CFP: Books on the Battlefield: The Appropriation, Use, and Reception of Books in Warfare, 1450 to the Present Day (UK) (4/30/07;

full name / name of organization: 
Helen Smith
contact email: 

*Books on the Battlefield: the reception, use, and appropriation of
books in warfare, 1450 to the present day*
3rd November, 2007, King's Manor, University of York.

The relationship between books and war appears self-evident: books have
acted as potent weapons in ideological warfare and war has provided
literature with one of its most enduring themes. Yet the reception, use,
and appropriation of texts in a military context has remained relatively
unexplored. While the work of Paul Fussell, Samuel Hynes and others has
raised important questions about the literary dimensions of soldiers'
narratives, the ways in which combatants' reading shaped their
experience and understanding of war deserve further examination. We also
need to consider texts targeted specifically at soldiers, from the
pocket bibles and catechisms produced for the Parliamentarian forces
during the English Civil War to the vast range of literature published
through the US armed services editions in the twentieth century. Papers
which look beyond the Anglo-American experience of war will be
particularly welcome. Please send proposals of up to 500 words to
Catriona Kennedy (calk100_at_york.ac.uk) and Helen Smith (hs25_at_york.ac.uk)
by 30th April, 2007.

For further details and registration (£12/£17 for staff; £5/£10 for
students/unwaged; free/£5 for members of the University of York) please
visit the conference website at
http://www.york.ac.uk/conferences/battlefield2007/

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Received on Sun Feb 11 2007 - 15:23:29 EST