Coming Home from World War Two,‘In Our Time’:: Post-memory, History and Narrative in Melvyn Bragg’s "The Soldier’s Return" and "Son of War"

• Christina Howes ^[1]
  1. [1] Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

     Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

     Barcelona, España

     
• Localización: Revista de filología románica, ISSN-e 1988-2815, ISSN 0212-999X, Nº Extra 33, 2, 2016 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Reflejos de la Segunda Guerra Mundial en la literatura y las artes II), págs. 109-116
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.5209/RFRM.55863
• Títulos paralelos:
  • El regreso de la Segunda Guerra Mundial ‘In Our Time’: post-memoria, historia y narración en "The Soldier’s return" y "Son of War" de Melvyn Bragg
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen
  • español

    Este articulo examina cómo Melvyn Bragg, periodista británico, locutor y escritor, retrata las consecuencias de la Segunda Guerra Mundial en la familia y la comunidad en "The Soldier’s Return" (1999) y "Son of War" (2001). Se afirma que el estilo narrativo de Bragg se aproxima a lo que Michael Rothberg (2000) denomina como realismo traumático. La mezcla de lo ordinario y lo doméstico con lo excepcional logra evocar matices traumáticos subyacentes así como su veracidad histórica. Por lo tanto, se concluye que a través de la tensión entre una ingenuidad externa y expresiones de ansiedad, el discurso post conmemorativo de Bragg logra divulgar una historia que hasta el momento se ha mantenido en el ámbito familiar de la posguerra.

  • English

    This paper examines how Melvyn Bragg, British journalist, broadcaster and writer, portrays the aftermath of World War Two on family and community in "The Soldier’s Return" (1999) and "Son of War" (2001). I contend that Bragg’s apparently simplistic and minimalist style approximates what Michael Rothberg (2000) terms as traumatic realism. By blending the ordinary and the domestic with the extraordinary, he manages to evoke a meaningful absence and traumatic undertones at the same time as resonating with historical ‘truth’. Thus, I conclude that through the tension between an outer naivety and underlying disturbances, Bragg’s post-memorial discourse achieves a public disclosure which hitherto remained, primarily, in the intimate realm of postwar family life.

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