Restrained Response: American Novels of the Cold War and Korea, 1945-1962

(Hardback)

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Axelsson provides an overview of American war and military novels set between 1945 and 1962. These are novels informed and inspired by the conditions and background of postwar occupation, the Korean war and the early phases of the Cold War. More than 120 narratives are considered and evaluated from a literary point of view and discussed in terms of their contribution to the understanding of the period. The ultimate goal is a clear delineation of this period in American life and literature. In view of this orientation, the study will be useful to researchers and teachers of American history and literature as well as students of the Korean war. Of the books considered, 27 are given extended treatment. They were selected as being representative of socio-literary phenomena. The major part of the action in the novels takes place between V-E day and the Cuban missile crisis, a time in America characterized by restraint and measured response to unprecedented demands and dangers, accompanied by valiant efforts to rise to the occasion and find new ways of meeting new challenges to American values and ideals. Although the key concept throughout is American military experience, the wide field of civilian-military relations is used as an overlay to achieve a balanced perspective on the period. The book includes two appendices. The first is a list of key data and summaries of all works in the investigation and the second is a list of the works broken down by geographical settings and thematic considerations following categories outlined by chapters. A bibilography of secondary sources is also outlined.

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The author admits that the value of the American military novels of the early post-war period is neither that they represent a lasting contribution to the canon of great American literature, nor that they form a unique body of historical information'; instead he argues they deserve study for their clear delineation of a period.'-American Literature
"The author admits that the value of the American military novels of the early post-war period is neither that they represent a lasting contribution to the canon of great American literature, nor that they form a unique body of historical information'; instead he argues they deserve study for their clear delineation of a period.'"-American Literature

Author Bio

ARNE AXELSSON is Associate Professor in the Department of English at Uppsala University in Sweden, specializing in modern American literature and society, and post-World War II American history. Other fields of interest include ninteenth-century American literature, and he has written The Links in the Chain: Isolation and Interdependence in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Fictional Characters, and articles published in Studia Neophilologica.