The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Modern Mourning, and the Reinvention of the Mystical Body

At the end of the First World War, countries across Europe participated in an unprecedented ritual in which a single, anonymous body was buried to symbolize the overwhelming trauma of the battlefields. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier explores the creation and reception of this symbolic national burial as an emblem for modern mourning. Bringing together literature, newspaper accounts, wartime correspondence, and popular culture, The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier examines how the Unknown Soldier was imagined in diverse national contexts and used by radically opposed political parties. Laura Wittman argues that this monument established a connection between the wounded body vulnerable to the war machine and a modern identity defined by common mortality and social alienation. Highly original and interdisciplinary, The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier powerfully links the symbolic language and ethics of mourning to a fascinating national ritual. "At the end of the First World War, countries across Europe participated in an unprecedented ritual in which a single, anonymous body was buried to symbolize the overwhelming trauma of the battlefields. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier explores the creation and reception of this symbolic national burial as an emblem for modern mourning. Bringing together literature, newspaper accounts, wartime correspondence, and popular culture, The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier examines how the Unknown Soldier was imagined in diverse national contexts and used by radically opposed political parties. Laura Wittman argues that this monument established a connection between the wounded body vulnerable to the war machine and a modern identity defined by common mortality and social alienation. Highly original and interdisciplinary, The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier powerfully links the symbolic language and ethics of mourning to a fascinating national ritual."--pub. desc. Contents 7 Acknowledgments 9 Introduction 13 Part I. Anonymity and Sacrifice 31 Introduction to Part I: The Return of the Dead 31 1. A Unanimous Idea 41 2. Identification and Chorality 67 3. Sacrifice and the Non finito 107 Part II: Embodiment and Spectacle 145 Introduction to Part II: The Undead Body, the Photographic Image, and the Religious Icon 145 4. Embodiment and Imbestiamento 161 5. Mutilation and Spectacle 201 6. Mourning Transcendence and Re-enchanting the Flesh 257 Notes 293 Bibliography 407 Index 433