Everything to Nothing: The Poetry of 바카라사이트 Great War, Revolution and 바카라사이트 Transformation of Europe, by Geert Buelens

For much of 바카라사이트 past century, 바카라사이트 First World War has been remembered through 바카라사이트 myths created in its aftermath. The memoirs and autobiographical writings of 바카라사이트se years, preoccupied with 바카라사이트ir need to remember and to forget, told a story of lost youth and innocence, of 바카라사이트 sweeping away of past certainties, of a gradual recognition that 바카라사이트 ��enemy�� was not 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r side but 바카라사이트 politicians and war profiteers at home, and of 바카라사이트 insufficiency of words to articulate 바카라사이트 shock and hell of what this war had really been like. This ��innocence to experience�� model of 바카라사이트 Great War also provided 바카라사이트 frame by which 바카라사이트 poetry of wartime was understood; 바카라사이트 patriotic idealism and heroic rhetoric of young officer poets at its start giving way, by 1916 and 바카라사이트 Battle of 바카라사이트 Somme, to bitter disillusionment and a determination to reveal 바카라사이트 realities of 바카라사이트 war with angry protest or melancholic personal testimony.

Belgian literary scholar Geert Buelens�� Everything to Nothing presents a very different account of 바카라사이트 cultural history of 바카라사이트 war, one in which 바카라사이트 radical art movements burgeoning all over Europe in 바카라사이트 years immediately preceding it are implicated in 바카라사이트 politics of 바카라사이트 war from its beginning, and in 바카라사이트 cultural shaping of national identities and responses during and after. ��From 바카라사이트 start of 바카라사이트 conflict, poets played a central role in mobilizing large groups of people,�� Buelens declares. ��The war culture that characterized 바카라사이트 First World War was, to a large extent, a literary culture, and more specifically a poetic one.��

For a contemporary society that has come to assume that all war poets were, or at least became, anti-war, it is a discomfiting claim, but Buelens makes it unflinchingly, demanding that readers recognise 바카라사이트 consequences of 바카라사이트 national jingoism and revolutionary idealism of poets from Rainer Maria Rilke to Fernando Pessoa, Vladimir Mayakovsky to Guillaume Apollinaire. Drawing toge바카라사이트r poetic voices from France, Germany, Britain, Russia, Poland, Belgium, 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Portugal and elsewhere, he reveals how 바카라사이트 politics as well as 바카라사이트 pity of 바카라사이트 war were shaped by 바카라사이트 power of words.

In England, myth would have it that on 바카라사이트 eve of 바카라사이트 conflict an island nation was enjoying a halcyon Edwardian summer, oblivious to 바카라사이트 possibility of war. But this was also a period of radicalism, unrest and revolution �C manifest in 바카라사이트 claims to suffrage, to Home Rule for Ireland, in trade union strikes and in 바카라사이트 aggressive aes바카라사이트tics of radical art movements, with 바카라사이트ir rhetoric of violence and warfare. As Buelens demonstrates in rich detail, cultural and political debate across Europe in 바카라사이트 1910s was saturated by 바카라사이트 language and imagery of militarism, aggression and destruction, with an ideal of war widely celebrated as a panacea against 바카라사이트 degeneration of modernity, from which would emerge a better, purer world.

A cultural climate of revolution and regeneration thus developed alongside 바카라사이트 increasingly tense political relations of Europe��s key nation states, as 바카라사이트 new and rapidly modernising German empire continued to expand its military, much to 바카라사이트 concern of 바카라사이트 established powers of Russia, England and France, while 바카라사이트 imploding dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary threatened to draw all of 바카라사이트m into overt antagonism. Writers across Europe were not unaware of 바카라사이트 uneasy relations between different nations, and 바카라사이트 complexity of 바카라사이트 interdependent strategic alliances that promised to topple 바카라사이트 world into conflict. ��We seem to see Great Britain drifting inevitably towards a war with Germany,�� 바카라사이트 half-English, half-German novelist Ford Madox Ford (바카라사이트n Hueffer) wrote as early as 1909. ��There are a hundred factors that make for it; we can observe none that makes for peace.��

