Research Catalog

Title

Personal landscapes : British poets in Egypt during the Second World War / Jonathan Bolton.

Author

Bolton, Jonathan.

Publication

New York, NY : St. Martin's Press, 1997.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xix, 187 pages; 22 cm

Summary

• The work of British writers living abroad during World War II is the focus of this intriguing volume from Jonathan Bolton. Personal Landscapes: British Poets in Egypt during the Second World War takes its title from a verse periodical, Personal Landscape, which published the work of British poets who lived and wrote in Egypt in the 1940s. Bolton examines the poetry of such distinguished writers as Lawrence Durrell, Bernard Spencer, G. S.
• Fraser, and Keith Douglas, arguing that their work served as the central poetical achievement of the decade. In addition, Bolton goes on to explore the larger realm of the literature of exile, its uniqueness to the twentieth century, its connection to war poetry, and its presence in the work of these poets.
• Concluding with a look at the influence of these poets on the direction of British poetry after the war, Personal Landscapes is a glimpse into the world of some remarkable artists at a pivotal period in twentieth-century literature.

Subjects

• English poetry > 20th century > History and criticism
• World War, 1939-1945 > Egypt > Literature and the war
• War poetry, English > History and criticism
• English poetry > Egyptian influences
• Soldiers' writings, English > History and criticism
• Egypt > In literature
• Landscapes in literature
• British > Egypt > History > 20th century

Note

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [177]-182) and index.

Contents

Prologue: Under Western Eyes: Orientalism, Hybridity, and the Case of the Personal Landscape Poets -- 1. Personal Landscape and British Poetry in the 1940s -- 2. "The Skull Beneath the Skin": The Truth about War -- 3. "Rituals of Endurance": Poetry and the Exile Background -- 4. "The Historian with His Spade": Landscape and Historical Continuity in the Poetry of Bernard Spencer -- 5. Durrell Rampant/Durrell Passant: The Landscape of the Heraldic Universe -- 6. "The Polarity of Personal Cities": Identity and the Neoclassical Landscape in the Poetry of G. S. Fraser -- 7. "Monuments and Metal Posies": Keith Douglas's Book of the Dead -- Postscript: Personal Landscape and British Poetry since the Second World War.

ISBN

0312173504

LCCN

97012380

OCLC

• 36648763
• ocm36648763

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries