The Edinburgh Companion to the First World War and the Arts

This authoritative reference work examines literary and artistic responses to the war’s upheavals across a wide range of media and genres, from poetry to pamphlets, sculpture to television documentary, and requiems to war reporting.

The First World War continues to be seen as a cultural as well as a political rift in the early twentieth century. This collection explores literary and artistic responses to the war''s upheavals across a wide range of media and genres, from poetry to pamphlets, sculpture to television documentary, and requiems to war reporting. Rather than looking at particular forms of artistic expression in isolation and focusing only on the war and inter-war period, the essays collected in this volume approach artistic responses to the war from a wide variety of angles and - where appropriate - pursue their inquiry into the present day. What means and approaches were employed to respond to the shock of war? How and why have literary and artistic responses to the war changed over time? How far are later works of art responses not only to the war itself, but to earlier cultural production? These are key questions that the volume seeks to answer.