Generation of 1914 P
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Book Overview
The generation of 1914 holds a special place in memory, affection, and myth. In this irresistible and moving book, Robert Wohl rescues it from the shadows of legend and brings it fully into the realm of understanding. He tells the story of the young men--the middle class elite of five European countries, France, Germany, England, Spain, and Italy, to recreate the generational consciousness that united them as well as the unique national experience that made them different.
These were men born at the end of the nineteenth century when the world of reason was disintegrating into a world of irrationality. They were destined to rule but their lives were interrupted by the greatest of wars, leaving them searching for identity and historical continuity. Wohl recaptures this search through novels, poems, autobiographies, memoirs, sociological treatises, philosophical essays, university lectures, political speeches, conversations when recorded, letters, personal notebooks, and newspaper articles. His book is a brilliant study of European mentalities, both collective and individual. Probing behind ideas to find the experience that inspired them, Wohl illuminates in unexpected ways the origins of World War I and its impact on its participants. His exploration of the consciousness of generational unity and the power of the generational bond enables him to place in a novel context the spread of pessimism and despair, the waning of liberal and humanitarian values, the rise of Communist and Fascist movements, and the sudden eruption of violence in Europe's progressive countries between the two world wars.Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0674344669
ISBN13:9780674344662
Release Date:January 1979
Publisher:Harvard University Press
Length:324 Pages
Weight:1.22 lbs.
Dimensions:0.7" x 6.4" x 9.3"
Customer Reviews
2 ratings
what is the "generation of 1914"?
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 22 years ago
Professor Robert Wohl examines the phenomenon of the development of the generational history as applied to the study of the "generation of 1914" in five major European countries - France, Germany, Britain, Spain and Italy. The generation of "wanderers between two worlds", devastated, redeemed and then lost in the Great War. This was not a unified collection of people, but really three waves with only a few years apart - those which came to 1914 with a sense of duty, values and purpose, those 17 year olds who only a few years younger did not take time to mature and were thrust head on to the doom of Verdun, and lastly those who were prepared to the fact that their lifes will be lost, but did not have time to serve when the war ended in 1918, but were marked by it for the rest of their lifes. How different this experience must've been, and how intimately and delicately things intervined to create a common thrust of the generation of the war. Wohl explores those experiences from phylosophical, philological, economical, religious and political perspective. Althought the book is packed with footnotes, anotations and hundereds of names, it reads in a very fluid fashion.
Excellent work looking at a complex period
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
Wohl does an excellent job reworking the idea of 'generational history' in the context of the Great War. With a study of France, Germany, England, Spain and Italy, Wohl looks at the ways in which generations involve themselves in society. What is striking about this book is the fact that Wohl has chosen to situate it in the context of the very confusing lead-up to the First World War. Some general socio-political history, but really an excellent tool for understanding what it meant to be young in 5 different and important countries of Europe. If you are looking to get a handle on what it meant to be of the war generation, their history and unfortunate fate, then this is an absolute must-read. On the whole, remarkably readable, although it does get a bit heavy in philosophy as well. All in all, well worth the effort!
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