{"product_id":"catching-the-torch-neta-gordon-9781771122382","title":"Catching the Torch: Contemporary Canadian Literary Responses to World War I","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eCatching the Torch\u003c\/i\u003e examines contemporary novels and plays written about Canada's participation in World War I. Exploring such works as Jane Urquhart's \u003ci\u003eThe Underpainter\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Stone Carvers\u003c\/i\u003e, Jack Hodgins's \u003ci\u003eBroken Ground\u003c\/i\u003e, Kevin Kerr's \u003ci\u003eUnity (1918)\u003c\/i\u003e, Stephen Massicotte's \u003ci\u003eMary's Wedding\u003c\/i\u003e, and Frances Itani's \u003ci\u003eDeafening\u003c\/i\u003e, the book considers how writers have dealt with the compelling myth that the Canadian nation was born in the trenches of the Great War.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn contrast to British and European remembrances of WWI, which tend to regard it as a cataclysmic destroyer of innocence, or Australian myths that promote an ideal of outsize masculinity, physical bravery, and white superiority, contemporary Canadian texts conjure up notions of distinctively Canadian values: tolerance of ethnic difference, the ability to do one's duty without complaint or arrogance, and the inclination to show moral as well as physical courage. Paradoxically, Canadians are shown to decry the horrors of war while making use of its productive cultural effects.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThrough a close analysis of the way sacrifice, service, and the commemoration of war are represented in these literary works, \u003ci\u003eCatching the Torch\u003c\/i\u003e argues that iterations of a secure mythic notion of national identity, one that is articulated via the representation of straightforward civic and military participation, work to counter current anxieties about the stability of the nation-state, in particular anxieties about the failure of the ideal of a national \"character.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Neta Gordon\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1771122382\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781771122382\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Wilfrid Laurier University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/15\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 222\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.70lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.50d","brand":"Neta Gordon","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43937938112767,"sku":"9781771122382","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_cb245cff-c917-483f-b770-f9e1962edcf5.jpg?v=1681432783","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/catching-the-torch-neta-gordon-9781771122382","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}