Abstract

In recent years, and more especially since 9/11, the way in which wars are carried out, spoken of, justified and (re)presented has changed significantly. Language plays a crucial role in the construction and consolidation of the rhetoric of war as exemplified by the concept of a ‘just war’ and the phrase ‘War of Words’. Yet, the implications of language use in peace-making processes remain somehow largely underestimated or undervalued, when recognised. Faced with political and cultural intransigence, literature can create models for a co-operative culture enabling both writers and readers to contribute to the development of alternative peace discourses. Accordingly, this paper proposes a reading of pacifist works by Nancy Cunard, Carole Satyamurti and Frank McGuinness. Written out of conflict, and despite their different historical and cultural milieux , these texts demonstrate the power of the creative word to promote a new culture of peace based on intercultural dialogue and encounters . DOI: 10.17456/SIMPLE-30 Bibliography Cunard, Nancy. 2005. Poems of Nancy Cunard. From the Bodleian Library . Edited by John Lucas. Nottingham: Trent Editions. Cunard, Nancy ed. 1937. Authors take sides on the Spanish War. The Left Review. London. Bobbio, Norberto. 1984. Il problema della guerra e le vie della pace. Bologna: Il Mulino. Donaldson, Kayleigh. 2013. Hecuba: Dundee Rep , Theatre Review . http://www.femalearts.com/node/795 (accessed on 05/08/2015). Dowson, Jane ed. 1995. Women ’ s Poetry of the 1930s. A Critical Anthology . London: Routledge. Gordon, Lois G. 2007. Nancy Cunard: Heiress, Muse, Political Idealist . NYC: Columbia University Press. Kent, Jonathan. 2004. Review: Euripides’ Hecuba , http://www.theaterpro.com/hecuba.htm (accessed on 05/08/2015). Jervolino, Domenico. 2004. ‘Cultura della pace e filosofia della liberazione’. Guerra e pace . A cura di Giuseppe Prestipino. Napoli: La Citta del Sole. 283-292. McGuinness, Frank. 2004. Euripides ’ Hecuba . London: Faber. Panikkar, Raimon. 2002. Pace e interculturalit a . A cura di M. Carrara Pavan. Milano: Jaca Book. Qwipp, Edward. 2013. Dangers and Insights: Auden’s Spain. The Spanish Civil War: Exhuming a Buried Past . Anindya Raychaudhuri ed. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 171- 187. Salis, Loredana. 2014. ‘The root of all evil’: Frank McGuinness’ Translations of Greek Drama. Studi irlandesi. A Journal of Irish Studies , 4: 145-160, http://dx.doi.org/10.13128/SIJIS- 2239-3978-14674 . Satyamurti, Carole. 1991. ‘Striking Distance’, reprinted in Peter Forbes. 1999. Scanning the Century. The Penguin Book of the Twentieth Century in Poetry . London: Viking, 477-478. Walzer, Michael. 1977. Just and Unjust Wars . New York: Basic Books.

Highlights

  • : La concezione di guerra intesa come fenomeno naturale e inevitabile è antichissima, e serve a giustificare la presenza costante di conflitti nella storia dell’umanità

  • From different historical and cultural contexts, this paper contends that Nancy Cunard, Carole Satyamurti and Frank McGuinness write of peace out of conflict; they use language to promote a new, alternative culture of peace that is based on intercultural encounters and dialogue

  • Born in 1896, Nancy Cunard was a key figure in the Western cultural scene of the first half of the twentieth century

Read more

Summary

Introduction

: La concezione di guerra intesa come fenomeno naturale e inevitabile è antichissima, e serve a giustificare la presenza costante di conflitti nella storia dell’umanità. Faced with the culture of war and with political and ethnic intransigence, literature and the creative word can construct a rhetoric of peace which engages both writers and readers in a moral and intellectual interrogation of conflict and war and their consequences.

Results
Conclusion

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.