Reading the Ruins: Modernism, Bombsites and British Culture

The bombsites of London during the Second World War were both unsettling and inspiring terrains, and British culture was already filled with ruins and fragments. Reading the Ruins brings together poetry, novels, short stories, film, and visual art to understand the potency of the bombsites.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 255 pages
Publication date: 03 June 2021
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

London's bomb sites, a haunting blend of fires, ghosts, and surreal apparitions, offered an unsettling yet inspiring landscape. However, before the Second World War, British culture was already teeming with remnants and fragments, manifesting as both content and form. These remnants took the shape of tottering towers and scraps of paper, evoking visions of decline and loss. At the same time, they also took the form of broken poetics, reflecting the fractured nature of society.

Yet, as the Second World War erupted, the aesthetic mode of the bomb sites began to take on a more prophetic tone. Many modernist writers, including Graham Greene, Louis MacNeice, David Jones, J. F. Hendry, Elizabeth Bowen, T. S. Eliot, and Rose Macaulay, delved into the devastated cityscapes and the altered lives of a nation at war. Through their writings, they sought to understand the profound impact of the bombings, both during the conflict and in its aftermath.

Reading the Ruins, a comprehensive anthology, brings together a diverse range of literary and artistic mediums to explore the potency of the bomb sites. Poetry, novels, short stories, film, and visual art are intertwined to provide a multi-dimensional perspective on this turbulent period. By examining the ruins through the lens of these various forms, readers gain a deeper understanding of the human experience in the face of destruction and the resilience of the human spirit.

The bomb sites of London serve as a poignant reminder of the destructive power of war and the enduring impact it has on individuals and communities. Through the writings and artworks included in Reading the Ruins, we are invited to reflect on the past, understand the present, and envision a more peaceful future.

Weight: 368g
Dimension: 151 x 227 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781107534438