English Fiction and Drama of the Great War, 1918–39

From the Back Cover

This book is the first detailed study of British fiction about the Great War. It examines the literature which radically altered our understanding of war and which, in the late twenties, created public controversy and a publishing phenomenon. It looks at the central feature of the war novels: their new image of soldiering and war. However, Dr. Onions' book-which incorporates major and minor works, drama as well as prose-also explores the meaning of heroic action in order to comprehend the paradox of this literature: how it both destroyed and sustained the image of the soldier as hero.