Everything to Nothing

The Poetry of the Great War, Revolution and the Transformation of Europe

Nonfiction, History, Revolutionary, Military, World War I, European General
Cover of the book Everything to Nothing by Geert Buelens, Verso Books
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Geert Buelens ISBN: 9781784781507
Publisher: Verso Books Publication: February 16, 2016
Imprint: Verso Language: English
Author: Geert Buelens
ISBN: 9781784781507
Publisher: Verso Books
Publication: February 16, 2016
Imprint: Verso
Language: English

The poets’ Great War: violence, revolution and modernism

The First World War changed the map of Europe forever. Empires collapsed, new countries were born, revolutions shocked and inspired the world.

This tumult, sometimes referred to as ‘the literary war’, saw an extraordinary outpouring of writing. The conflict opened up a vista of possibilities and tragedies for poetic exploration, and at the same time poetry was a tool for manipulating the sentiments of the combatant peoples. In Germany alone during the first few months there were over a million poems of propaganda published. We think of war poets as pacifistic protestors, but that view has been created retrospectively. The verse of the time, particularly in the early years of the conflict—in Fernando Pessoa or Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, for example—could find in the violence and technology of modern warfare an awful and exhilarating epiphany.

In this cultural history of the First World War, the conflict is seen from the point of view of poets and writers from all over Europe, including Rupert Brooke, Anna Akhmatova, Guillaume Apollinaire, Gabriele D’Annunzio, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Rainer Maria Rilke and Siegfried Sassoon.

Everything to Nothing is the award-winning panoramic history of how nationalism and internationalism defined both the war itself and its aftermath—revolutionary movements, wars for independence, civil wars, the treaty of Versailles. It reveals how poets played a vital role in defining the stakes, ambitions and disappointments of postwar Europe.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The poets’ Great War: violence, revolution and modernism

The First World War changed the map of Europe forever. Empires collapsed, new countries were born, revolutions shocked and inspired the world.

This tumult, sometimes referred to as ‘the literary war’, saw an extraordinary outpouring of writing. The conflict opened up a vista of possibilities and tragedies for poetic exploration, and at the same time poetry was a tool for manipulating the sentiments of the combatant peoples. In Germany alone during the first few months there were over a million poems of propaganda published. We think of war poets as pacifistic protestors, but that view has been created retrospectively. The verse of the time, particularly in the early years of the conflict—in Fernando Pessoa or Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, for example—could find in the violence and technology of modern warfare an awful and exhilarating epiphany.

In this cultural history of the First World War, the conflict is seen from the point of view of poets and writers from all over Europe, including Rupert Brooke, Anna Akhmatova, Guillaume Apollinaire, Gabriele D’Annunzio, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Rainer Maria Rilke and Siegfried Sassoon.

Everything to Nothing is the award-winning panoramic history of how nationalism and internationalism defined both the war itself and its aftermath—revolutionary movements, wars for independence, civil wars, the treaty of Versailles. It reveals how poets played a vital role in defining the stakes, ambitions and disappointments of postwar Europe.

More books from Verso Books

Cover of the book Building the Commune by Geert Buelens
Cover of the book The Experience of Defeat by Geert Buelens
Cover of the book Value by Geert Buelens
Cover of the book All Over the Map by Geert Buelens
Cover of the book In Praise of Disobedience by Geert Buelens
Cover of the book A Civil War by Geert Buelens
Cover of the book The Shock of the Anthropocene by Geert Buelens
Cover of the book Hollow City by Geert Buelens
Cover of the book Buying Time by Geert Buelens
Cover of the book Noise Uprising by Geert Buelens
Cover of the book Trans by Geert Buelens
Cover of the book The Liberal Defence of Murder by Geert Buelens
Cover of the book Cultural Capital by Geert Buelens
Cover of the book Lives on the Left by Geert Buelens
Cover of the book The Conservation Revolution by Geert Buelens
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy