‘We’re Here Because We’re Here’: Trench Culture in the Great War

English-speaking soldiers of the Great War created a large ‘trench press’, a body of periodicals by, for, and about their experiences. They contain a wealth of folkloric material and indications of its significance and functions. While acknowledging the constraints involved in retrieving once-living...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Seal, Graham
Format: Journal Article
Published: Taylor & Francis/ The Folklore Society 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24466
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author Seal, Graham
author_facet Seal, Graham
author_sort Seal, Graham
building Curtin Institutional Repository
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description English-speaking soldiers of the Great War created a large ‘trench press’, a body of periodicals by, for, and about their experiences. They contain a wealth of folkloric material and indications of its significance and functions. While acknowledging the constraints involved in retrieving once-living traditions from the fragmentary survival of mostly makeshift periodicals, this article describes and discusses the processes involved in the creation and development of an especially well-defined folk culture in unprecedented and extreme circumstances. While some elements of soldier folklore, especially song, verse, and language, have been the subject of usually discrete interest by folklorists, this is the first attempt to understand a range of folkloric practice and expression in the context of a particular set of combat circumstances.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-244662017-09-13T15:07:15Z ‘We’re Here Because We’re Here’: Trench Culture in the Great War Seal, Graham Soldiers Communication Trench Culture Military The Great War English-speaking soldiers of the Great War created a large ‘trench press’, a body of periodicals by, for, and about their experiences. They contain a wealth of folkloric material and indications of its significance and functions. While acknowledging the constraints involved in retrieving once-living traditions from the fragmentary survival of mostly makeshift periodicals, this article describes and discusses the processes involved in the creation and development of an especially well-defined folk culture in unprecedented and extreme circumstances. While some elements of soldier folklore, especially song, verse, and language, have been the subject of usually discrete interest by folklorists, this is the first attempt to understand a range of folkloric practice and expression in the context of a particular set of combat circumstances. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24466 10.1080/0015587X.2013.793068 Taylor & Francis/ The Folklore Society restricted
spellingShingle Soldiers
Communication
Trench Culture
Military
The Great War
Seal, Graham
‘We’re Here Because We’re Here’: Trench Culture in the Great War
title ‘We’re Here Because We’re Here’: Trench Culture in the Great War
title_full ‘We’re Here Because We’re Here’: Trench Culture in the Great War
title_fullStr ‘We’re Here Because We’re Here’: Trench Culture in the Great War
title_full_unstemmed ‘We’re Here Because We’re Here’: Trench Culture in the Great War
title_short ‘We’re Here Because We’re Here’: Trench Culture in the Great War
title_sort ‘we’re here because we’re here’: trench culture in the great war
topic Soldiers
Communication
Trench Culture
Military
The Great War
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24466