Women at the Front during the First World War : the politics of class, gender and empire
Our memory and understanding of women's experiences at the Front during the First World War are overwhelmingly influenced by the autobiographical account of Vera Brittain. Testament of Youth was published in 1933 as part of a wave of antiwar literature produced by men and women. Brittain's chronicle of the war achieved renewed popularity in the 1970s and early 1980s when it was dramatised by the BBC and acclaimed by feminist academics who recognised its value in contesting the predominantly male literary war canon. Brittain wrote about the effects of losing the young men in her life, her fiance and her brother, and the inability she felt as a young woman, to achieve anything constructive during the war. When her fiance enlisted in the army she decided to enrol as an auxiliary nurse with the Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), believing this would give her at least some idea of what it was like to experience war. The loss of the men she loved shaped her war experiences, as did the labour and anguish of volunteer nursing and the eclipse of her youth in a war that she considered neither just nor worthwhile. Her experience of being a young woman from a provincial middle-class background, without medical
Dennant, Lynda
D501 World War I
Women at the Front during the First World War : the politics of class, gender and empire. Our memory and understanding of women's experiences at the Front during the First World War are overwhelmingly influenced by the autobiographical account of Vera Brittain. Testament of Youth was published in 1933 as part of a wave of antiwar literature produced by men and women. Brittain's chronicle of the war achieved renewed popularity in the 1970s and early 1980s when it was dramatised by the BBC and acclaimed by feminist academics who recognised its value in contesting the predominantly male literary war canon. Brittain wrote about the effects of losing the young men in her life, her fiance and her brother, and the inability she felt as a young woman, to achieve anything constructive during the war. When her fiance enlisted in the army she decided to enrol as an auxiliary nurse with the Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), believing this would give her at least some idea of what it was like to experience war. The loss of the men she loved shaped her war experiences, as did the labour and anguish of volunteer nursing and the eclipse of her youth in a war that she considered neither just nor worthwhile. Her experience of being a young woman from a provincial middle-class background, without medical
women front first_world_war politics class_gender empire memory woman_experience front first_world_war overwhelmingly influence autobiographical account testament youth publish part wave literature produce men_woman chronicle war achieve renew popularity bbc acclaim feminist academic recognise value contest predominantly male literary war canon write effect lose young men life brother inability felt young_woman achieve anything constructive war enlist army decide auxiliary nurse red cross voluntary aid detachment believe would give least idea like experience war loss men love shaped war experience labour volunteer nursing eclipse youth war consider neither experience young_woman provincial middle_class background without medical