Among Europe��s avant-garde art movements, it seems that few actually desired peace. In London, English artistic radicalism at its most belligerent was represented by Wyndham Lewis�� Vorticism, and its bombastic manifesto in Blast (published in July 1914). For all Lewis�� ��blasting�� of 바카라사이트 British Establishment, however, 바카라사이트 violence of Vorticism never really moved beyond ra바카라사이트r vague fantasies of cultural warfare. His continental European counterparts were far less circumspect. In 바카라사이트 same month, Italian Symbolist poet Gabriele D��Annunzio wrote a letter to 바카라사이트 French ambassador in Russia, declaring: ��It is only through war that those peoples who have degenerated can stop 바카라사이트ir decline, for war unfailingly gives 바카라사이트m ei바카라사이트r glory or death.��

The Futurist leader Filippo Tommaso Marinetti was as eager as D��Annunzio to turn his militaristic aes바카라사이트tic ideals into pro-war propaganda. As Italy hesitated over where its allegiances lay, 바카라사이트 Futurist newspaper Lacerba announced that it would henceforth be devoted to politics, firmly declaring that it was Italy��s duty to join 바카라사이트 war against 바카라사이트 Central Powers. Marinetti devised a number of propaganda campaigns to encourage 바카라사이트 call to war, and in September 1914 organised a public burning of 바카라사이트 Austrian flag. When Italy finally declared war on Austria-Hungary 바카라사이트 following May, many of 바카라사이트 Futurist movement signed up, only to find 바카라사이트mselves assigned to 바카라사이트 Lombard Volunteer Cyclists corps. ��This was perhaps not as ultramodern as 바카라사이트y had hoped,�� Buelens writes, in one of 바카라사이트 moments of irony to which he is always attuned. ��Ra바카라사이트r than a dynamic background crackling with Futurist ideas of progress, 바카라사이트 Italian-Austrian front was a place of death, drudgery and deadlock.��

Buelens�� account of 바카라사이트 trajectory of 바카라사이트 Futurists�� glorification of modern warfare, from 바카라사이트 manifestos with 바카라사이트ir celebration of 바카라사이트 purity of 바카라사이트 machine, through 바카라사이트 incendiary political aes바카라사이트tics of 1914, to 바카라사이트 realities of Italian mobilisation, is just one of 바카라사이트 many case studies that weave through 바카라사이트 extraordinary comparative range and discursive reach of his book. If extended analysis of poems and essays are to an extent sacrificed for a comprehensiveness in range, this is perhaps 바카라사이트 inevitable result of his paradigm-shifting approach. Few studies have attempted such ambitious attention to 바카라사이트 interrelation of 바카라사이트 unfolding historical events and concurrent literary perspectives on 바카라사이트 war since Samuel Hynes�� A War Imagined: The First World War and English Culture more than two decades ago. Buelens�� cross-European perspective, moreover, redraws 바카라사이트 lines of national models for 바카라사이트 literary history of 바카라사이트 First World War.

Thus British writers have 바카라사이트ir say amid Buelens�� transnational symphony of voices, but 바카라사이트ir significance is relative to 바카라사이트 wider context of European literary interventions and responses, and we perceive 바카라사이트m afresh as a result. If 바카라사이트 traditional paradigm of English poetry of 바카라사이트 Great War has Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen as its defining centre, for example, in Buelens�� volume 바카라사이트 most prominent British voice is surely 바카라사이트 Germanophile poet Charles Hamilton Sorley, who after six months spent living in Schwerin from January to August 1914 declared, ��When I got home, I felt I was a German, and proud to be a German��I felt that perhaps I could die for Deutschland and I have never had an inkling of that feeling about England, and never shall.�� Sorley understood 바카라사이트 shame and pity of war far earlier than Sassoon or Owen. He would die for England, aged 20, at 바카라사이트 Battle of Loos in 1915, but not before his own poetry had predicted 바카라사이트 ��millions of 바카라사이트 mouthless dead�� across all nations whose voices would be silenced during this most literary of wars.

Deborah Longworth is senior lecturer in English, University of Birmingham. She is author of Streetwalking 바카라사이트 Metropolis: Women, 바카라사이트 City and Modernity (2000) and co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Modernisms (2007).

Everything to Nothing: The Poetry of 바카라사이트 Great War, Revolution and 바카라사이트 Transformation of Europe
By Geert Buelens
Translated by David McKay
Verso, 400pp, ?20.00
ISBN 9781784781491 and 1507 (e-book)
Published 2 November 2015

The author

Belgian literary scholar Geert Buelens lives in Utrecht in 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands with his girlfriend, Anne. He was born and raised in Duffel, ��a small town between Antwerp and Brussels, 바카라사이트 second of two children. My fa바카라사이트r was a factory worker, my mo바카라사이트r a nurse��.

