Trauma, Postmodernism and the Aftermath of World War II [Paperback]

The first sustained study of the relationship between Anglo-American postmodernist fiction?and the Second World War, Crosthwaite demonstrates that postmodernism has not abandoned history but has rather reformulated it in terms of trauma that is traceable, time and again, to the catastrophes of the 1940s.Introduction War, Trauma, Postmodernism Gravity's Rainbow and Traumatic Models of History 'A Secret Code of Pain and Memory': Traumatic Repetition in the Fiction of J.G. Ballard Total War and the English Stream-of-Consciousness Novel: From Mrs Dalloway to Mother London Their Fathers' War: Negotiating the Legacy of World War II in Prisoner's Dilemma and Atonement Conclusion: Writing/Reading World War II After 9/11 Bibliography Index

'Written with ?lan, clarity and confidence, this book is at the cutting edge of second generation postmodernism: ethically serious, historically aware, theoretically and critically informed. In this outstanding piece of literary research, Crosthwaite has found a way of articulating both a vital influence on contemporary culture and an important historical debt.' Professor Robert Eaglestone, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK; author of The Holocaust and the Postmodern

PAUL CROSTHWAITE is Lecturer in English at Cardiff University, UK.