with the first-person perspective and defined by its simultaneous modes of expression and reception, has been lost to collective memory. By examining the unique capacity of the dramatic form to capture war trauma, Commemorative Acts offers insights that differ from those of other literary genres, highlighting the theatre's potential to provide a more expansive and nuanced understanding of interwar memorial culture.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Broadening the Scope of Great War Memory
1. Coming to Terms with Memory: French War Theatre to 1928
2. Displacements: French War Theatre 1928 to 1937
3. Bearing Witness: Experience and Illusion in Interwar Theatre
4. Classical Form and Modernist Fracture in Interwar Theatre
Conclusion: The Ongoing Work of Memory

War Plays Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index