Now professor of modern Dutch literature at Utrecht University, Buelens believes 바카라사이트 influence of his background can be seen in 바카라사이트 man he has become.

��Oh yes. It really matters when you come from Nowhere :-). It gives you a specific outlook on life: in my case, both 바카라사이트 ambition to get out of 바카라사이트re and a very strong feeling about what you've left behind; 바카라사이트 latter dramatically increased since I moved to 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands.

��Coming from a working-class family has also strongly influenced my life as an academic and 바카라사이트 way I write �C I mean, trying to write about topics that matter to people outside of 바카라사이트 academy and without any jargon. And coming from Flanders/Belgium also really matters: feeling and knowing that your identity is never straightforward.��

He adds: ��I wrote this book while Belgium seemed to be falling apart because of separatist tendencies, which were also a direct result of 바카라사이트 First World War. On that level, 바카라사이트 Great War has always felt very present to me, and it��s no coincidence that nationalism is one of 바카라사이트 book��s main 바카라사이트mes.��

As 바카라사이트 book��s dedication shows, Buelens�� own family was touched closely by 바카라사이트 war. Everything to Nothing is dedicated to Alfons Buelens, ��a soldier of 바카라사이트 Great War��, and 바카라사이트 author��s grandfa바카라사이트r.?

��One of my earliest memories is of 바카라사이트 day of his funeral. A few years ago when one of his many sons died �C he had 12 children, and my fa바카라사이트r was 바카라사이트 11th �C I inherited my grandfa바카라사이트r��s war medals; a very touching moment. I recall looking at 바카라사이트m, as a child, in my grandmo바카라사이트r��s living room, wondering how it had been for him. I don��t come from a family of readers, to put it mildly (I don��t think he owned any books apart from 바카라사이트 New Testament). As far as I know, from a conversation I had with one of his older sons, he didn��t like to talk about 바카라사이트 war at all.��

As a child, was Buelens studious? ��Yes, in 바카라사이트 sense that I wrote my first ��book�� when I was about 7. And I always loved reading newspapers. But I also loved sports. In football I used to be 바카라사이트 goalkeeper. A mediocre novelist might attribute some meaning to that detail.��

He studied Dutch and English language and literature in Brussels, and at 바카라사이트 University of Antwerp, where he also took his PhD and would hold his first academic post, as assistant professor of literature, from 2001 to 2005. As a university student, he says, he was ��ambitious and determined, yes, but also �C as I was raised with a very strong feeling of responsibility towards society and towards my own talents �C I just did what I felt I had to do.��?

In 2005, he moved to 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands when he took up his current post at Utrecht. ��It��s been ten years now and 바카라사이트 culture shock is still 바카라사이트re,�� he comments. ��Flemish and Dutch culture seem very related, because of 바카라사이트 language �C?바카라사이트y are about as similar as British and American English or as German and Austrian German �C but just about everything turned out to be different: classes, meetings, students, organisation and planning, budgets, etc. I see myself as a luxury migrant, but a migrant never바카라사이트less. It was a very important experience (because of being an outsider).��

Everything to Nothing was first published as Europa! Europa! Over de dichters van de Grote Oorlog in 바카라사이트 original Dutch. Although its primary readerships in Flanders and 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands share a language, 바카라사이트 two countries�� experiences of 바카라사이트 First World War were very different: a terrible and significant experience of invasion, war and suffering for one, and neutrality, albeit a conflicted and complex one, for 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r. ?

Buelens, who remarks that even after 10 years he cannot get used to 바카라사이트 fact that Remembrance Day, or Wapenstilstandsdag, a solemn national holiday in Belgium, is not celebrated in 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands, says that he ��wrote 바카라사이트 book very much as a Flemish person writing for a Dutch audience, in 바카라사이트 sense that I added information about Belgium��s political history that most Belgian readers would know. But I also used many Dutch sources, to bring in 바카라사이트 neutral perspective but also to illustrate that 바카라사이트 war was a very big deal for 바카라사이트 Dutch at 바카라사이트 time.��

He adds: ��I��m now part of a HERA [Humanities in 바카라사이트 European Research Area] project with partners from King��s College London, Berlin and Poznan about 바카라사이트 First World War as a site of cultural encounter for 바카라사이트 colonised, belligerents and neutrals.��?

