BSJ

The Butler Scholarly Journal

Category: History

  1. Perception, Interpretation and Remembrance of the Great War Through Poetry and Fiction

    The First World War has undoubtedly taken an unprecedented and exalted role in British and world history, culture and imagination with a pervasive rhetoric of tragic heroism, sacrifice, ultimate futility and both the rejection and celebration of the concept of chivalric suffering. The literature of the Great War has contributed significantly to the overriding perception of the conflict over the last century and has to a certain extent provided the lens through which we view the years 1914 to 1918 and beyond. But how far has fiction and poetry alone actively ‘shaped’ and sculpted our view, independent of the realities…

  2. War Monuments, Memorialisation and Forgetting

    ‘The postmodern age is obsessed with memory’ (Sherman, 1999: 1) Memorial monuments and war monuments in particular have become increasingly ubiquitous over the last two centuries. An emphasis has been placed on making sure that every event is remembered, and remembered in the correct way. In this time, the study of memorialisation and monuments has also flourished and on the eve of the 100 year anniversary of the First World War this discussion is still alive and well. With Michael Gove continuing to squabble with ministers and academics over the ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ ways in which the war is remembered…

  3. Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word…

    Wars do not just end once the armistice is signed and the combatants have agreed to a ceasefire. During WWI, German occupying forces devastated the Belgian economy by requisitioning resources, deporting labourers and moving entire factories to Germany to support the war effort. The Allied bombing of Dresden in World War II left the city in ruins and 25,000 civilians dead. The Kosovo War in the late 1990s left over 200,000 internally displaced in its wake. With the development of total war, the effects of war, and the consequences of decimated populations or devastated infrastructure, persist long after the cessation…

  4. The Damage After the Shells Stop Falling: An Anecdotal View

    War is an awful thing. An absolutely, hideously, unfathomably awful thing. The shocking devaluation of life has brought with it some of the worst horrors mankind has ever witnessed. In this piece, I’ll be writing about one war in particular, the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, and how I’ve indirectly seen it’s repercussions on those around me as I’ve grown up. The People’s Republic of Bangladesh was born out of a bloody, gruesome war. For 8 months, the Pakistani Army dealt out a wave of hideous atrocities upon one of their own territories, the then “East Pakistan”. Around 1-3 million civilians…

  5. Interview: The Lion and the Lamb

    John Henry Clay is a novelist and lecturer in medieval history at Durham University. The Butler Scholarly Journal caught up with him to discuss his highly acclaimed debut novel, The Lion and the Lamb (July 2013). The Butler Scholarly Journal: What drew you to mid-4th century Roman Britain as a setting for your first novel, The Lion and the Lamb? John Henry Clay: I first came across the period as an archaeology undergraduate, and something about it caught my imagination. It was the ‘Golden Age’ of Roman Britain, a world of palatial country villas and bustling cities, with a highly…

  6. What does Ireland remember?

    Recent British and Irish headlines read “Irish politician Frank Feighan wears Poppy in Dáil.” “Taoiseach Enda Kenny in Enniskillen remembrance tribute” and “McClean refuses to wear poppy on eve of Remembrance Sunday as Sunderland suffer defeat.” The significance of these headlines cannot be underestimated. This was the first time a remembrance poppy has been seen in the Dáil (Lower House of the Irish parliament, pronounced dawl) for 16 years. This was the first time an Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister (Tee-shach)) had taken part in a remembrance service outside the Republic of Ireland. James McClean’s choice not to wear a poppy…