Survivors' Songs

Jon Stallworthy is Acting President of Wolfson College, Oxford.

• 1. The death of the hero; 2. Survivors' songs; 3. England's epic?; 4. Who was Rupert Brooke?; 5. Christ and the soldier; 6. Owen's afterlife; 7. Owen and his editors; 8. The legacy of the Somme; 9. The iconography of the waste land; 10. War and peace; 11. The fire from heaven; 12. Henry Reed and the great good place; 13. The fury and the mire; Index.

'Jon Stallworthy writes with absolute authority about war literature from Aneirin to Owen and beyond. That historical reach is complemented by the precision of his close readings as he detects ancient ideas of chivalry at the Somme or the Battle of Britain. Stallworthy's passionate and authoritative survey deserves to become essential reading for anyone who cares to explore the No Man's Land where art and violence collide.' Tim Kendall, University of Exeter