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War, an absurdity of life : are we still a lost generation?
Author
Chia, Theophania Shujuan
Supervisor
Wong, Patricia
Abstract
This thesis is not concerned with an emotional response to the controversy that is war. The primary novels examined-Kurt Vonnegurt's Slaughterhouse Five, Joseph Heller's Catch-22 and Tim O'Brien's Going After Cacciato-are all critically acclaimed works on war. They must all be read, however, in the larger context of the unavoidable absurdity of life, that which defies any logical imposition. It is widely acknowledged that World War I catalyzed, in the West, a shift in sentiment about war. This in turn coloured the perspectives on other facets of life. Having come out from the war, a youthful generation of artists went on to express in their art what most of their cohort in the West also shared-a cynicism and rejection of values that had allowed the war to occur at all. Ths thesis explores some common strategies in post-WWII novels that were written in a climate that increasingly treated war and its corollary as fixtures of human society. I shall examine the three primary texts in terms of how they compare with some prominent Lost Generation texts. By so doing, I pose the question, "Are we still a lost generation?"
Date Issued
2005
Call Number
PS228.W37 Chi
Date Submitted
2005