Identifier
etd-06302016-134009
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Abstract
My dissertation, entitled The Darkest Nation: American Melancholia in Modernist Narratives of the First World War, re-conceptualizes U.S. modernism by attending to how the historical event of WWI inaugurated melancholia, or sustained grief, as the cornerstone of a new form of nationalism. Scholars have focused either on how consolatory mourning bolstered patriotism or how melancholia led to the demise of such an imagined community and to the growth of cosmopolitanism. I consider, however, an American modernist commitment to the nation of loss expressed, surprisingly enough, in narratives about noncombatants. For a country that entered the military conflict near its end, noncombatancy (in the form of political neutrality and survivor's guilt) shapes the literary contours of America's melancholy wartime and postwar identity.
Date
2016
Document Availability at the Time of Submission
Secure the entire work for patent and/or proprietary purposes for a period of one year. Student has submitted appropriate documentation which states: During this period the copyright owner also agrees not to exercise her/his ownership rights, including public use in works, without prior authorization from LSU. At the end of the one year period, either we or LSU may request an automatic extension for one additional year. At the end of the one year secure period (or its extension, if such is requested), the work will be released for access worldwide.
Recommended Citation
Von Cannon, Michael, "The Darkest Nation: American Melancholia in Modernist Narratives of the First World War" (2016). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3298.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3298
Committee Chair
Kennedy, J. Gerald
DOI
10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.3298