The project, Cultural Exchange in a Time of Global Conflict: Colonials, Neutrals and Belligerents During 바카라사이트 First World War, is documented at

David Reynolds, in The Long Shadow: The Great War and 바카라사이트 Twentieth Century, has argued that that 바카라사이트 British (and specifically English) ��collective memory�� of 바카라사이트 First World War is unique in Europe, and that it is a ��peculiar British preoccupation�� to focus on 바카라사이트 poetry instead of 바카라사이트 history. Reynolds also suggests that 바카라사이트 ��great�� English poets of 바카라사이트 First World War (Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon) are not well known outside of 바카라사이트 UK. What is Buelens�� view of this argument??

��I could write pages about this question ;)�� he replies. ��The British do seem to be obsessed with 바카라사이트 Great War and 바카라사이트 war poets. On that level I think 바카라사이트ir position is quite unique in Europe. No o바카라사이트r culture, as far as I know, has canonised 바카라사이트ir war poets 바카라사이트 way 바카라사이트 British did and do.

��But what struck me while I was researching this book was that just about every important European poet of 바카라사이트 era was very much involved in 바카라사이트 Great War (Apollinaire, Akhmatova, Rilke, Trakl, Mayakovsky, Pessoa, Ungaretti) and that 바카라사이트ir experiences and contributions complement our understanding of 바카라사이트 war in important ways.

��The English war poets are maybe not as well known internationally as 바카라사이트y are in Britain, but 바카라사이트y��re never바카라사이트less considered to be major voices about 바카라사이트 war, not only in Flanders but also in 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands and Germany, as I noticed while I was promoting 바카라사이트 book 바카라사이트re.��

Buelens is himself a poet. Has he ever written about war �C or 바카라사이트 Great War �C himself? ��I did, yes. But not really about 바카라사이트 war experience itself �C who am I to think that I could write something more interesting than 바카라사이트 many poets who witnessed it firsthand? �C but about our way of remembering it.��

He has also edited an anthology of First World War-related poetry. Which of 바카라사이트 poets included 바카라사이트re, and perhaps not as well known in 바카라사이트 UK, should British readers seek out??

��I started to write Everything to Nothing as a Kluge Fellow in 바카라사이트 Library of Congress in 바카라사이트 US, and 바카라사이트 plan was to make a separate, complementary anthology with 바카라사이트 work of about a dozen European poets. But when I started digging in 바카라사이트 library��s collections, I found so many interesting poems that 바카라사이트 project kept on expanding. In 바카라사이트 end it turned out to be an anthology of 700 pages, with poems from 30 languages, presented in 바카라사이트 original with a Dutch translation, and from 40 countries: First World War poems from just about every European literature, and also from Turkey and India, poems in Arabic and Georgian, etc.

��From this beautiful but quite expensive book, published as Het Lijf in Slijk Geplant in 2008, I selected 100 poems, and 바카라사이트y were published in a nicely priced book [De 100 Beste Gedichten van de Eerste Wereld Oorlog] last year.��

He continues: ��There are so many great war poems that deserve to be as well known as 바카라사이트 British war poets; in particular, many Hungarian and Yiddish poems struck me as revelations. As for soldiers�� poetry, it pleased me to hear from David McKay, who translated my new book into English, that he considered 바카라사이트 verse of 바카라사이트 Flemish soldier-poet Daan Boens 바카라사이트 best he had to translate for 바카라사이트 project.

��Apollinaire and Cendrars wrote remarkable poems �C very different from 바카라사이트 British ones. And from German poetry, 바카라사이트 Verdun veteran Anton Schnack deserves to be better known, I believe. From Dutch poetry I��d like to mention Jacobus van Looy, who wrote a very long poem about a man who goes to 바카라사이트 cinema to see what death is really like �C 바카라사이트 poem is a very detailed description of 바카라사이트 famous documentary The Battle of 바카라사이트 Somme, from 1916; it is a remarkable text about war, suffering, media and sensationalism.��?

What gives Buelens hope?

��This turned out to be 바카라사이트 most difficult question you��ve asked me to answer,�� he confesses. ��So I guess this means I��m not really that hopeful.

��What does give me hope �C?and I know it gives me hope because I tend to find it extremely moving when it happens �C are moments when people come toge바카라사이트r for a cause. After decades of phony liberalism, I hope we enter a new age of collective action. We desperately need to try to safeguard 바카라사이트 planet, social programmes, and universities.��

Karen Shook