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The Resource Popular fiction in England, 1914-1918, Harold Orel

Popular fiction in England, 1914-1918, Harold Orel

Creator
Summary
"While Englishmen were dying by the thousands on the battlefields of Europe, their friends and relations on the home front were reading books of humor, tales of espionage and adventure, colorful romances, and historical swashbucklers. Harold Orel's penetrating book explains why escapist fiction dominated the popular literary market in England throughout the Great War. A large factor, he shows, was the view of publishers, reviewers, booksellers, libraries, literary groups, and the general reading public that escapist fiction was a useful diversion from the inescapable horrors of war." "Orel begins with a survey of the British literary world and its attitudes toward the novel at the outbreak of the war. Within a broad social, cultural, and economic context he depicts the "fiction industry" at a time of extraordinary upheaval, before the triumph of Modernism, when the attitudes and esthetics of writers, the tastes of readers, and the economics of the marketplace were undergoing rapid transformation." "Subsequent chapters offer detailed studies of fifteen of the most touted novels of the period and the ways they reflected--or, more often, failed to reflect--the radical changes taking place as they were being written." "The writers examined include George Moore, Norman Douglas, Frank Swinnerton, Compton Mackenzie, Mary Webb, Joseph Conrad, Wyndham Lewis, John Buchan, Alec Waugh, H.G. Wells, and Arnold Bennett. Many of their novels during these years avoid mention of the war that was reshaping their world, or allude to it only obliquely. The book concludes with a review of changes in the publishing world in 1918, the last year of the Great War." "In its comprehensive coverage of a wide range of once popular but now neglected novels, Orel's authoritative study fills a gap in the cultural and literary history of early twentieth-century England."--BOOK JACKET
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
vi, 249 pages
Contents
  • Part I: In the beginning
  • At the turn of the century
  • The publishing world in 1914
  • Authors and the reviewing media
  • Part II: Novels that ignored the war
  • George Moore's The brook Kerith (1916)
  • Norman Douglas's South wind (1917)
  • Frank Swinnerton's Nocturne (1917)
  • Compton Mackenzie's The early life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett (1918)
  • Part III: Thunder on the horizon
  • Mary Webb's The golden arrow (1915)
  • Joseph Conrad's Victory (1915)
  • Ford Madox Hueffer's The good soldier (1915)
  • Alec Waugh's The loom of youth (1917)
  • Wyndham Lewis's Tarr (1918)
  • Part IV: Novels about the war
  • The last year of the war
  • What the reviewers of the Times literary Supplement wrote in 1918
  • John Buchan's The thirty-nine steps (1915) and Greenmantle (1916)
  • H.G. Wells's Mr. Britling sees it through (1916)
  • On the home front: Arnold Bennett's The pretty lady (1918)
  • In the trenches: (Anonymous), The love of an unknown soldier: found in a dug-out (1918)
Isbn
9780813117898
Instance
Label
Popular fiction in England, 1914-1918
Title
Popular fiction in England, 1914-1918
Statement of responsibility
Harold Orel
Creator
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
"While Englishmen were dying by the thousands on the battlefields of Europe, their friends and relations on the home front were reading books of humor, tales of espionage and adventure, colorful romances, and historical swashbucklers. Harold Orel's penetrating book explains why escapist fiction dominated the popular literary market in England throughout the Great War. A large factor, he shows, was the view of publishers, reviewers, booksellers, libraries, literary groups, and the general reading public that escapist fiction was a useful diversion from the inescapable horrors of war." "Orel begins with a survey of the British literary world and its attitudes toward the novel at the outbreak of the war. Within a broad social, cultural, and economic context he depicts the "fiction industry" at a time of extraordinary upheaval, before the triumph of Modernism, when the attitudes and esthetics of writers, the tastes of readers, and the economics of the marketplace were undergoing rapid transformation." "Subsequent chapters offer detailed studies of fifteen of the most touted novels of the period and the ways they reflected--or, more often, failed to reflect--the radical changes taking place as they were being written." "The writers examined include George Moore, Norman Douglas, Frank Swinnerton, Compton Mackenzie, Mary Webb, Joseph Conrad, Wyndham Lewis, John Buchan, Alec Waugh, H.G. Wells, and Arnold Bennett. Many of their novels during these years avoid mention of the war that was reshaping their world, or allude to it only obliquely. The book concludes with a review of changes in the publishing world in 1918, the last year of the Great War." "In its comprehensive coverage of a wide range of once popular but now neglected novels, Orel's authoritative study fills a gap in the cultural and literary history of early twentieth-century England."--BOOK JACKET
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
1926-
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Orel, Harold
Government publication
government publication of a state province territory dependency etc
Index
index present
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • English fiction
  • Popular literature
  • Fiction
  • World War, 1914-1918
  • Literature publishing
  • Books and reading
Label
Popular fiction in England, 1914-1918, Harold Orel
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-240) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Part I: In the beginning -- At the turn of the century -- The publishing world in 1914 -- Authors and the reviewing media -- Part II: Novels that ignored the war -- George Moore's The brook Kerith (1916) -- Norman Douglas's South wind (1917) -- Frank Swinnerton's Nocturne (1917) -- Compton Mackenzie's The early life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett (1918) -- Part III: Thunder on the horizon -- Mary Webb's The golden arrow (1915) -- Joseph Conrad's Victory (1915) -- Ford Madox Hueffer's The good soldier (1915) -- Alec Waugh's The loom of youth (1917) -- Wyndham Lewis's Tarr (1918) -- Part IV: Novels about the war -- The last year of the war -- What the reviewers of the Times literary Supplement wrote in 1918 -- John Buchan's The thirty-nine steps (1915) and Greenmantle (1916) -- H.G. Wells's Mr. Britling sees it through (1916) -- On the home front: Arnold Bennett's The pretty lady (1918) -- In the trenches: (Anonymous), The love of an unknown soldier: found in a dug-out (1918)
Control code
24502852
Dimensions
22 cm
Extent
vi, 249 pages
Isbn
9780813117898
Lccn
91036651
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
System control number
(WaOLN)1424437
Label
Popular fiction in England, 1914-1918, Harold Orel
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-240) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Part I: In the beginning -- At the turn of the century -- The publishing world in 1914 -- Authors and the reviewing media -- Part II: Novels that ignored the war -- George Moore's The brook Kerith (1916) -- Norman Douglas's South wind (1917) -- Frank Swinnerton's Nocturne (1917) -- Compton Mackenzie's The early life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett (1918) -- Part III: Thunder on the horizon -- Mary Webb's The golden arrow (1915) -- Joseph Conrad's Victory (1915) -- Ford Madox Hueffer's The good soldier (1915) -- Alec Waugh's The loom of youth (1917) -- Wyndham Lewis's Tarr (1918) -- Part IV: Novels about the war -- The last year of the war -- What the reviewers of the Times literary Supplement wrote in 1918 -- John Buchan's The thirty-nine steps (1915) and Greenmantle (1916) -- H.G. Wells's Mr. Britling sees it through (1916) -- On the home front: Arnold Bennett's The pretty lady (1918) -- In the trenches: (Anonymous), The love of an unknown soldier: found in a dug-out (1918)
Control code
24502852
Dimensions
22 cm
Extent
vi, 249 pages
Isbn
9780813117898
Lccn
91036651
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
System control number
(WaOLN)1424437

Subject

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