The nightmare of history : the fictions of Virginia Woolf and D.H. Lawrence

The Nightmare Of History: The Fictions Of Virginia Woolf And D.h. Lawrence Is An Attempt To Show The Influence Of The First World War On The Literary And Cultural Attitudes Of These Two Seminal, Yet Very Different, Writers. It Demonstrates That Woolf And Lawrence Shared Many Perspectives About The Dislocations And Horrors Created By War, As Well As Potential, Although Probably Unachievable, Cultural Resurrection. Helen Wussow Reveals That The Authors' Uses Of Language, Their Shaping Of Verbal Forms Applied Simultaneously To Issues Of Personal Relationship And Public Or Cultural History, Show Remarkable Similarities. She Argues That The Works Of These Two Authors Are Informed By The Dynamics Of Conflict. Yet, At The Same Time, Wussow Is Always Aware Of Significant Differences Between Lawrence's And Woolf's Fictions.--jacket. 1. Our Sad Eventful History : Woolf, Lawrence, And The Great War -- 2. The Battle Between Them : Sexual Conflict In The Early Fictions -- 3. The Prisonhouse Of Language : Writings Of The War Years -- 4. The Sensless Boxing Of Schoolboys : The Sport And Comradeship Of War -- 5. The Silver Globe Of Time : War And History In The Postwar Fictions. Helen Wussow. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 191-197) And Index. The Nightmare of History: The Fictions of Virginia Woolf and D. H. Lawrence is an attempt to show the influence of the First World War on the literary and cultural attitudes of these two seminal, yet very different, writers. It demonstrates that Woolf and Lawrence shared many perspectives about the dislocations and horrors created by war, as well as potential, although probably unachievable, cultural resurrection. Helen Wussow reveals that the authors' uses of language, their shaping of verbal forms applied simultaneously to issues of personal relationship and public or cultural history, show remarkable similarities. She argues that the works of these two authors are informed by the dynamics of conflict. Yet, at the same time, Wussow is always aware of significant differences between Lawrence's and Woolf's fictions. This book examines to what extent the Great War affected the works of Virginia Woolf and D.H.Lawrence. Wussow traces their views of social and historical events, as well as suggesting that violence and the structure of battle is evident in the pre-war writings.