Boys in Khaki, Girls in Print: Women's Literary Responses to the Great War 1914-1918 (Oxford English Monographs)

Modernist texts and writings of protest have until now received most of the critical attention of literary scholars of the First World War. Popular literature with its penchant for predictable storylines, melodramatic prose, and patriotic rhetoric has been much-maligned or at the very least ignored. Boys in Khaki, Girls in Print: Women's Literary Responses to the Great War redresses the balance. It turns the spotlight on the novels and memoirs of women writers - many of whom are now virtually forgotten - that appealed to a British reading public hungry for amusement, news, and above all, encouragement in the face of uncertainty and grief. The writers of 1914-18 had powerful models for interpreting their war, as a consideration of texts from the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 shows. They were also bolstered by wartime publishing practices that reinforced the sense that their books, whether fiction or non-fiction, were not simply 'light' entertainment but a powerful agents of propaganda. Generously illustrated, Boys in Khaki, Girls in Print is a scholarly yet accessible illumination of a hitherto untapped resource of women's writing and is an important new contribution to the study of the literature of the Great War. "Modernist texts and writings of protest have until now received most of the critical attention of literary scholars of the First World War. Popular literature with its penchant for predictable storylines, melodramatic prose, and patriotic rhetoric has been much maligned or, at the very least, ignored. Boys in Khaki, Girls in Print: Women's Literary Responses to the Great War redresses the balance. It turns the spotlight on the novels and memoirs of women writers - many of whom are now virtually forgotten - that appealed to a British reading public hungry for amusement, news, and, above all, encouragement in the face of uncertainty and grief. The writers of 1914-18 had powerful models for interpreting their war, as a consideration of texts from the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 shows. They were also bolstered by wartime publishing practices that reinforced the sense that their books, whether fiction or non-fiction, were not simply 'light' entertainment but powerful agents of propaganda Contents......Page 12 Acknowledgements......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 13 Introduction......Page 16 1. Before the Lamps Went Out: The Social and Literary Background of the Great War......Page 24 2. ‘Is Your Best Boy Wearing Khaki?’: Publishing and Propaganda......Page 67 3. ‘Putting Things in Their Right Places’: The War in Romance Novels......Page 103 4. ‘I Alone Am Left to Tell the Tale’: Memoirs by Women on Active Service......Page 165 Appendix 1: Items on a Boer War Theme in The Girl’s Own Paper, The Girl’s Realm, and The Lady’s Realm, 1899–1902......Page 240 Appendix 2: Schedule of Wellington House Literature......Page 242 Appendix 3: Biographies of Main Authors......Page 244 Bibliography......Page 251 C......Page 268 H......Page 269 P......Page 270 W......Page 271 "[This book] turns the spotlight on the novels and memoirs of women writers -- many of whom are now virtually forgotten -- that appealed to a British reading public hungry for amusement, news, and above all, encouragement in the face of uncertainty and grief. The writers of 1914-18 had powerful models for interpreting their war ... They were also bolstered by wartime publishing practices that reinforced the sense that their books, whether fiction or non-fiction, were not simply 'light' entertainment but powerful agents of propaganda"--Dust jacket. Generously illustrated, Boys in Khaki, Girls in Print is a scholarly yet accessible illumination of a hitherto untapped resource of women's writing and makes an important new contribution to the study of the literature of the Great War."--Jacket