"Getting into History": The Great War and David Jones's Memory
As the title suggests, David Jones's memory of the Great War was connected to his view of history because he sought to put his particular wartime experiences into a broader historical and religious perspective. As such, his efforts also participate in a theology of history, due tojones's u...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Notre Dame
2017
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| In: |
Religion & literature
Year: 2017, Volume: 49, Issue: 1, Pages: 71-81 |
| IxTheo Classification: | CD Christianity and Culture KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history |
| Further subjects: | B
IN Parenthesis (Poem)
B War in literature B World War I B Literary style B JONES, David, 1895-1974 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | As the title suggests, David Jones's memory of the Great War was connected to his view of history because he sought to put his particular wartime experiences into a broader historical and religious perspective. As such, his efforts also participate in a theology of history, due tojones's use of religious imagery and categories to theodicize liis war memories. Specifically, he attempted to give meaning to the suffering of Great War soldiers by connecting their fate to that of previous actual and fictional warriors, as well as to the Suffering Servant of Christ. In doing so, Jones asserted that the quantitatively different violence of industrialized combat was not qualitatively different from what earlier ages had experienced and that orthodox Christianity had addressed theologically. Jones's approach to the war thus subverts the model established by earlier war writers (and scholars who echo them), who had rejected a sense of continuity with their predecessors and attempts to situate their agonies within a transcendent framework of meaning. Jones's interpretation of the war is thus distinctively hopeful because of his sincere use of these traditional sources of meaning, even as he adapts them to confront the unique circumstances faced by front-line soldiers in mechanized battle. |
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| ISSN: | 2328-6911 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion & literature
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