English Fiction of the Second World War

by Alan Munton

Book by Munton, Alan

118 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1989

Reviews

[Candy Wood]

This short book provides an interesting account of English World War II fiction, focused on novels that express or oppose a “People’s War” view of the events. Because of that focus, Munton observes early on that he may be omitting books that other readers would wish to see included, and sure enough, he doesn’t mention Rumer Godden’s A Fugue in Time at all. He does consider novels of wartime experience like Henry Green’s 1943 Caught and J. B. Priestley’s 1943 Daylight on Saturday, both of which reflect a negative view of women on the Home Front. The soldiers’ experience is seen in Alexander Baron’s 1948 From the City, From the Plough, and a more individual experience in David Holbrook’s 1966 Flesh Wounds. Munton’s last chapter considers “epic” sequences of novels written after the war from a more conservative position and shows how narrative technique and structure communicate the writers’ opposition to the People’s War concept. He ends with discussion of Olivia Manning’s two trilogies.