Conceptual proximity and the experience of war in Siegfried Sassoon’s ‘A working party'

Santanu Das (2007) has argued that the defining characteristics of first-world war poetry are the stark movement away from epic forms, and the refashioning of verse as a type of ‘missive from the trenches’, both of which shift the perspective of the reading experience from distance to proximity. In...

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Main Author: Giovanelli, Marcello
Other Authors: Harrison, Chloe
Format: Book Section
Published: John Benjamins 2014
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34032/
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author Giovanelli, Marcello
author2 Harrison, Chloe
author_facet Harrison, Chloe
Giovanelli, Marcello
author_sort Giovanelli, Marcello
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Santanu Das (2007) has argued that the defining characteristics of first-world war poetry are the stark movement away from epic forms, and the refashioning of verse as a type of ‘missive from the trenches’, both of which shift the perspective of the reading experience from distance to proximity. In this chapter, I offer a way of explaining this interpretation both generally, and specifically through analysing Siegfried Sassoon’s (1917) ‘A Working Party’. My analysis focuses on the distribution of complex temporal and atemporal profiles, the texture afforded by reference point relationships and the subsequent authorial manipulation and control over dominions, and the point-of view effects associated with pronoun use. I suggest that paying close attention to these can explain a reading experience that illuminates at close-hand the horrific intimacy of the trench.
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institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
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publisher John Benjamins
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spelling nottingham-340322020-05-04T16:45:45Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34032/ Conceptual proximity and the experience of war in Siegfried Sassoon’s ‘A working party' Giovanelli, Marcello Santanu Das (2007) has argued that the defining characteristics of first-world war poetry are the stark movement away from epic forms, and the refashioning of verse as a type of ‘missive from the trenches’, both of which shift the perspective of the reading experience from distance to proximity. In this chapter, I offer a way of explaining this interpretation both generally, and specifically through analysing Siegfried Sassoon’s (1917) ‘A Working Party’. My analysis focuses on the distribution of complex temporal and atemporal profiles, the texture afforded by reference point relationships and the subsequent authorial manipulation and control over dominions, and the point-of view effects associated with pronoun use. I suggest that paying close attention to these can explain a reading experience that illuminates at close-hand the horrific intimacy of the trench. John Benjamins Harrison, Chloe Nuttall, Louise Stockwell, Peter Yuan, Wenjuan 2014-05-01 Book Section PeerReviewed Giovanelli, Marcello (2014) Conceptual proximity and the experience of war in Siegfried Sassoon’s ‘A working party'. In: Cognitive grammar in literature. Linguistic approaches to literature (17). John Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp. 145-160. ISBN 9789027234049 https://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/lal.17/main doi:10.1075/lal.17 doi:10.1075/lal.17
spellingShingle Giovanelli, Marcello
Conceptual proximity and the experience of war in Siegfried Sassoon’s ‘A working party'
title Conceptual proximity and the experience of war in Siegfried Sassoon’s ‘A working party'
title_full Conceptual proximity and the experience of war in Siegfried Sassoon’s ‘A working party'
title_fullStr Conceptual proximity and the experience of war in Siegfried Sassoon’s ‘A working party'
title_full_unstemmed Conceptual proximity and the experience of war in Siegfried Sassoon’s ‘A working party'
title_short Conceptual proximity and the experience of war in Siegfried Sassoon’s ‘A working party'
title_sort conceptual proximity and the experience of war in siegfried sassoon’s ‘a working party'
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34032/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34032/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34032/