{"product_id":"commemorative-acts-french-theatre-and-the-memory-of-the-great-war-hardback-9781487564094","title":"Commemorative Acts; French Theatre and the Memory of the Great War (Hardback) 9781487564094","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eCommemorative Acts\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eFrench Theatre and the Memory of the Great War\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eSusan McCready (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781487564094\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 25 November 2025\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e194 pages\u003cbr\u003e23.5 x 16 x 1.5 cm, 0.42 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Whereas the cultural memory of the Great War in France is dominated by novels and cinema, in this eminently readable book, Susan McCready recovers the rich but largely forgotten corpus of interwar plays that represent and responded to generational divides and changing attitudes to the war. Against the background of a transitional time in French history, McCready escorts us through an equally transitional time in aesthetics: from the classical \"pièce bien faite\" to realist, modernist and stylized experimental theatre. \u003ci\u003eCommemorative Acts\u003c\/i\u003e fills an important gap in French literary and cultural history and promises to be a key reference work for scholars and students of the interwar period in France.\"\u003c\/p\u003e - Sima Godfrey, Associate Professor Emerita of French, University of British Columbia and author of \u003cem\u003eThe Crimean War and Cultural Memory: The War France Won and Forgot\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Just when one might have thought that the long vibrant field of World War I cultural studies was petering out, a book like \u003ci\u003eCommemorative Acts\u003c\/i\u003e comes along to show us that this is not the case. Finally, someone has tackled the vast and neglected topic of the theatre's role in France’s collective understanding of the Great War. In this penetrating and eloquent analysis, the noted historian of French theater Susan McCready charts new scholarly territory at the intersection of theater theatre studies, memory studies and the cultural history of the war. This book needed to be written, and McCready was the person to do it.\"\u003c\/p\u003e - Leon Sachs, Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies, University of Kentucky \u003cp\u003e\"McCready has unearthed a treasure trove of theatrical riches from the French stage of the interwar years. Her lucid and sensitive analysis allows us to understand properly for the first time the role of drama in performing the national cultural memory of the First World War for a France both victorious and devastated.\"\u003c\/p\u003e - Nicholas White, Professor of Nineteenth-Century French Literature and Culture, University of Cambridge\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eIn the aftermath of the Great War, a remarkable wave of collective commemoration emerged, but the aesthetic diversity of this period has often been overshadowed by a singular focus on the combatant experience, primarily conveyed through fiction and memoir. This selective historical narrative has fostered a homogenized memory of the war, neglecting the rich array of cultural productions that also emerged alongside it. \u003cem\u003eCommemorative Acts\u003c\/em\u003e challenges these prevailing assumptions about the memory of the Great War and its literary expression in interwar France by spotlighting theatrical works that have largely been forgotten.\u003cbr\u003eThe book uncovers how the dominance of first-person accounts of soldiers’ experiences has subtly, yet powerfully, narrowed our understanding of what the memory of the Great War can encompass. It explores how drama, structurally at odds with the first-person perspective and defined by its simultaneous modes of expression and reception, has been lost to collective memory. By examining the unique capacity of the dramatic form to capture war trauma, \u003cem\u003eCommemorative Acts\u003c\/em\u003e offers insights that differ from those of other literary genres, highlighting the theatre’s potential to provide a more expansive and nuanced understanding of interwar memorial culture.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIntroduction: Broadening the Scope of Great War Memory\u003cbr\u003e1. Coming to Terms with Memory: French War Theatre to 1928\u003cbr\u003e2. Displacements: French War Theatre 1928 to 1937\u003cbr\u003e3. Bearing Witness: Experience and Illusion in Interwar Theatre\u003cbr\u003e4. Classical Form and Modernist Fracture in Interwar Theatre\u003cbr\u003eConclusion: The Ongoing Work of Memory\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWar Plays Appendix\u003cbr\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003eBibliography\u003cbr\u003eIndex\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Toronto Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52596010680600,"sku":"9781487564094","price":38.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/commemorative-acts-french-theatre-and-the-memory-of-the-great-war-hardback-9781487564094","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}